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DAC streamers: Bryston v. HiFi Rose video

I like HiFi Rose's ability to stream video content -- like Tidal video or YouTube -- decoding the audio locally and forwarding the decoded video to a big-screen TV through HDMI.  But I was less impressed with the Rose DAC's sound quality.  It's OK, but I was looking for something better.

But does any other DAC/streamer of equal or better quality offer this video-output functionality?  I hadn't found any real contenders until I started reading about Bryston's Bryston BDA-3.14, announced during the pandemic.

The BDA's spec sheet only mentiones "video passthrough" via an HDMI output.  Can anybody tell me, from hands-on experience, whether the Bryston does what the HFR DAC/streamers do?  That is, can they decode Blu-ray content (streamed from an external player) or stream video itself directly from the Internet, and, when doing so, forward those internally or externally sourced video streams to an external TV monitor?

The other obvious question is SQ.  Anybody have an opinion about how the Bryston DAC compares to HFR's DACs?

Unfortunately, I live far, far away from any dealership, so I have no opportunity to hear the Bryston before purchasing.  I did have a loaner HFR RS250 inhouse for a few weeks, though, so I'm pretty familiar with Rose's SQ.

I have a Harbeth system and am contemplating an upgrade to Bryston gear.

 

cundare2
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jazzman7
348 posts
 

Have no idea what your budget is.  But budget allowing, given what you like about the Rose products, have you considered the option of the Rose RS130 (high end network player, no DAC) and then combining that with your DAC of choice.

mahler123
3,362 posts
 

I have Bryston DAC3, which is the DAC stage of the streamer mentioned.  It has 4 HDMI inputs that will play the DSD from a SACD or similar High Resolution formats from a DVD or Blu Ray.  I use a monitor if I want to watch the video sometimes and the Oppo 105 sends audio to the DAC and video to the monitor.  I am not sure if this answer helps you

cundare2 OP
276 posts
 

@jazzman7 Yes, I’m very aware of the HFR product line. Love the connectivity, neutral about the "iPad" UI, a little disappointed in the RS250A’s DAC. Nonetheless, you make a very logical suggestion, one that I’ve thought of. But that was an unstated subtext of my original question: If I go with the Bryston integrated & 3.14 DAC, would adding a HFR RS130 provide additional functionality?

@mahler123 I’ve got an Oppo like yours, but it’s no longer a good streaming video option for me. And the Android app that connects to Tidal doesn’t run under newer versions of the operating system. So I’m hoping to relegate the Oppo to universal-disc-transport status -- it really does read almost every format! -- and migrate all D/A funtionality to the newer gear. So my digital front-end would a disc player and a streamer both upstream from a DAC. That would feed one input of the integrated.  If the DAC was a HiFi Rose product, it would also send decoded video to a TV.  So my original question was: Would the Bryston streaming DAC be able to do the same?

 

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