Bryston vs. Plinius

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.

Sean, the mani2 is a 4 ohm speaker and very tough to drive according to people who are smarter than I. Mike

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).

KF

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.

In that respect, my first hand experience is that Bryston amps are not well suited to low impedance / difficult loads. You can find a few others stating similar opinions in the AA archives and in Stereophile via their review of the 7B monoblocks. They didn't come straight out and say it, but they did make it quite clear that other amps of lower or similar power rating were able to drive the same loads without a problem while the Bryston was going into clipping quite frequently. With that in mind, i would think that there would be better candidates to use with your specific speakers.

As to Plinius, i have very limited experience with any of their gear. That was within a system that i did not know at all but did run a three piece Metronome brand transport, DAC and power supply with some custom built speakers. The presentation that came from that system was lean, bright, sterile and gave me an instant headache. Others have told me that Plinius gear is typically quite warm and smooth, but that is not what i heard from that ONE system. As such, i can't really pass judgment one way or the other.

Obviously, others may agree / disagree with my observations, but that has been my experience with the two ears that i have : ) Sean
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