Eindoordeel: Never change a winning team
Contents
In this price segment we could also look at a power amplifier of competitors Pass Labs, Esoteric, AVM or for example Hegel. However, we have had an excellent experience with Bryston for many years and that makes us cautious with another hi-fi breed.
Now we have chosen a set of 7B’s, but of course we could have gone for the 14B as well. These are two 7B’s in a single housing. This saves another power cable, but the weight of the 14 is just very high and during listening sessions and reviews we often have to move the amplifiers. For this reason we are also very happy with the ‘love trade’ on our 7B’s. As an additional advantage, we can now place the monoblocks next to the speakers, using longer XLR cables and shorter speaker cables. This makes our lives so much easier and also has a positive effect on sound quality.
The added value of a good amplifier
We played with three different speakers. Speakers with more difficult behaviour come to life through excellent control and stability, and even speaker systems of questionable quality suddenly sound like audiophile gems. This is the magic of a very good amplifier.
Sound differences 3B3, 4B3 and 7B3
We have found in previous reviews that the Bryston 3B3 plays very open, neutral and refined. The 4B3 is just a lot more powerful and delivers something on previously mentioned points of the 3B3. The 7B3 reviewed here is exactly between the 3B3 and the 4B3. The 7 plays with a very open and refined character and is more neutral over the entire frequency range. The reproduction in the sub-layer runs deeper, is a fraction more powerful and is surgically well controlled.
When it comes to imaging properties, both the 3B3 and the 4B3 have very good scores. The 7’s exceed each test criterion by a half to a whole point. Everything is just a fraction wider, deeper, faster, sharper and more musical. Whereas with the Bryston 3B3 and 4B3, for example, we could see singers singing in the middle of the stage, with the 7’s we hear how much space there is between the two singers and with what strength they sing individually from each other. With good recordings we can even hear them breathe. This is how well these 7B3 monoblocks perform.
All in perspective
The three-dimensional properties of the Bryston 7B3’s are high, but they can’t always compete with the three-dimensional capabilities of solid state power amplifiers with a three to four-fold price tag. Also, the three-dimensional properties fall short compared to the holographic performance of some ultra high end tube amplifiers. Bad? No. These amplifiers also have their limitations and if we look at the mix of performance this 7B3 offers us even more than what we are looking for.
In summary, we can say that the Bryston 7B3 scores just as well on the individual assessment criteria as the Bryston 4B3 on which these 7’s are based. However, when all these small improvements are added together, the 7B3 presents itself as an amplifier of an entirely different order.
Comments
These Bryston 7B3 amplifiers may have spent a few hundred hours on the test bench in Canada, but they are still far from playing. The sound quality is good, but with this they achieve only 90% of the quality that is actually in it. We have noticed that a power amplifier only sounds really good after a 1000 to 2000 hours of operation, which amounts to a month or two. Only then do we have the openness and finesse that Bryston is so often accused of not possessing. So be patient.
Bryston power amplifiers are also sensitive to mains power cables. With the included power cables the amps play quite well, but when we play with high quality power cables, the sound quality of the amp grows along with the quality level of the cabling. Believe us, we’ve scratched behind our ears more than once asking how many hidden qualities Bryston’s amplifiers still have in store for us.
We do notice another point of concern. The sound quality of this Bryston 7B Cubed goes so much further than our ‘old’ 4B Cubed, that we are now at the point where the quality of our speakers and the acoustics of our room are the limiting factors. If we want to improve now, we will have to look for this in acoustic treatment of the space and possibly in an upgrade of our beloved loudspeakers..
(Supplement 12-02-2019: We have been approached by several readers with sincere expressions of support, for which thank you. The separation with the 4B almost feels like a separation on a personal relational level. Fortunately, despite the looting of the savings, we were able to barely prevent this. – HT)