BRIO R, a bright amp?

[admin_exported]

ive owned a brio3 for the last year and love it to bits, very musical and extremely easy to listen to, not one hint of brightness and extremely good for long listening periods, with the only trade off being and lack of deep bass and that music toughens at extreme volume.

so when i heard of the improved Brio r my heart was set and i demoed it, and took one home. firstly it makes up for the brio in all the ways i felt the previous model lacked and then some. firstly the level of detail unearthed was very suprisng, it reveals layers i simply had not noticed before. its a good deal more powerful sounding too, drums beat with weight and absolute control, it sounds balanced and taunt - further it retains all the brio of the 3 with loads more detail, control and goes satisfifingly loud (when im in the mood!)

however as a long term listener im having doubts. im finding many tracks edge into harshness in the upper frequencies. So ive come to the conclusion that the Brio is adding unwanted brightness?

for example I listened to eminems Stan the other day and the scribbling pen sample was noticably prominent and sounded like fingers on a blackboard...it kept going through me! my componants all lean to the warm side (DacMagic, RX1s, Chord Odyssey/Chameleon).

could this be a simple case of a lack of burn in time? ive read that amps are not particulary affected by this? i never turn the amp off, so i know its not a warmth issue.... has anyone had similar feelings about there demos with this amp? any insight would be appreciated!

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi mdonuts

I've not found the Brio R to sound bright at all regadless of source components and speakers used. On the contrary i find the Brio R is (amongst its other qualities) sweet and powerful It is because of these qualities that i feel the Brio R is a real joy which can be listened to for hours without fatigue

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Frank Harvey]

Any amplifier can become bright or harsh when pushed far enough, that's just a sign of it not being able to cope with what you're demanding of it. What sort of levels are you wanting?

 

[Anonymous]

i agree most amps have there limit and will begin to lose composure, however the brio is irritatating my ears at less than a quarter turn.... i dont thinkth RX1s could ever be considered a difficult load? the amp sounds composed (though again a bit harsh) way beyond this level.

i never drive too loud, just enough to give a substantial thud, maybe as much a third of a turn max.

 

[Cypher]

i agree most amps have there limit and will begin to lose composure, however the brio is irritatating my ears at less than a quarter turn.... i dont thinkth RX1s could ever be considered a difficult load? the amp sounds composed (though again a bit harsh) way beyond this level.

i never drive too loud, just enough to give a substantial thud, maybe as much a third of a turn max.

I had the exact same experience with the Brio 3 (not the brio-r). At less than a quarter turn the sound hardened up. The amp I have now (nad c326bee) is much better.

 

[Frank Harvey]

You will find the Brio R better than the previous Brio versions driving the RX2's.

 

[Chokobolt]

Having demoed the Rega Brio R (with both Rega RS1 and Rega RS5 and a Rega Apollo and Rega Dac) I must say that what I heard was a rather warm/lush sound. It was quite nice and engaging I would say, but a whole lot different than my more neutral or maybe even bright setup

 

[MUSICRAFT]

Hi mdonuts

The Silver RX1's are a benign load. I've even used the Brio R with Platinum PL200 speakers and the Brio R has admirably coped with these speakers.

If you haven't already done so then please contact your dealer and ask if you can borrow a Brio R so that you can compare the two units just in case there is an issue with your amp.

All the best

Rick @ Musicraft

 

[Dave54321]

For me it is too bright as well. It seems to have a bit of an upward bump around 10kHz (I've not measured it scientifically, just guessing from my ears and experience). For my source I use either an SB Touch fed through a DACMagic or the NAD T585 SACD/DVD-A player. I almost exclusively play audiophile mastered material (e.g. labels such as DCC, MFSL, XRCD, Analogue Productions, etc). My speakers are B&W 685s, known for their neutrality, with a Wharfedale Diamond sub. Vocals have an unnatural sheen to them and hi-hats and cymbals are over-pronounced. Admitedly my room probably doesn't help - it's hardly treated for audiophilia and I dare say there is opportunity to dampen it down a bit. However, I KNOW my room, I've played music in it for years - and I know since using this amp the sound has become uncomfortably bright. The rest of the frequency spectrum is really nice though. I'm gonna sell it and get something darker next time.

 

[Zax89swe]

I belive that the brio r has few flaws with neutrality but should be good enought to play best with better sounding dacs, look at brio dac It got same design. I can hear ss and schrills in vocals but still it so often behaves right and Im playing from a harsh Dac.

 

[mattmeer]

Do you use the rega couple interconnect by any chance?

I find this interconnect quite bright even though I own the Rega DAC and Rega Brio-R.

The cable produces a nice soundstage though, but I probably revert back to a darker sounding interconnect.

NM I see you use Chord

 

[VinylRush]

Not a hint of harshness here using the Brio R. I think people have not got good synergy with this amp.

I see people are using Dacmagic's with this amp. I wouldn't describe the Dacmagic as 'warm', more cold and clinical.

A better Dac like the Rega Dac would be better for peoples digital needs.

 

[Zax89swe]

To bad the dacs is freaking expensive imo.

 

[domenn]

I find that sound from SB Touch is brighter and not so powerful than from computer ( I can clearly hear that with hi res music (but I play music from usb pendrive so far ) Brio R is very sweet amp I dont think it's bright and I am using it with B&W speakers sounds warmer than my previous Rotel set up . But build qualitty is not very good on friday I gonna have 3th replacment (hope so ) so very disapointed .

 

[Anonymous]

I think swapping the ca dac magic for a musical fidelity v-dac 2 would help, i have one, nice rich sound, not bright at all.