BMC Audio BD CD1/DAC1
Digital sources
If you have a chance to start on a blank page, i.e. to build your system, start here. Out of the blue I was transported to a complete different universe, the universe with sparkling air, pure water, clear sky and the universe lit with sunrays. It was only when the DAC1 became a part of the system when wonders started to happen. I was impressed.
Function and form
The BD stands for Belt Driven. A clamp that you find as a part of the CD player can be used either as a paperweight on your desk or as a stabilizer of a CD disc with a flywheel effect. If you decide for the former option the BD CD1 will not work as it will only when it detects the clamp. No wonder that the presence of Carlos Candeias (C.E.C.) in BMC Audio’s team resulted into a belt driven CD player. Such a solution has a lot of assets: smooth and silent operation, it allows for more accurate bearings of the CD turntable and decouples the CD from motor vibrations.
Either one can use the BD CD1 as a superb transport or there is the option (by adding a module) of having a full range CD player with two 24-bit/192kHz Burr-Brown PCM1792 D/A converters. The player sports four Superlink outputs (I will discuss them later), RCA and XLR outputs and the array of digital outputs: Toslink, AES/EBU, coax and BNC.
Bass management
The same array of inputs is offered by the DAC1 plus there is an unavoidable USB input (something we never missed in the past) and both balanced and single-ended outputs for an amplifier, two pairs each. The DAC1 also features two digital filters switchable from its front plate: FLAT filter optimizes frequency response whereas PULSE filter optimizes dynamics. The D/A conversion happens through the same Burr-Brown set of chips and a listener may choose from two oversampling frequencies.
In BMC Audio everything is modular – you can relocate 12 jumpers on the DAC1’s board to bypass most control circuits and allow for the full DAC1 output to be fed into an amp. Hanging on a hot phone line with the chief designer it was exactly what we did. Now the DAC1 works as a passive attenuator controlling the amp’s gain in sixty-six precise 1dB steps. There are many more things you can do with the DAC1 as it is quite a sophisticated component with flexible options.
Clarity & delicacy
The BMC components are designed as a system and as such they are optimized for working together. I would discourage you therefore from using just an isolated piece of the BMC Audio in your set up – especially with the CD player and the preamp/DAC you would miss most their technical advancements by doing so. Apart from using traditional digital connections with AES/EBU, coax or optical Toslink, both devices are optimized for being interconnected through so called Superlink. In a traditional converter the music data and the clock data are merged before they reach its input and re-decoded on the way through it; the Superlink keeps all data streams strictly separated and therefore minimizes any shifts in time domain or data errors. You would need four BNC cables to make the connection between the BD CD1 player (or transport) and the DAC1 – the corresponding outputs and inputs are marked as MCK (master clock), BCK (bit clock), LRCK (left/right clock) and DATA (for digital data).
Tonal accuracy
The absence of acoustical smog and jitter-free signal transmission drive you turn up volume more and more. The louder you play the higher is your level of enjoyment. The music does not suffer from a loss of detail or from a dynamic congestion even at almost realistic volume like I did with Nine Inch Nails (Further Down The Spiral). I´ve been listening to this particular CD since many years ago but I have never heard it like this before. It is difficult to describe - through the BMCs you are deep into the mix, everything is crystal clear and individual sound appear and disappear with lightning fast portrayal. Should a pin be dropped on the floor during the cataclysmic climaxes of the NIN´s songs, you would hear it clearly. I felt like sitting behind a console in a studio - should there be a window in the front wall of the listening room I would look for Trent Reznor behind it. And even when you play reeaaally loud, inner sound ratios never change. It is like living a dream in high resolution.
Spatial resolution
Through the BMCs symphonic Danse Macabre (Saint-Saens, Charles Dutoit, Philharmonia Orchestra, Decca) shines with dynamic, resolved, crystallic and transparent sound. Unrestrained dynamic contrasts grab your ears right from the beginning and the experience of listening to the tinniest of sound against pitch black canvas is something you have to live through to believe. Not only microdynamics but also macrodynamic sweeps of orchestral fortes shatter your room in a way that leaves no doubt about the declared 130dB signal to noise ratio.
The presentation of the BMC is so fast and fluid that lows may remain unnoticed. How much it seems that the presentation is ´light´ it is not like that. The lows of the BMC are very well articulated, they have no momentum and attacks and decays are portrayed with realistic weights and timings. The time coherence and alignment is other huge asset of the BMC; the sharp transients of a triangle, for instead, cut like a knife and then trail off into the silence of the background with amazing textural richness. Even more amazing is that the same textural magic happens with the fat strings of double bass and I can guarantee that such an amount of realistic detail at the bottom end is something quite exceptional.
Recommended resellers
Iryson, Kvetoslavov, SK, tel. +421 903 418 345
Manufacturer's website: http://www.bmc-audio.de
Associated components
- Sources: McIntosh MVP871, Luxman D-05, BMC CD1 + DAC1
- Amplifiers: McIntosh hybrid control center C500 and monoblocks MC501
- Interconnects and speaker cables: Audioquest Gibraltar, WSS The Absolute, Nordost Heimdall and Rapport
- Loudspeakers: Cabasse Karissima
- Power conditioning: WSS N2 Power GL with Furutech FI-E11 plugs, 2xAudioquest NRG-2 on McIntosh
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