[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 
Hmmm, I also tried the BHA-1 with Arcam D33 and another DAC. The BHA-1 wasn't aggressive with the other DACs. Even my D2000 single ended from BHA-1 w/ BDA-2 was very tamed. No nasty treble that you get with lower rigs.
 
How do you guys find BDA-1/2 in comparison to NAD M51?

Not sure...could also be source material. 

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

The aggressiveness would be from the BHA-1 IMO (as I found it more on the aggressive side of things), but the BDA-2 with the GS-X MKII sound absolutely amazing. Dynamic (without being aggressive), spacious and highly detailed.

 
Looking forward to evaluating the BHA-1/BDA-2 combination, as I have a BDA-2 en route for Wednesday delivery.
 
I personally find the BHA-1 just slightly aggressive when compared to amps in general, though much less so (relatively speaking) than the Mjolnir. It's a very positive attribute when using the LCD-3.

 

[BournePerfect]

Quote:

You will like the Bryston if you liked the Mjolnir. Amps with similar sonic attributes. Fast, energic with lots of resolution. I compared the two last year with some headfiers in a mini-meet and everybody slightly prefered the Bryston. A bit more refined.
 
I love my BHA-1 with LCD-2r2 and NAD M51 with Audiophilleo2 + PurePower.
 
You will be impress by the feel of that amp. Really well built.

 
Yes Maxvla's BHA-1 thread mentioned a mini-meet they had where 7 of 9 people preferred the sound of the Bryston over the Schitt. Worth the price difference imo if it's more refined than the MJ. Should be here tomorrow to evaluate.
Quote:

 
Looking forward to evaluating the BHA-1/BDA-2 combination, as I have a BDA-2 en route for Wednesday delivery.
 
I personally find the BHA-1 just slightly aggressive when compared to amps in general, though much less so (relatively speaking) than the Mjolnir. It's a very positive attribute when using the LCD-3.

 Silver or black? PLEASE get a nice pic of that stack-gotta be stunning in person. Might have to check out a BDA-2 myself.
 
-Daniel

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

Silver or black? PLEASE get a nice pic of that stack-gotta be stunning in person. Might have to check out a BDA-2 myself.
 
-Daniel

 
Silver. Should be a great looking stack, with silver BHA-1 and silver BDA-2 plus my silver Clearaudio Concept table. Will definitely snap some photos and post here.

 

[BournePerfect]

Olias-I remember you owning some impressive amps with the HD800s like the LF and S7. Is there a reason you seemed to have settled (ha ha) on the BHA-1, at least for now? How do you feel it compares to those in regards to those, with the HD800? Thanks.
 
-Daniel

 

[dleblanc343]

Good to hear about the positive comments regarding the NAD M51, BHA-1 and LCD-3 rig as that is want to get as well over time. I recently tried out the  BHA-1 and LCD-3 with BDA-2. It was quite good but a bit too aggressive. Still very, very nice. When I asked the dealer about the NAD, he said he "finally" got rid of the final NAD M51 awhile back and that the dealers there thought it was boring as hell.

I work in retail, and calling a product boring (or not so good) is only a tactic on leading a customer to something else; it's an easy way of dismissing a product.

Chances are, the salesperson wants and thinks you to potentially spend more, or the NAD is out of stock and doesnt want to sell a demo if that's all he has left. He also knows you have the BHA-1, so he wants to push the BDA-2 on you for sure.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

Not sure...could also be source material. 

 
Everything was in FLAC. Tried a few 24/96 albums as well and threw in some electronic, pop, hip hop, jazz and rap. All good stuff that I'm used to like Above & Beyond, Armin Van Buuren, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, threw in some Kanye and Jay-Z for safe measure.
 
I'll be giving it a try again sometime in the future after listening to the Burson stuff.

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

I work in retail, and calling a product boring (or not so good) is only a tactic on leading a customer to something else; it's an easy way of dismissing a product.

Chances are, the salesperson wants and thinks you to potentially spend more, or the NAD is out of stock and doesnt want to sell a demo if that's all he has left. He also knows you have the BHA-1, so he wants to push the BDA-2 on you for sure.

 
That's a good point. Good thing I trust my ears more 

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

Olias-I remember you owning some impressive amps with the HD800s like the LF and S7. Is there a reason you seemed to have settled (ha ha) on the BHA-1, at least for now? How do you feel it compares to those in regards to those, with the HD800? Thanks.
 
-Daniel

I have been quite fortunate to have owned some fantastic amps in the past few years. My personal belief is that the best values relative to performance lie in the bottom tier of the upper end (if that makes sense), and I've done pretty well by exploring the entry-level options from the best makers out there (including Eddie Current, Cavalli, Bryston and others).
 
At this point, I've settled on the LCD-3 and HD800 as my main "reference" headphones. I've also determined that I'll generally keep a stable of one tube amp and one SS amp. To that end, the BHA-1 isn't going anywhere. It does everything I want a SS amp to do -- mainly drive the LCD-3 to its peak (arguable, I know, but it's the best combo I've heard) and competently drive the HD800 without going too far toward the sterile/dry end of things.
 
My tube amp at the moment is the Super 7, which is one of the very best value propositions I've found in headphone audio. It has just enough of a stereotypical "tube" sound with the HD800 without actively coloring the reproduction of the music. I've had my fling with overly lush amps, and now I'm interested in the best-of-both-worlds sound that the S7 has to offer. If I had to pick a single amp to pair with the HD800, I'd choose the S7 over the BHA-1, but not by a wide margin. It has just that little extra bit of musicality that comes from a properly implemented tube architecture.
 
Assuming the BDA-2 represents a significant increase in sound quality over my Grace m903, we'll see if any of the above changes in the weeks and months to come.

