Bryston BDA-3.14 Owner's Manual

BDA-3.14 Streamer / DAC

Owner’s Manual

Important Safety Instructions

The lightning flash with arrowhead symbol within an equilateral triangle, is intended to alert the user to the presence of un-insulated “dangerous voltage “ within
the product’s enclosure that may be of sufficient magnitude to constitute a risk of electric shock to persons.

1. Read these instructions.

2. Keep these instructions.

3. Heed all warnings.

4. Follow all instructions.

5. Do not use this apparatus near water.

6. Clean only with dry cloth.

7. Do not block any ventilation openings. Install in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

8. Do not install near any heat sources such as radiators, heat registers, stoves, or other apparatus (including amplifiers) that produce heat.

9. Do not defeat the safety purpose of the polarized or grounding-type plug. A polarized plug has two blades with one wider than the other. A grounding type plug has two blades

10. Protect the power cord from being walked on or pinched particularly at plugs, convenience receptacles, and the point where they exit from the apparatus.

11. Only use attachments/accessories specified by the manufacturer.

12. Use only with the cart, stand, tripod, bracket, or table specified by the manufacturer, or sold with the apparatus. When a cart is used use caution when moving the

13. Unplug this apparatus during lightning storms or when unused for long periods of time.

14. Refer all servicing to qualified service personnel. Servicing is required when the apparatus has been damaged in any way, such as power-supply cord or plug is damaged, liquid

WARNING: TO REDUCE THE RISK OF FIRE OR ELECTRIC SHOCK, DO NOT EXPOSE THIS APPARATUS TO RAIN OR MOISTURE.
DO NOT EXPOSE THIS EQUIPMENT TO DRIPPING OR SPLASHING AND ENSURE THAT NO OBJECTS FILLED WITH LIQUIDS, SUCH AS VASES, ARE PLACED ON THE EQUIPMENT.
TO COMPLETELY DISCONNECT THIS EQUIPMENT FROM THE AC MAINS, DISCONNECT THE POWER SUPPLY CORD PLUG FROM THE AC RECEPTACLE.
THE MAINS PLUG OF THE POWER SUPPLY CORD SHALL REMAIN READILY OPERABLE.

The exclamation point within an equilateral triangle is intended to alert the user to the presence of important operating and maintenance (servicing) instructions in the
literature accompanying the product.

and a third grounding prong. The wide blade or the third prong are provided for your safety. If the provided plug does not fit into your outlet, consult an electrician for replace­ment of the obsolete outlet.

cart/apparatus combination to avoid injury from tip-over.

has been spilled or objects have fallen into the apparatus, the apparatus has been exposed to rain or moisture, does not operate normally, or has been dropped.

BRYSTON LIMITED WARRANTY

Bryston analog audio products are warranted to be free from manufacturing defects for twenty (20) years from the original date of manufacture. The warranty includes parts and labour.
Bryston digital products and cables are warranted for five years from the original date of manufacture. The warranty includes parts and labour.
Bryston products having motorized moving parts, excluding motorized volume controls, are warranted for three years from the original date of manufacture. The warranty includes parts
and labour.
Bryston will remedy the problem by repair or replacement, as we deem necessary, to restore the product to full performance. Bryston will pay return shipping only for the full length of
the specific product's warranty.
In the event of a defect or malfunction, contact Bryston’s repair centers for return authorization. Products must be returned using original packaging material only. Packing material may
be purchased from Bryston if necessary. This warranty is considered void if the defect, malfunction or failure of the product or any component part was caused by damage (not resulting
from a defect or malfunction) or abuse while in the possession of the customer. Tampering by persons other than factory authorized service personnel or failure to fully comply with Bryston
operating instructions voids the warranty. This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which may vary from province to province and country to country.
As of 2006-02-22 Bryston will only warranty Bryston products purchased through authorized Bryston dealers. Bryston products with a date code of 0608 or higher (date code format is
“yyww”, where “yy” is the two least significant digits of the year and “ww” is the week of the year) must be accompanied by a copy of the bill-of-sale from a Bryston authorized dealer to
qualify for warranty service. The warranty is transferable from the original owner to a subsequent owner as long as a copy of the bill-of-sale from the original authorized Bryston dealer
accompanies the re-sale. The copy of the bill of sale to any subsequent owner need ONLY include the Name of the Bryston Authorized Dealer and the Model and Serial number of the
Bryston product The warranty will only be honored in the country of the original purchase unless otherwise pre-authorized by Bryston.

