Home Visit - A Follow Up on The AA Music Streamer

 

When I decided to drive up to Penang for my annual solo trip / run this year, I wanted to also visit some friends, old and new. Got to know Dr. Anwar a few months back when I had the chance to review his AA Music streamer. So, being in Penang for a few days and after I am done with my Nasi Kandar and running needs, off I went to visit this audio enthusiast. Spent about 5 hours there.

His system includes Harbeth and Focal speakers, McIntosh amplification, JL Audio subs, Marantz SACD player, a monstrous TORUS power management system, TW Acustic Turntable and of course, various versions of his own masterpiece streamer design -The AA Music Streamer.

I experienced the different sound coming from The AA Music streamer based on different tweaks and design topology by the owner. This particular clip is the one that I like best. The clarity from this model clearly surfaced up his best work compared to when I reviewed his streamer a few months ago.

He incorporated 2 subwoofers in his set up but we only use 1 during the session. The way he set up the sub created  a seamless sound with an enveloping atmosphere. As his sub can be easily switched on and off, there was a clear different between having a sub or not.

On the HT side as well, he set up a 5.2 channel which was sufficient for his living room. Testing out Avatar, it was truly engaging experience. Very nicely done.

His set up is another example of a non dedicated Hifi/HT room done right. It may not be perfect with respect to having 2 pair of speakers set up near to each other but nevertheless, it was still quite impressive.

Thank you Dr. Anwar for your hospitality. And big thank you to the Mrs as well for a splendid dinner. El Hefe went back to hotel as a happy man!.

Bryston BDP Pi and Product Update

Bryston fans... the Pi is here. On 4th November, the mini sized hi res player BDP Pi was launched at AV Designs showroom in Kuala Lumpur. Retailed at RM5900, this nifty little player is targetted at the new comers to hi res audio. With the exception of DSD, this Raspberry Pi based player can play various and most common formats including FLAC. The BOT-1 optical drive can also be connected to this unit and can perform direct CD playback or for ripping. It has 4 USB inputs, 1 coaxial and 1 optical out and a network port. Connect it to a DAC and network cable and you are on the way to audio nirvana.

The Pi works similarly to the BDP2 that I just reviewed including the interface.

Brian Russel, President of Bryston graced the product launched event by explaining the features of the Pi. There were various questions coming from the usual local hifi enthusiasts. To the question of why Tidal and not Spotify, it is mainly because Tidal is claimed to be providing better sounding music streaming as oppose to Spotify. Why no DSD support? Mainly because of the limitation of the Raspberry Pi platform.

The usual crowd Jo Ki, Dick Tan, Willy Low, Venoth along with AV Designs James Tan and Tony Low and of course, yours truly.

In this instant, size does not matter :)

Brian also updated us with some exciting news of whats coming:

• BryFi - the wifi speaker system. Currently pending for license/certification approval. 
• The CD player is coming back. Using a similar topography of BDA3 DAC, Bryston is adding a Sony transport with slot in mechanism and launch the new CD player by year end.
• BLP-1 turntable (already available) 
• A miniature DAC to compliment the Pi and BOT-1

What is a product launch without a meal? We ended the event with a full of laughter dinner. Brian is one entertainer. Salute to you Mr. President of Bryston.

Here are a fewer samplers: