Does anyone have direct experience with Bryston vs Plinius? Specifically, this is about the 250w/ch bryston vs the 175w/ch plinius. The speakers will likely be revel gems or totem mani2. Any thoughts are welcome. Mostly nearfield listening in mid size room with jazz, r and b and rock. thanks. Mike.
I auditioned the Plinius SA-100 III and a Bryston 4BST. The Bryston sounded very clean and accurate, but a little bright. The Plinius was very smooth and had great bass. I liked the Plinius more.
I have had Plinius amps. I have heard Bryston amps (but never owned one). Plinius amps (besides the SA102 and SA250mk4) tend to sound a little dark for me. Especially in the upper frequencies. The Plinius midrange is very nice and a little warm. The Bryston sound I have heard is a pretty clean but a bit sterile. I have always considered that a lot of the Bryston sound comes from professional amp design which stresses clean and powerfuk but sterile sound. I am sure this varied from amp to amp in their product line.
So I would recommend Plinius. Only because I made that same choice abour 4 years ago, and did not regret it until I changed speakers and needed to get a different amp to match my Mahlers (I went for Amggie 3.6's which Plinius amps sound great driving).
It depends on the speaker you are matching with. If the speaker is forgiving, warm, natural sound, the Plinius might be over the top. If the speaker is neutral, fast, lean, detailed, the Plinius might add a welcome touch of music.
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