Amplifier output was impressive: it easily beat its 140-WPc rating in two-channel tests, and even came close with all five channels driven. Frequency response tests uniformly reflected a gentle rolloff (about 3 dB/octave) over the ultrasonic octaves, beginning as a 0.4-dB deficit at 20 kHz. noise performance was uniformly good: in digital-signal tests, about 1 dB short of the theoretical limits using S+V’s real-world dithered signals.
I am deliberately stating the obvious when I observe that for what you’d pay for an SP-3/ 9BSST2 combo, you might well purchase a modest, foreclosed-and-abandoned home in certain neighborhoods in, say, Florida or Las Vegas. But that’s hardly the point — nor is the news that a buyer even mildly curious about the price would not be shopping in these environs in the first place.
For the 1 percent left standing (more like 0.1 percent, I’ll warrant), there’s no argument: Bryston’s surround electronics are state-of-the-art. They are as well made as any consumer electronics you can buy, and in a system designed, installed, and programmed for “just press play” operability, with loudspeakers and room acoustics of concomitant quality, audio playback simply ain’t gonna get any better. Which is what that oft-abused phrase “state of the art” is supposed to mean.
Note: All tests performed on SP-3/9BSST2 together, connected via unbalanced inputs/outputs.
DOLBY DIGITAL PERFORMANCE
All data were obtained from various test DVDs using 16-bit dithered test signals, which set limits on measured distortion and noise performance. Reference input level is –20 dBFS, and reference output is 1 watt into 8 ohms. Volume setting for reference level was -3.5. All level trims at zero; except for subwoofer-related tests, all speakers were set to “large,” subwoofer on. All are worst-case figures where applicable.
Output at clipping (1 kHz into 8/4 ohms)
Distortion at 1 watt (THD+N, 1 kHz)
Noise level (A-wtd): –75.0 dB
Excess noise (with sine tone)
Frequency response: 20 Hz to 20 kHz +0, –0.4 dB
MULTICHANNEL PERFORMANCE, ANALOG INPUT
Reference input and output level is 200 mV; volume setting for reference output level was –3.5.
STEREO PERFORMANCE, DIGITAL INPUT
Reference level is –20 dBFS; all level trims at zero. Volume setting for reference level was –3.
with 96-kHz/24-bit signals: –79.4 dB
16-bit (EN16): 1.6/1.2 dB
quasi-20-bit (EN20): 13.9/15.2 dB
with 96-kHz/24-bit signals: <10 Hz to 44 kHz +0, –2 dB
BASS-MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE
Measured results obtained with Dolby Digital test signals.
Bryston’s multichannel SP-3 and 9BSST2 pairing produced varying results on the test bench, which, a bit paradoxically, is fairly typical of high-end designs. Amplifier output was impressive: The 9BSST2 easily beat its highly conservative 120-watts-per-channel rating, even with all five channels driven. Interestingly, the Bryston amp yielded only modestly more watts driving 4-ohm loads than with 8 ohms, suggesting that its design features substantially more of an output-device safe operating area than “necessary” for its overall current potential; this might have some bearing on the outstanding dynamic freedom I heard.
Frequency response tests uniformly reflected a gentle rolloff (about 3 dB/octave) over the ultrasonic octaves, beginning as a 0.4-dB deficit at 20 kHz. Noise performance was uniformly good: in digital-signal tests, about 1 dB short of the theoretical limits using S+V’s real-world dithered signals. S/N on 96/24 PCM enjoyed an advantage of only about 5 dB, suggesting analog-circuit noise as the limiting factor. (While generalization is always dangerous, I have found this kind of S/N result fairly usual among high-end, “all-discrete-component” designs, whose creators accept the slight noise penalty in exchange for other subjective sonic virtues they value more highly.)
Two head-scratchers: First, while the SP-3’s digital-to-analog linearity with dithered tones was essentially perfect to –80 dBFS, at –90 dBFS its output went vastly negative (–120 dBFS or below), suggesting that its D/A system was muting, or making a many-decibel calculation error on this particular tone. However, because I found response on a –100 dBFS tone (which we do not regularly report, as it pushes the boundary of our measurement repeatability) to be quite close, and because, despite many efforts on headphones, I could not hear any sign of D/A discontinuity on our dithered continuous “fade-to-noise” listening-test signals, I consider this more of a test-bench anomaly than a performance problem.
Second, the SP-3 could not pass our subwoofer-output torture test (full-scale 31-Hz signal present in all channels) without digi-clipping it quite severely, and the same was true of 5 x 30-Hz 0-dBFS, and even 6 x 30-Hz -3-dBFS signals from the Dolby Digital test disc. (Both these signals have issues that disqualify them for single-test sub-out evaluations, but I ain’t going into that here…) Yet sub output with “normal” signals (–20 dBFS-ish) was beautiful (0.02 % THD), and the output could deliver around 5 volts, which is plenty to drive any sub system to full output. So, with very few reservations, I class this as another non-problem, because full-scale signals at low frequencies are rare even in one or two channels at a time, let alone five or six. And still more so because the audible impact is questionable anyway, since the distortion products mostly arise beyond the passband of the low-pass filter.
Thank you to Sound & Vision Magazine and Daniel Kumin for such a thorough review of the Bryston system!
Bryston software update: The latest version of the software in the Bryston SP-3 now enables users to adjust channel level using the Bryston remote, rather than having to operate the front panel buttons on the processor itself. Adjustments are visible on the SP-3’s display window. The Bryston SP-3 will not present controllability via an on-screen display because that would require an internal video card, something counter to the core design philosophy of the SP-3 processor. Bryston avoided adding an internal video card for the following reasons—First and foremost, we wanted to eliminate all sources of noise such as an internal video card might generate in order to deliver the highest possible audio performance from the SP-3. Additionally, we felt that the video processing segment of the industry changes at such a frantic pace and we wanted real product longevity for the Bryston SP-3 and our customers.