OC, I saw that review, and I think it probably quite correctly describes what makes the BDP-1 successful: it is a computer optimized for digital file playback. And just 13 months later, that same publication would say
this about the PWT/PWD MKII combo:
Quote:Let me begin with the bottom line: The PS Audio PerfectWave DAC II and PerfectWave Memory Player have evolved into a cutting-edge digital front end. They have competition, but competition that rivals them in quality is substantially more expensive or lacking in the same features. The DAC II has an outstanding ability to play back the highest sampling-rate material and get the best out of the older CDs that contain almost all of the world’s best performances. Most strikingly, the DAC II joins a handful of more expensive units in reducing traces of hardness in digital sound to the point where even the most demanding acoustic instruments like the violin, flute, and piano sound as musical as the recording permits.
Glossies are not a dime a dozen. I think the Bryston review is extremely complimentary, no doubt well-earned, and as I have said, I am sure the player sounds great (though I confess I could not locate the "consensus of all the pro reviews" you described—really? that would be truly unprecedented in digital-audiophiledom). All I pointed out was that there were few, if any, objective reasons to believe the Bryston was orders of magnitude better than another product built to similarly exacting, if not moreso, standards.
I am not interested in a war of the glossies. The TAS review of the PWT/PWD combo (by Cordesman, with whom I have more familiarity than Schuster) was over a year later, and it was so effusive, that one might think he needed to excuse himself after writing it.
For each of us here, what matters is that we are able to listen, choose what we like, and act on it. If you truly believe that either the BDP-1 or BDP-2 actually outperforms the PWD MKII, then that's cool, because this being a consumer's market, you can choose the one you like.
My guess is that for my old set of ears, that even if i spent enough time in a proper demo room, with comparative systems correctly set up to factor out any other possible difference, I would likely be hard pressed to discern the differences between these quality products. Maybe I could; I have actually surprised myself when I could actually tell the differences between cables and other items....and so could people in my family.
But I also know what happens when I listen to something new, and it blows me away, in part because I was fully engaged, listening, in a primed setting. I recently ordered a pair of HR-1 speakers to replace one of my pairs of ERRs. Before doing so, I had listened to Teresonic Ingenium speakers (gorgeous and detailed, like that Photo A/B metaphor Schuster used—inaccurately in my view; some of the most impactful photographs of all time lacked detail, focus, or color). I was indeed blown away. And I was prepared to drop 14k on a pair. But discretion got the better of me, and I spent some time in conversation with Bob, re-read some of the effusiveness around the HR-1s, and decided instead to order them sound unheard. I of course had the benefit of my own experience with the ERRs, I know what Bob and Steve voice for, etc. And so, when I returned to a critical listen of my own ERRs, this time Cowboy Junkies'
Trinity Sessions Revisited and the hi-res
Piano in a Church (yeah, I was on a church kick), and I could hear the sounds of a church alive in music, I knew if I could have a more precise, detailed, accurate version of that voice, I would be very happy.So I ordered the HR-1s.
As I listened, and adjusted the placement of my speakers, I also remembered that correct speaker placement likely had far more impact than any difference between pieces of Bryston and PS Audio equipment—if any. None of which is to say I don't think you should buy the one that you think or hear is better. You should! I just doubt that the Bryston is, or that it is in such a way that I should spend hours in listening rooms, or $ in my own living room, swapping equipment in and out, hours I can never get back. But the $? Those I can spend on live music. Week after next, I will be 1/3 back in the 2000-seat Bob Hope Theatre in Stockton watching and listening to B.B. King. No Bryston or PS Audio or even Decware can compare to that. Not quite the Checkerboard Lounge, but live nonetheless.
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