Bryston BCD-3 CD Player

Your CD collection, taken seriously again

The Bryston BCD-3 CD Player is a dedicated Redbook CD player built around a professional grade optical transport and the dual balanced AKM converter design from the BDA-3. Bryston slaves both the transport and the converters to a single master clock, which is the whole point of the machine. There is no streaming, no network playback and no compromise on the one job it does.

Why You'll Love It

• Discs, done properly. A professional grade transport and a single master clock driving both the transport and the DACs keeps timing errors out of the signal rather than correcting for them afterwards.
• The BDA-3 conversion stage. Dual balanced AKM converters and a fully discrete Class A analogue output stage give the BCD-3 the same character as Bryston's standalone DAC.
• Fits any system. Balanced XLR at 4V and unbalanced RCA at 2V, plus digital outputs if you would rather use your own converter, in a 17 inch or 19 inch faceplate.

Under the Hood

• Dual balanced AKM digital to analogue converters based on the BDA-3 design, with the transport and converters slaved to one master clock.
• Fully discrete Class A operational amplifiers in the analogue output stage, feeding balanced XLR at 4V and single ended RCA at 2V.
• THD plus noise at or below 0.001% from 20Hz to 20kHz, noise floor at -140dB balanced and unbalanced, frequency response 20Hz to 20kHz ±0.1dB.

CHT Insider Verdict

If you own a large CD collection and have no interest in ripping it, this is the machine that makes the argument for keeping the discs. It is a single purpose player at a serious price, so the value depends entirely on how much you actually play. The upside is that it also works as a transport into a better DAC later, which gives it a longer life than most players in this category.

Pro Tip: Use the balanced XLR outputs if your preamplifier has them. The BCD-3 is a properly balanced design from the converters out, so the XLR outputs are not just a convenience socket, they are the way the player was intended to be heard.