BRYSTON SERVICE in CANADA: BRYSTON SERVICE in the USA:

Postal address: P.O. BOX 2170, Stn. Main
PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO
CANADA K9J 7Y4

Courier address: 677 NEAL DRIVE
PETERBOROUGH, ONTARIO
CANADA K9J 6X7

PHONE: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

Bryston Service
The Gray Building, Classroom 4
168 N Main St
Northfield VT 05663

PH: 802-334-1201
FAX: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]

BRYSTON SERVICE outside Canada and the USA:

contact your local distributor or

CHECK OUR WEB SITE: www.bryston.com
E-MAIL BRYSTON DIRECTLY: [e-mail]
FAX BRYSTON DIRECTLY: 01-705-742-0882
PHONE BRYSTON DIRECTLY: 01-705-742-5325

Table of Contents

Important Safety Instructions ....................................2

General.........................................................................4

Welcome ................................................................4

Description ............................................................4

Features ................................................................. 4

Shipping Box and Packing Material ...................... 4

Installation ...................................................................4

Ventilation .............................................................4

Connecting to A/C Power ...................................... 4

Audio Connections ...................................................... 4

Connecting Source Components..........................4

USB Audio .............................................................. 5

HDMI Audio ............................................................ 5

Connecting to a Stereo..........................................5

HDMI Passthrough ................................................. 6

Integrated Digital Player .............................................6

Connection to Network .........................................6

Connection to Wireless Network ..........................6

Soware Introduction ...........................................7

Media Player .......................................................... 7

Now Playing ........................................................... 8

Stored Playlists ...................................................... 8

Alternate Views ......................................................8

Configuring Music Library ..................................... 9

Front Panel ................................................................10

Rear Panel .................................................................. 12

Firmware Update.......................................................13

SVC Ethernet WebUI ..................................................13

Windows Driver Installation ......................................14

JRiver Media Center: Windows ........................... 15

JRiver Media Center: OSX ...................................15

Foobar 2000 ......................................................... 15

Configuring Playback Soware ................................15

Serial Protocol ..................................................... 16

Command Format ............................................... 16

Remote Control .........................................................16

Network Access ...................................................17

IR Control ............................................................. 17

Specifications and Dimensions ................................17

General

Welcome

Thank you for your purchase of a Bryston BDA-

3.14 Streamer / DAC! Decades of ongoing research
and development have merged our expertise in
streaming with our top level DAC. With this model,
Bryston sought to achieve maximum compatibility
with a wide range of digital source components
yet preserve state-of-the-art audio quality while
including our highly sought aer digital playback
technology. Our customers are a tremendous
resource to whom we look for a measure of success.
Please feel welcome to contact us with feedback
and suggestions.

Description

The BDA-3.14 is a state of the art stereo digital to
analog converter plus high resolution streamer
that accepts digital input from up to 10 source
components and connects to an analog line-level
preamplifier. Both DSD and PCM audio data are
supported. Advanced engineering and application
of techonological advancements mean that
even previously highly regarded digital source
components may have dramatically improved
sound quality when connected to the BDA-3.14.

Features

Bryston BDA-3.14 includes the following features:

• 10 dierent digital inputs plus a built in high
resolution streaming system

• Digital preamp capability

• Analog audio out via single ended RCA or
balanced XLR connections

• PCM Audio up to 384 kHz sampling rate and 32
bit word lengths supported

• DSD Audio up to DSD256 (quad rate)

• Asynchronous USB Class 2.0 Audio inputs

• Stereo HDMI Audio with video passthrough

• Traditional digital inputs: S/PDIF via BNC, RCA,
or Toslink. AES/EBU via balanced XLR

• Remote control via ethernet, USB, RS232, or IR

• Video passthrough (HDMI audio out)

• User selectable upsampling

• Available in either 17 inch or 19 inch wide
C-Series dress panel in silver-toned (clear
anodized) or black anodized aluminum.

Shipping Box and Packing Material

Please keep the original shipping box and all
packing material. This will ensure the BDA-3.14 is
protected in future transport. In the unlikely event
you have a problem and must return it for service,
you must use the proper packing material. Ship
the BDA-3.14 only in the original packing material
as the unit is not insurable by carriers otherwise.
Replacement packing materials consisting of a
shipping carton with plastic foam inserts is available
from Bryston for a small fee.

Installation

Ventilation

The BDA-3.14 is a cool-running line level
component. It generates far less heat than
amplifiers and many other components. It can be
safely placed inside furniture or an equipment rack.
However, it should not be tightly enclosed. Some
airflow is desired.

Connecting to A/C Power

Please check the Data Plate on the right rear of
the amplifier to verify power requirements agree
with your location. Plug the IEC-320 C14 end of the
power cord into the BDA-3.14, then plug the other
end into an approved and grounded A/C receptacle.

Audio Connections

Connecting Source Components

The BDA-3.14 can accept DSD or PCM coded digital
audio from up to 10 sources. Any source component
capable of producing raw PCM, DSD, or DoP (DSD
over PCM) audio is supported. Audio formats such
as Dolby Digital, DTS, and other surround sound
audio formats are unsupported.

Each of the available inputs can decode a subset
of all available input formats. Further, a source
component may have multiple interconnect options

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BDA-3.14 Streamer / DAC

that can be used with the BDA-3.14. Choose first
by compatibility with desired audio formats, then
by order of sound quality. Source component
permitting, multiple digital connections can be
made between the source component and BDA-

3.14.
PCM DSD

96 / 24 192 / 24 384 / 32 DSD-64 DSD-256

Toslink

RCA

BNC

XLR

HDMI

USB

I²S

Source audio greater than 192kHz PCM or all DSD is
automatically downsampled to 192kHz / 24 bit when played
through internal streamer.

