I believe the most important part of an audio system is the source. As they say, you can’t fix down stream what’s broken upstream. My Aragon D2A MKII is great, but I it is over 15 years old, and that’s why I went to compare it to the Bryston BDA-1.

Well actually, I did not compare Bryston BDA-1, but I did compare it to the BCD-1 CD player. I have been told that the Bryston BDA-1 does sound better then the CD player, so I figured if the CD player bested the Aragon, I’d have an even better time with the BDA-1 Dac.

I dropped by my favorite dealer, Ovation Audio in Aurora Ontario. Mike helpfully hooked up the Aragon to the digital output on the Bryston BCD-1 and hooked the Aragon to the Macintosh remote controlled pre-amp. The Bryston was using balanced outputs with a pair of Nordost cables. For the Aragon DAC I brought with me the Atlas Compass Digital cable, and the Atlas Voyager Interconnects. So, using the remote I could switch between the Bryston player and the Aragon DAC.

I popped in my first CD, Tori Amos’s Scarlet’s Walk, and I got a surprise! The Bryston and Aragon sounded pretty much the same! Ok, ok there were some differences, but the most obvious difference was that the Bryston sounded closed in with a recessed mid-range. It made the snare drum sound every so tiny. What the hell?!? I mean, I could tell there was more bottom end, although I wondered if that was the illusion of no top end?

The Aragon D2A MKII sounded open and detailed. The snare drum had snap, body and a reverberant background. The sound was just more lively. At this point, I thought I should try my Atlas Voyager cable on the single ended outputs of the Bryston. So, I hooked up to the Bryston and left the balanced cables in place. Now when I switched back and forth on the preamp, I would be sampling the Bryston BCD-1 from it’s single ended and balanced outputs. Turns out the BCD-1 was being crippled by the cables!

With the Atlas single ended cables, the Bryston BCD-1 sound much much better. The upper frquency’s came back, the mid-range filled out, and the bottom became more detailed and solid. At this point I could already tell the Bryston BCD-1 was an improvement over the Aragon D2A MKII. It filled in the foundation of instruments and voices, sounded cohesive, smoother, it was more solid and went deeper in the low end. While the Aragon did not sound harsh, it lacked a certain softness of tone that the Bryston showed.

The market place for external DAC’s is exploding. I think the Bryston sounded very excellent and if the DAC is better then the CD player, I will have to take a serious listen to the DAC. The Bryston BCD-1 is a good improvement over the Aragon D2A MKII. The Bryston is somewhat more organic compared to the Aragon and I could see being pretty happy with the Bryston. That being said, I am waiting it out to see what else is coming down the pipe.

I am waiting to hear the SimAudio Moon 300D, the Wadia 121 Dac, the Naim DAC, CAry Audio Exciter DAC and the arm fulls of other DAC’s that we are going to see from every high-end company. It’s an interesting time for digital audio and I am having fun again. That I think is most important.