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As with the Hegel Music Systems Mohican, which we reviewed in the May issue, the Bryston BCD-3 has no digital inputs of any kind. This limited my measurement of its technical behavior to using 16-bit test files burned to a CD-R. (I sometimes had to eject and reload a CD-R several times before the BCD-3 would play it.) I tested the Bryston with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It").

The Bryston's error correction was excellent—no glitches were apparent in the player's output until the single gaps in the data spiral on the…

Of course that cycle also produced a lot of heartbreak and shattered dreams. A few bands, mostly those who could produce hit singles in a Beatles-centric subgenre that would soon come to be known as power pop, made it. For a moment or two. Think of the Raspberries: a big…

Even VIP visitors to Abbey Road studios are allowed to only peer down a dimly lit hallway to the vault where the Beatles…

If that's what you're thinking, consider that Helmut Brinkmann began designing, manufacturing, and marketing electronics well before he made the first of the turntables for which his company is best known in the US.

The Nyquist is a thoroughly (almost) modern streaming DAC and headphone amplifier in a surprisingly small case, its compactness…

Sound
Before reading my description of the Nyquist's sound, remember the words of a former audio writer who famously wrote that tubes do not belong in an audio system "unless you are a tweako cultist. There is nothing in audio electronics that cannot be done…

Description: Streaming digital-to-analog converter and headphone amplifier with tubed output stage. Tube complement: four Telefunken PCF803 (NOS, two per channel). Digital inputs: AES/EBU (XLR), S/PDIF (RCA), optical (TosLink), Ethernet (RJ45), USB Type B (high-resolution audio). Analog outputs: balanced (XLR), single-ended (RCA). Formats supported: MQA and PCM up to 384kHz (DXD), DSD64 and DSD128 via DoP (DSD over PCM), DSD256 natively. Frequency response: N/A. THD, I/M: <0.01%. Signal/noise: >100dBA. Channel separation: N/S. Maximum output voltage: ±12V…

Analog Sources: Continuum Audio Labs Caliburn turntable & Castellon stand; Kuzma 4Point, SAT tonearms; Lyra Atlas & Atlas SL & Etna & Etna SL, Ortofon Anna & A95, Miyajima Labs Zero (mono) & Madake cartridges.
Digital Sources: Audio Alchemy DDS•Pro CD transport; Moon by Simaudio Evolution 780D DAC; Lynx Hilo A/D-D/A converter; Meridian Sooloos Digital Media System; MacBook Air running Roon, Pure Vinyl, & Vinyl Studio software.
Preamplification: Ypsilon MC-10L & MC-16L step-up transformers; CH Precision P1, TruLife…

I measured the second sample of the Brinkmann Nyquist with my Audio Precision SYS2722 system (see the January 2008 "As We See It"), using both the Audio Precision's optical and electrical digital outputs, and USB data sourced from my MacBook Pro running on battery power with Pure Music 3.0 playing WAV and AIFF test-tone files. Apple's USB Prober utility identified the DAC as "Nyquist" from "Brinkmann Audio," and confirmed that the USB port operated in the optimal isochronous asynchronous mode. Apple's AudioMIDI utility revealed that, via USB, the Nyquist accepted…

Last month, our sister…