The question of which available input oers the best
sound quality is not easily answered since it also
depends on the quality of outputs on the source
unit. Among S/PDIF inputs, BNC is favored for
highest sound quality followed by RCA, then Toslink.
AES/EBU (XLR) input is oen superior to S/PDIF due
to its balanced (therefore noise rejecting) topology.
USB oers the most comprehensive compatibility
with various audio formats and can oer most
excellent sound quality. HDMI is ubiquitous on
televisions and cable and satellite boxes as well as
DVD and blu-ray disc players among other media
servers. It also has the unique feature of oering
digital transmission of SACD audio from select
players. When choosing from many available inputs,

there is no substitute for listening!

USB Audio

Unlike traditional digital audio interfaces, USB is a
2-way multi-purpose interface originally developed
for computer peripherals. Bryston’s advanced
implementation is fully USB Audio Class 2.0
compliant. Additionally, we use a highly advanced

asynchronous protocol whereby digital audio jitter
is virtually eradicated by slaving the attached audio
player (computer or dedicated music player) to the
ultra-precise master clock in the BDA-3.14. Modern
Macintosh and Linux computers do not need extra
device drivers installed. To use the BDA-3.14 with
Microso Windows computers, please install the
driver according to the instructions in ”Windows
Driver Installation” on page 14. Note that when
switching between the two USB inputs, a few
seconds delay in playback is normal. The BDA-3.14
can only maintain one active USB handshake at
a time. Some digital USB sources such as Bryston
BDPs will require you to reinitialize the USB audio
device when switching between USB inputs.

HDMI Audio

The BDA-3.14 can receive both PCM and DSD audio
over the HDMI, but cannot receive encoded digital
audio such as Dolby Digital or DTS. The BDA-3.14
will request 2-channel un-encoded audio from your
source component.

The BDA-3.14 uses EDID to obtain the correctly
formatted audio signal from the source. As a
2-channel only component, the BDA-3.14 will
attempt to only retrieve the stereo program material
from a disc and will ignore any Dolby or DTS
program.

Connecting to a Stereo

The BDA-3.14 can be used with or without a
separate preamplifier. The BDA-3.14 is factory
configured to start with the volume control set
to approximately 60dB below full output in
order to prevent bursts of energy from damaging
downstream equipment. If you use the BDA-3.14
with an external preamplifier, you will want to set
the default volume to 100% (0dB). From the webUI,
go to Audio Devices, Startup Volume, and define
your desired value.

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Note that the maximum output from the BDA3.14
RCA jacks is 2.0V and 4.0V on XLR balanced. An
amplifier with a gain of 29dB can generate 100 watts
with only 1 volt input.

Analog output is provided via le & right stereo pairs
of XLR balanced outputs and RCA single-ended
outputs. Balanced output is usually preferred when
available on the partnering amplifier or preamplifier
especially when long runs (greater than 3 meters)
of interconnect cable are required. Connect the Le
and Right outputs to the respective inputs on the
amplifier or preamplifier. Note that the BDA-3.14

has a default volume level of -60dB at turn on.
When connecting to an analog preamplifier, set
the BDA-3.14 volume to max 0dB for bit perfect
operation.

HDMI Passthrough

Incoming digital video may be passed through
to another receiver such as a surround sound
processor or display using the HDMI output. The
HDMI output can only pass HDMI audio when a
non-HDMI input is actively selected. See PTHD
command in “Serial Protocol” on page 16. The
digital audio outputs mirror the inputs. No sample
rate conversion or any other processing is applied to
the output.

Integrated Digital Player

Connection to Network

The BDA-3.14 features an integrated digital player
capable of playing back music files stored locally
and through select digital streaming services
available online. Unlike Bryston BDP series products
which feature a front panel display and menu
navigation system, The BDA-3.14 internal streaming
system must be operated by its web based graphical
user interface. As such, the BDA-3.14 needs to be
connected to the network via ethernet or with an
optional wireless adapter available separately from
Bryston or authorized dealer.

The BDA-3.14 has two ethernet jacks on the back.
Connect the one labeled “ETHERNET” to your
network router. The LEDs on the jack should light up
and flash occasionally indicating activity.

Connection to Wireless Network

When a wired connection is not practical, a wireless
adapter can be used by inserting it into one of the 4
“USB ACCESSORY” ports.

Upon first boot with the wireless adapter connected,
the BDA-3.14 will create its own wireless network
called Bryston Digital Player.

1. Connect your controller (laptop,
smartphone, tablet) to this network using
the password ‘bryston1’.

2. Point your web browser to
http://192.168.57.1 if not automatically
redirected. The Dashboard section of the
webUI will appear.

3. Click or tap the button “Click
here to set up your wifi”

HDMI inputs are 1.4a compliant and can pass 4K
video at up to 30fps. HDMI input 4 is HDCP 2.2
compliant. Video is passed through to a connected
monitor at the native resolution with no processing
or conversion.

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