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The long awaited Bryston SP3 is finally at Unilet Sound & Vision after years in development and reams of speculation on Bryston/PMC forums...
There are a great many people wanting to compare the sonic differences between the Bryston SP3 and the competition, because there are, after all, some fantastic products out there at similar price points, and at a price of £9995, you really should consider doing some homework first.
1. Legacy video inputs (ie. Composite, S-Video and Component) and video scaling. Depending on how many devices you have and how old they are, a large selection of inputs and a video scaler can be a huge bonus. However, If your devices are mainly HDMI equipped then much of this connectivity is wasted. Blu-ray (at 1080p/24Hz) does not require scaling and is simply passed through to the display device. If you own a higher-end DVD/Blu-ray player you would generally purchase it for its higher-quality audio circuit. Higher quality video scaling is generally included in machines at this price point, so if you add scaling to a surround processor, you may well be paying twice for something you already have.
2. Room Correction Facility. Probably the best selling point for many manufacturers. Nearly all surround processors we have sold in the past have benefited from built-in acoustic room correction one way or another. Room Correction on many processors regains some the pace that may be lacking to begin with, and can bring to light a fantastic amount of detail and clarity.
The initial setup of the SP3 was complex, not because the Bryston is hard to operate, but because the placement of speakers is now more fundamental to the end result, owing to the omission of Room Correction (just like the good old days).
I can honestly say I haven't had so much fun setting up a home cinema system in a long time. Using age-old Hi-Fi setup methods, this ‘analogue’ approach is slowly becoming a lost art in this automated world; setting speaker distances to the nearest centimetre, adjusting the toe-in angles of all of the speakers so that they image perfectly. Using an SPL meter to get an overall balance of the speaker volumes and lastly, fine-tuning these variables to the Nth degree by listening to movie and music material that you’ve heard on a thousand systems before and know every single nuance of, inside and out.
So comparing the Anthem D2v (with ARC applied) to the SP3 with no correction, is the Bryston better? Absolutely not, but that doesn't mean to say they don't sound completely different from eachother. I grew to love the Anthem D2v as it was the one and only processor that finally trounced my old Bryston SP1.7. Bearing in mind that the SP1.7 had no HDMI audio capabilities, was built with DVD in mind (Blu-ray didn't even exist then) and the only way to achieve HD Audio of any kind was to utilize the analogue 5.1 bypass.
It's a really difficult one to call. What we have here are undeniably the two best Home Cinema processors we've ever heard, and if we were forced to make a decision between the two, we'd be stuck in the middle until Summertime. I can't make it clearer that they are equally as good, but for completely different reasons. I could detect no more or no less in terms of detail and sound-steering between the two, but contradicting this are two completely different presentations. Both brands have certainly put their own sonic stamp into the mix.
Only when playing alongside the Bryston SP3, did the Anthem exhibit a comparatively drier sound; technically perfect in every way, like a steak with just the right amount of marbling. (All of the meat with much of the fatty stuff taken away for you). The Canadians know a thing or two about beef, and if you want your steak pre-cut trimmed and cooked to perfection with minimal fuss, Anthem is your best bet and a healthier option to boot. If you prefer “SLAM! There’s your steak” from a high-quality butchers and you know a thing or two about how much fat to trim off and to not overcook it, the home-prepared Bryston beef is likely the rarest, juiciest and most tender you’re ever likely to get a taste of. After all, it's that little bit of "rawness" that gives the Bryston a flavour of its own.
Bryston have brought a truly analogue sound to the table from a cutting edge digital product, and I mean analogue in the best way possible. Fast, open, clear, capable of astonishing dynamic presentation and distortion so low that you are invited to keep turning the volume up and up without fatigue. Even low-level listening provides insight like never before, with perfectly intelligible dialogue and surround presence and musicality no matter what the volume is.
The Anthem D2v is a veritable AV Swiss-Army knife that demands comparison at this price level. With the Bryston SP3 the entire design project had one key purpose in mind; to make the best sounding pre-amp/processor, bar none. All other priorities are rescinded. We would argue that opinions will be divided subject to what is considered important in a home cinema processor.
To arrange a demonstration of the Bryston SP3 and Anthem D2v, please call us on (020) 8942-9567.