 

[BournePerfect]

Quote:

I have been quite fortunate to have owned some fantastic amps in the past few years. My personal belief is that the best values relative to performance lie in the bottom tier of the upper end (if that makes sense), and I've done pretty well by exploring the entry-level options from the best makers out there (including Eddie Current, Cavalli, Bryston and others).
 
At this point, I've settled on the LCD-3 and HD800 as my main "reference" headphones. I've also determined that I'll generally keep a stable of one tube amp and one SS amp. To that end, the BHA-1 isn't going anywhere. It does everything I want a SS amp to do -- mainly drive the LCD-3 to its peak (arguable, I know, but it's the best combo I've heard) and competently drive the HD800 without going too far toward the sterile/dry end of things.
 
My tube amp at the moment is the Super 7, which is one of the very best value propositions I've found in headphone audio. It has just enough of a stereotypical "tube" sound with the HD800 without actively coloring the reproduction of the music. I've had my fling with overly lush amps, and now I'm interested in the best-of-both-worlds sound that the S7 has to offer. If I had to pick a single amp to pair with the HD800, I'd choose the S7 over the BHA-1, but not by a wide margin. It has just that little extra bit of musicality that comes from a properly implemented tube architecture.
 
Assuming the BDA-2 represents a significant increase in sound quality over my Grace m903, we'll see if any of the above changes in the weeks and months to come.

Great feedback Olias. Have you ever considered going further up the EC chain-since the S7 impresses you so? There's definitely an EC house sound-just like what you described. Also-maybe the 'best values' you referred to in regards to amps would actually be higher with a higher end source? Not questioning your sources-I haven't heard either...
 
Have you heard the GSX with the HD800s/LCD3? If so how does that compare with the Bryston?
 
-Daniel

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

Quote:

Great feedback Olias. Have you ever considered going further up the EC chain-since the S7 impresses you so? There's definitely an EC house sound-just like what you described. Also-maybe the 'best values' you referred to in regards to amps would actually be higher with a higher end source? Not questioning your sources-I haven't heard either...
 
Have you heard the GSX with the HD800s/LCD3? If so how does that compare with the Bryston?
 
-Daniel

 
Haven't heard the GS-X yet, but hope to soon. Once I get the itch to upgrade my tube amp, I will probably either move up the EC line or try the DNA Stratus.
 
I'm really curious about the source. I've yet to hear a better DAC than the m903 -- I'd put the W4S DAC2 on parity with it -- so we'll see what the BDA-2 has to offer.

 

[BournePerfect]

Awesome-and looking forward to your impressions of the BDA-2>>BHA-1>>HD800s!
 
-Daniel

 

[MacedonianHero]

Quote:

 
Looking forward to evaluating the BHA-1/BDA-2 combination, as I have a BDA-2 en route for Wednesday delivery.
 
I personally find the BHA-1 just slightly aggressive when compared to amps in general, though much less so (relatively speaking) than the Mjolnir. It's a very positive attribute when using the LCD-3.

Sorry to clarify I won't have the BHA-1 on hand again. I heard them together at an audio store locally. I have definitely short listed the BDA-2 as my next DAC. Simply outstanding when I had it in my rig a few months back. 
 
Quote:

 
Haven't heard the GS-X yet, but hope to soon. Once I get the itch to upgrade my tube amp, I will probably either move up the EC line or try the DNA Stratus.
 
I'm really curious about the source. I've yet to hear a better DAC than the m903 -- I'd put the W4S DAC2 on parity with it -- so we'll see what the BDA-2 has to offer.

I'm a big fan of the W4S DAC-2, but the BDA-2 was just a bit better at everything. The DAC-2 came off a bit dry in comparison to the more dynamic BDA-2 (which also had slightly better detail retrieval). 

 

[Lappy27]

Quote:

 
Hmmm, I also tried the BHA-1 with Arcam D33 and another DAC. The BHA-1 wasn't aggressive with the other DACs. Even my D2000 single ended from BHA-1 w/ BDA-2 was very tamed. No nasty treble that you get with lower rigs.
 
How do you guys find BDA-1/2 in comparison to NAD M51?

I don't know if dleblan343 missed that one but he had the chance to compare NAD M51 to BDA-2 (for just one night I think) and he slightly prefered the NAD M51. A little bit more musical if I remember his words correctly.
 
Anyway, As I was looking for these two dacs when I saw him outside the retail store where he works, he told me about his experience with NAD M51 and The Bryston BDA-2. I purchase the NAD M51 the next day! (it really help I got a good deal on a used/mint one) and compared it to my Wyred4Sound DAC-2 for a couple of days.
 
Sold the Wyred4Sound to a friend and never looked back since (mind you I bought Audiophilleo2 + PurePower to upgraded the performance of the M51).

 

[Zoom25]

Quote:

I don't know if dleblan343 missed that one but he had the chance to compare NAD M51 to BDA-2 (for just one night I think) and he slightly prefered the NAD M51. A little bit more musical if I remember his words correctly.
 
Anyway, As I was looking for these two dacs when I saw him outside the retail store where he works, he told me about his experience with NAD M51 and The Bryston BDA-2. I purchase the NAD M51 the next day! (it really help I got a good deal on a used/mint one) and compared it to my Wyred4Sound DAC-2 for a couple of days.
 
Sold the Wyred4Sound to a friend and never looked back since (mind you I bought Audiophilleo2 + PurePower to upgraded the performance of the M51).

 
Good to know as the NAD has been on my mind for a few months now. Although that Audiophilleo2 and PurePower is $1000.

 How much of a difference is there between the stock NAD m51 by itself vs. your rig?
 
Like wouldn't it be better to spend that instead on a better DAC?