Finally took the Bryston 4B Cubed plunge

Hi @phcollie I finally managed to audition the Bryston 4B3 and compared it to the Parasound JC5, but at the end I decided I will keep the JC5.   Here's my impression of the 2 amps.

When I first hooked up the Bryston, right away I noticed the improvement in the bass.  It's got nice slam and punchiness.   The amp also seems very quiet.   The high end does seem to have a little more details than the JC-5.   My first impression was pretty good, and I thought it was going to be a keeper.

After about 3 weeks, the Parasound JC-5 started to open up.  The bass has improved.   The sound stage is wide open.  There is a lot of space between instruments.   Overall there is this sense of transparency to the amp, it feels like it is just quietly sitting there and delivering the music without getting in the way.   It's very quiet and probably a little more so than the Bryston.   The bass doesn't have the slam of the Bryston, but it goes a little lower.   The highs doesn't seem to be as detailed as the Bryston, but it is still very good.   Overall I find the JC-5 to have a smoother sound and much easier to listen to.

Bryston 4B3 is a great amp,  I can see myself being happy with it.  Really love the bass.   But at the end, the JC-5 is a little more suitable to my taste.

Cheers!

I am very late to the chain but wanted to join in. I have a Bryston 4B Cubed, BP26 with the power pack, BDP2, BDA2, PMC Twenty5 23 speakers. The sound is absolutely fantastic. I was also using the Focal 1028BE but the sound was to bright so traded them in for the PMCs. I should have bought the Twenty5 26.

Thanks

Good day to you all, I'm very happy to find this thread. Please allow me to compare my limited experience. We had an extended comparison at the society between high class solid state amps including Bryston (4B3), Pass, Gryphon. Members agreed 4B3 more than matched the others in resolution, transparency, soundstage and realism and 4B3 had more authority and involvement. The member who organised the test was planning to purchase Pass, he opted for a set of 4B3 to drive his JBL Everest ($40K a pair). He also owns Krell and Levinson, they are gathering dust. 4B3 treble is as good as any transistor amp but bettered by good valve amps. I think the traditional reputation of lively/strong bass/mid at the expense of grainy treble was true for 4B and 4BST but no longer true for 4B3. The biggest improvement may have occurred with 4B2 when the output circuit was radically changed but I have no personal experience of the 4B2. We also found the following (no cost) ways. 1) Try to buy the dealer demo 4B3 it takes a huge amount of time to run in 2) The unbalanced (phono) input gives a much more involving sound than the balanced input. Happy listening! (Disclosure, Bryston/Thiel for past 20 years).

Asia,  Thank you for your post. Since I listen to Magnepan, the treble and mids are highly resolved. "Grainy" is an adjective I would never consider with my 4B3.  To my ears, it is clean, accurate and detailed. I am extremely pleased to hear the results of your Society Test. Your findings regarding the unbalanced input gives me something to examine as I have been running everything balanced.