Bryston BHA1 Headphone Amp

[The Monkey]

I missed this. Appears to be on sale at Audio Advisor now for $1295. 3-pin and 4-pin balanced out seems cool. Haven't read the specs yet. I assume it has that Canadian sound.

BHA1_BROCHURE.pdf

[grawk]

They did choose male xlr outs for headphones, instead of female. So they're going their own path completely (and following the standard the non-headphone community has always followed).

[The Monkey]

I read someplace that they have an option for female. No sure if that's true, though.

[luvdunhill]

They did choose male xlr outs for headphones, instead of female. So they're going their own path completely (and following the standard the non-headphone community has always followed).

They're jumping on the recable bandwagon?

"Bryston will also provide modifications to some headphone models to make them compatible with a balanced output configuration, along with an adapter cable assuring backwards compatibility to all traditional (unbalanced) headphone outputs."

[deepak]

I assume it has that Canadian sound.

As an ex-Canuck I am afraid of this thing now

[Aura]

They're jumping on the recable bandwagon?

"Bryston will also provide modifications to some headphone models to make them compatible with a balanced output configuration, along with an adapter cable assuring backwards compatibility to all traditional (unbalanced) headphone outputs."

Complimentary business lines? How shrewd.

[blessingx]

I'm unfamiliar with the Canadian sound. What are their traits? How does it differ from Mexican?

Edited February 24, 2012 by blessingx

[grawk]

compare "strange brew" with "cheech & chong's nice dreams" for an example of the differences between canadian and mexican "house sounds"

[Beefy]

I like the gain options. Super high, and Stupidly super high.

[Grahame]

Seems they go both ways.

More info here http://www.audioafic...dphone-amp.html

Topless!

Edited February 24, 2012 by Grahame

[blessingx]

Seems they go both ways.

More info here http://www.audioafic...dphone-amp.html

Yeah, what's up with all the dual dynamic-electrostatic comments? Am I missing something?

[The Monkey]

Definitely a dynamic amp.

That thread linked by Grahame is interesting. The design process of this thing seems odd. They are prepared to release, pull it to change design, then apparently pull again to tweak circuit. All good if they get it right, but still. Then Bryston acknowledges that they are aware most balanced HPs are male XLR, which is the main reason for the retermination service. WTF? Why not just go with female?

[deepak]

Definitely a dynamic amp.

That thread linked by Grahame is interesting. The design process of this thing seems odd. They are prepared to release, pull it to change design, then apparently pull again to tweak circuit. All good if they get it right, but still. Then Bryston acknowledges that they are aware most balanced HPs are male XLR, which is the main reason for the retermination service. WTF? Why not just go with female?

My guess is they are targeting the speaker crowd familiar with the Bryston brand and are new to headphones. So they buy the headphones and amp at the same time and send their phones off to Bryston who make some money off the recable.

I gotta agree with Beefy that gain is insane. Even crazier if you have a 4v balanced source. Unless they are using some non-standard attenuation curve pot.

[Hopstretch]

The Bryston guy says in the thread that they're thinking of doing a recable for free with purchase of the amp. Customer just pays shipping.

[Pars]

How about just put the right jacks on it? They should make the female jacks standard.

I'm not real familiar with balanced jack conventions, but the initial pic looked wrong to me...

[Beefy]

How about just put the right jacks on it? They should make the female jacks standard.

I'm not real familiar with balanced jack conventions, but the initial pic looked wrong to me...

At the very least, safety first. You should not be able to touch 'high' voltage, high current pins, which you can do with male panel connectors.

[luvdunhill]

How about just put the right jacks on it? They should make the female jacks standard.

I'm not real familiar with balanced jack conventions, but the initial pic artist rendering looked wrong to me...

FTFY

[grawk]

I don't think headphone outs qualify as high voltage high current pins tho.

[morphsci]

At Audio Advisor you can order it with either male or female XLRs.

Edited February 24, 2012 by morphsci

[The Monkey]

Ah, missed that. Good catch.

[Pars]

Still don't think any output should use male pins, too much chance of shorting them. But I guess if this is industry (commercial sound) standard for XLRs it is kind of hard to change at this point. At least they didn't go with some goofy video camera connector or other.

[blessingx]

Seems they go both ways.

Did they keep or lose the balance knob?

[roadtonowhere08]

Last I checked the balance knob is still there. I would never have a use for such a thing (software can do it more precisely), and it is one more thing that is in the signal path. Looks really nice though.

I wonder about the topology though, because the mW into a high impedance is higher (667mW @ 600ohm) than into a lower one (500mW @ 32ohm). I have never seen such a figure. I always thought it was the other way around for pretty much any amp.

http://bryston.com/PDF/brochures/BHA1_BROCHURE.pdf

[emelius]

anyone else see BHA1 & think SHA-1?...

missing my Melos, missing my Grados...

[blessingx]

Last I checked the balance knob is still there. I would never have a use for such a thing (software can do it more precisely), and it is one more thing that is in the signal path. Looks really nice though.

True, though relying on software knocks out a lot of source options (or you're back to adding more hardware in the path).

Edited February 26, 2012 by blessingx