Fsmithjack, Yes, SOtM is just ordinary PCIe card so you're good to go as long as you have available PCIe slot in your PC. One note tough, make sure you connect internal PSU from PC to card regardless of fact that you're going to use external battery PSU. This will step in ONLY in the case if for any reason card loses external PSU (accidentally un-plugged etc...) and will prevent damage to card itself ( see SOtM manual). For normal operation battery PSU is used all the time and you can hear improvement in sound immediately. Other thing to consider is that you go with Windows 8 (as suggested by Chris from CA) for better driver compatibility. Windows 8 will recognize SOtM card without problems but I would also suggest installing original (Texas Instruments) driver from SOtM website. I think I heard further improvement in sound after I did this.
Bryston BDP-1 or BDP-2 are network/USB players and they act as PC, so you dont need PC if youre going to use these, neither you need SOtM card/Battery PSU. So you need to decide which way to go first but since you already have money in SOtM I dont see any reason giving that up.
Sound wise Bryston players are excellent option since theyre actually customized Linux based PCs for audio. However I prefer PC based source since for its far more versatile and future proof. For example I rely on JRiver more than 5 years now, my library has almost 10000 albums. I spent countless hours getting all tags correctly and believe me this is not something thats get done automatically. I dont believe that BDP user interface/library capabilities are even close to JRiver. On the other hand I run Steinberg Wavelab and Izotope RX professional software for audio editing and restoration of vinyl rips from the same machine. With BDP player youre lock to music playback ONLY with limited options for upgrades in the future.
I hope this helps.
