Listening sessions with the PDX & BRYSTON DACS

Over the past month I’ve had the good fortune of having a PDX on loan from a fellow SNA member.

I’ve been able to listen extensively to the PDX with its inbuilt battery modded hiface USB converter and I’ve very much enjoyed the experience.

The comparison between the PDX and my own Bryston BDA-1 DAC fed by a Berkeley Alpha USB converter has been rather enlightening for me.

The Bryston has been in my system for some time now and fed with the Berkeley USB it sounds very clinical and very clean. It is very detailed and defiantly was of a quality I felt I quite enjoyed and was satisfied with. I wasn’t sure if things could really get any better in the digital domain.

Well that has changed since my time with the PDX. The Bryston defiantly is very detailed, clean and clinical but at a price. In comparison to the PDX, the Bryston comes across as having had the emotion surgically removed from the music. Cold and uninvolving would possibly be my best description of the Bryston/Berkeley combo after a direct comparison to the PDX. With the emotion sounding sucked out the music it is left a bit dry and again that word ‘uninvolving’. The want to play song after song is just not there.

The PDX on the other hand is much warmer at first listen followed by snowballing waves of real presence. The vocal mids are the first thing to hit the attention and make you realize that the music is coming across as so much more real and in contrast to the Bryston, much more involving. The quality of the bottom end and highs just glide along with the mids.

The PDX has a much more ‘valvey’ sound in comparison to the transistor solid state sound of the Bryston. I guess that is hardly surprising as the PDX has a valve in it. I realize that sounds very un-technical and that is because I am very un-technical. I could look up what that valve is and what it does but I’m not all that interested in what is under the hood. I care more about the quality of the performance.

The performance of the PDX is undoubtedly more lifelike and more real than the Bryston. The timbre of instruments is much more emotionally there and the music tends to carry a richer and fuller texture to it.

I had another local SNA member around for a listen to both today and interestingly at first listen he felt he preferred the Bryston. The clean presentation he felt was more detailed and pleasing. After switching back to the PDX he changed his mind. He also then felt the emotion and involvement of the PDX and felt, like me that as a standalone performance the PDX was good but after a listen to the Bryston and then switching back, the PDX was a standout and much better than he first thought.

The words that kept coming up for the PDX were the depth of feeling & emotion, warmth, full rich timbres, lifelike & real presence especially in the vocal mid range.

Where we differed slightly at the end of our listening session was he felt the PDX was better than the Bryston/Berkeley combo by a smaller margin than I did. After saying that I’ve had many hours of comparisons between the two and he has only had a couple of hours today.

With a Jazz playlist on shuffle well into the late night the PDX is a very difficult unit to switch off and say goodnight to. For me I’m after the raw emotion the artist intended to be there in the music and the PDX delivers on that front in spades.

On a visual note I also find the Bryston very annoying during late night listening in the dark with its over powering bright green lights burning into my retinas. I really like the soft mellow and dimmed dual reddish glow of the switches on the PDX.

Anyone want to buy a Bryston DAC Just joking. I have a place for it at work where I am going to upgrade the stereo set up there.

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Music files were 16 bit AIFF ripped by dBPoweramp & some 24 bit AIFF files stored on a Oyen digital 1TB HD played on Audirvana Plus using a 2011 mac mini.

Audio Research REF 5 preamp & Audio Research REF 110 vacuum tube poweramp.

VAF I-93MK2 speakers

A good read, OTB. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

Good read. Was it PDX Level 2?

Good read. Was it PDX Level 2?

Hi 88pro. Yes it is a level 2 but not the latest one.

Thanks Nathan

.....The comparison between the PDX and my own Bryston BDA-1 DAC fed by a Berkeley Alpha USB converter has been rather enlightening for me.

Thanks for the excellent write up.

I can relate to your journey having gone through a similar process with different equipment.

I think your findings are likely to be due to much more then the valve stage of the PDX, which is not especially sophisticated.

At the heart of that PDX is R2R converter architecture fed by low jitter digital signal. Get those basics right and detail with a musically engaging experience usually follows.

I think your findings are likely to be due to much more then the valve stage of the PDX, which is not especially sophisticated.

Wow nada i hope you can fill us in regarding which is not especially sophisticated i never knew that you became a valve output stage guru?

At the heart of that PDX is R2R converter architecture fed by low jitter digital signal. Get those basics right and detail

I agree with you, up to that point.

with a musically engaging experience usually follows.

in my experience, it takes more than a good Dac chip and a low jitter source to achieve that.

I had to say goodbye to the PDX a week ago now and in that week I've been really struggling listening to computer audio with the Bryston and Berkeley combo. The SQ hole left by the absence of the PDX feels very real and difficult to jump over. CD now sounds much better then computer and of course there is vinyl but I'm struggling with listening to computer audio now without the PDX. I would actually purchase one in a jiffy but I have a DAC on order from Mr Garland so until I'm lucky enough to take possession of that piece of magic I'll have to make do. Unless a used PDX comes up in the interim I guess. A couple of gentlemen posting on this thread have had a wide range of experience with the Killer so they may have an incling of what I can expect.

Congrats !!

I'm not using mine with a PC source. My PC drives a different Dac. But I still plan to try a JKeny Hiface I2S version. I do hold high hopes that it'll get my PC playback very close to my modified cd94. [fingers crossed]. I'll try it sooner or later.

I had to say goodbye to the PDX a week ago now and in that week I've been really struggling listening to computer audio with the Bryston and Berkeley combo. The SQ hole left by the absence of the PDX feels very real and difficult to jump over. CD now sounds much better then computer and of course there is vinyl but I'm struggling with listening to computer audio now without the PDX. I would actually purchase one in a jiffy but I have a DAC on order from Mr Garland so until I'm lucky enough to take possession of that piece of magic I'll have to make do. Unless a used PDX comes up in the interim I guess. A couple of gentlemen posting on this thread have had a wide range of experience with the Killer so they may have an incling of what I can expect.

I have a friend in perth using the ap2 with a kdac no probs works great with a mac computer he likes the convenience of computer audio suites his system very well.

Unless a used PDX comes up in the interim I guess.

Ask and the universe answers - http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/showthread.php/44169-EOI-Lenehan-PDX-dac-level-2-with-usb

I have a friend in perth using the ap2 with a kdac no probs works great with a mac computer he likes the convenience of computer audio suites his system very well.

Congrats !!

I'm not using mine with a PC source. My PC drives a different Dac. But I still plan to try a JKeny Hiface I2S version. I do hold high hopes that it'll get my PC playback very close to my modified cd94. [fingers crossed]. I'll try it sooner or later.

Thanks guys

I know funny ole world aint it.

I may have been a bit late off the mark with this one though. Not to worry I'm sure the universe will provide