[Dave74]

Just got one today  I put a deposit down because the store had some on order but none in stock and he was expecting them in by the 14th.  I was talking to the salesman about my Concerto HP after putting the deposit down and then the Fed Ex guy walked by with some Bryston BHA-1 in his hand  It ended up being the black one with 17" faceplate.  Now I just have to let it warm up to room temp since it was in the cold Fed Ex van so I can try it out.  I'm hoping it will pair well with my He-500's, and I have some Alpha Dogs on order, which I had already read pair well with the Bryston.

 

[Trance_Gott]

My new combo with the BHA-1 ist the new AKG K812. This is an absolute killer setup!

 

[Senn-Fi]

  Mine never shut down even with extensive (6 hours) listening session. But came really hot.

I have accidentally left mine going overnight or even for several days and it gets hot but has never shut off.  I keep it in a closed media cabinet (which is why I forget to turn it off sometimes).  I think there is definitely something wrong with the one that is shutting down. 

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

  Hey guys. I got a BHA-1 recently and love it. Sounds great with both my LCD3 and HD800. However, I seem to have an issue with mine and I was wondering if any you guys experience the same thing. 
 
When I have the amp running for about 2-3 hours, it would sometimes stop working and the power LED will turn red. After around 5 minutes, it turns back to green and works again. Could it be that my amp is overheating?

 
Do you have your BHA-1 stacked with anything else, by chance? The only time I've ever gotten the red LED was when I tried to stack my BHA-1 and BDA-2. As soon as I unstack, the red LED stops occurring. Tried several times, same result.

 

[R Giskard]

   
Do you have your BHA-1 stacked with anything else, by chance? The only time I've ever gotten the red LED was when I tried to stack my BHA-1 and BDA-2. As soon as I unstack, the red LED stops occurring. Tried several times, same result.

There is a reason why Bryston recommends at least 4'' free space above the unit.

 

[Olias of Sunhillow]

  There is a reason why Bryston recommends at least 4'' free space above the unit.

 
Curiously, though, the BHA-1 was stacked on top with plenty of free space above. The BDA-2 on bottom had no issues.

 

[Wingstrike]

Here's how I have it. It's open air behind the monitor, which is only about half an inch thick. It's got around 3" of clearance on the right side. Still get the red LED
 

 

[Rob80b]

  Here's how I have it. It's open air behind the monitor, which is only about half an inch thick. It's got around 3" of clearance on the right side. Still get the red LED
 

Have you talked to Mike Pickett at Bryston 1-800-632-8217, only takes a minute?
 
I've been changing things around, but at one point I had the BHA-1 sandwiched with the 2BLP below running all day with no problems, although having air circulating  all round does help.

 

[Chris J]

Have you talked to Mike Pickett at Bryston 1-800-632-8217, only takes a minute?

I've been changing things around, but at one point I had the BHA-1 sandwiched with the 2BLP below running all day with no problems, although having air circulating  all round does help.

Bryston porn!

 

[Rob80b]

Bryston porn!

I’d love to be using just the BHA-1 but there is not enough gain from the single ended outputs of my AVP when watching movies so that the BHA-1 needs to be cranked wide open, not a great idea if I forget to lower the gain when switching to the balanced input to listen to music which is usually between 8 and 9 o’clock on the dial.

So for now I'm still using the Bryston .4 preamp/2BLP combo just for movies and the BHA-1 for music.

 

[fradoca]

My dac in my audio mastering studio has a balanced xlr line output that can be set from +6dBu (1.54 volt rms) to +24dBu(12.2 volt rms).
Which is the recommended balanced input level for the Bryston BHA-1? I'd like to buy it to use as my new reference headphone amplifier.
 
Mr Tanner? Anyone?
 
thanks!

 

[Rob80b]

  My dac in my audio mastering studio has a balanced xlr line output that can be set from +6dBu (1.54 volt rms) to +24dBu(12.2 volt rms).
Which is the recommended balanced input level for the Bryston BHA-1? I'd like to buy it to use as my new reference headphone amplifier.
 
Mr Tanner? Anyone?
 
thanks!

Hi fradoca
 
If I remember correctly, but it's been awhile,  the standard for pro audio used to be around +4dBu / 3.47 volts for the balanced outs but even my Bryston BCD-1  is higher than 6dB at 6.5dB/4.6V balanced, so the 6dBu/ 4.37V setting  will be ok, any higher and you'll have problems with the gain on the BHA-1 being limited to around 8 on the dial depending on the phones being used.

 

[Rob80b]

Just found this if you wish to do your own calculations.
 
http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-db-volt.htm

 

[fradoca]

Rob80b,
i know the website you posted and which is the standard for pro audio thanks I ask this because many professional audio digital to analog converters
have output values that range from +18dBu (6.15 volt rms) to +26dBu (23.7 volt rms).
I presume that the BHA-1 is also aimed at the professional audio market considered the high quality delivered by Bryston products.
All professional PMC speakers(used in many mastering studios around the world) use only Bryston Amps.They're like bread and butter.
 
My current driven balanced headphone amplifier made by Qes labs has an headroom of +37dBu (34.7 volt rms) before getting into distorsion.
 
i'd like to know the maximum input value for Bryston expressed in dBu or volt rms.Just to be sure to se the correct output from my reference dac.
 
I hope that someone at  Bryston technical department can give me a clear answer about that (i've already emailed them but got no answer)

 

[Dave74]

 
Hi fradoca
 
If I remember correctly, but it's been awhile,  the standard for pro audio used to be around +4dBu / 3.47 volts for the balanced outs but even my Bryston BCD-1  is higher than 6dB at 6.5dB/4.6V balanced, so the 6dBu/ 4.37V setting  will be ok, any higher and you'll have problems with the gain on the BHA-1 being limited to around 8 on the dial depending on the phones being used.

When I turn off the preamp on my M-DAC it automatically sets the volume to 0db.  The problem that I have is that with the M-DAC set at 0db I only go to around 9:00 to 10:00 with my HE-500's before I find it too loud, as I am a quiet listener.  I tried with my Sony MDR-7520's last night and I could only turn the volume to around 7:00-8:00 before it was too loud and it was very tough to find my preferred volume.  This is with the BHA-1 set to low gain and I am not running balanced cables from my M-DAC to the BHA-1 yet... 
 
The thing is that I have balanced cables on order and I read that that increases volume by another 6 db's, so the only option I can see is to not bypass the preamp in my M-DAC and turn down the volume on the M-DAC.  Do you think this will cause lesser sound quality if I turn it down around 10-15 db on the M-DAC?
 
Thanks.