Bryston Bi-200 integrated amplifier
There are a few refreshingly candid companies in audio; organisations where the outlook is defined by an almost pathological honesty. Even among these firms, Bryston stands out for a nigh on complete lack of fluff in terms of how they describe their product. It is their considered opinion that all their amplifiers sound the same and differ only in the headroom on offer; a position you won’t find very many of their rivals adopting.
In the case of the Bi-200 integrated, Bryston is utterly candid about what it comprises. In essence, it is a BP-19 preamp and 3B amplifier in a single chassis. Bryston is absolutely at pains to stress that aside from the two amplifiers sharing a common mains input, what you are getting is those two products in a single chassis with a commensurate saving on metalwork that results from there being just the one box. The use of these two components reflects that they are now the first and simplest rungs on the Bryston product ladder; the models that comprised the parts of the older B100/135 models now being discontinued.
This has two immediate benefits. As there is a complete 3B in there, this is the most powerful integrated that Bryston has ever built. This means you get 200 watts of power into 8 ohms and 300 into 4 which should give relatively free choice in terms of partnering speakers. Furthermore, these figures are quoted with a distortion figure of <0.005% so it’s the very definition of ‘clean power’ too. The amp section is dual mono and uses an input stage that is designed to act as a buffer and input filter (a consideration of some worth when your power amps are resident in the largely unforgiving world of pro audio). Connection to the outside world is via a single set of hefty speaker terminals.
The second benefit is in the preamp section. Historically, Bryston leaned towards balanced connections on the power amps but, for inputs at least, on the preamps, tended to stick with RCA inputs. Now, you get a fully balanced design with a pair of XLR inputs, a balanced internal connection to the power amp stage and a balanced output that can be fixed or variable to be used as you need. This is joined by a quartet of RCA inputs with matching switchable output. Like the power amp section, quoted measurements are exceptional with a distortion plus noise figure of <0.0006% (20Hz – 20kHz). It uses a rotary encoder based volume control with no defined start or end so volume is shown on a compact OLED display. This allows for both very effective fine adjustment and absolutely consistent linearity from mute to maximum output.
One of the RCA inputs can be configured as a phono stage for an additional fee. This option itself has two levels. The first is a moving magnet capable stage but there’s also the option of choosing a moving coil capable version. This is extremely unusual because it’s based around the same moving magnet stage with passive step up transformer; something I don’t recall ever seeing as an internal fit phono stage and a monument to what must be some magnificent internal shielding.
What isn’t present, either out of the box or as an option, are digital inputs; something that Bryston has offered on previous integrated models. This means that the not inconsiderable price of the Bi-200 has to be weighed up against needing a digital front end of some description but does at least give you free choice in what functionality and hardware that digital front comprises. It also means that the Bi-200 benefits from the legendary twenty year warranty that all non-digital Bryston gear enjoys.
The design of the Bi-200 might be the nearest I can recall Bryston getting to actual styling. There are a series of indentations on the front panel that; and you may need to sit down at this point, perform no discernible role in the function of the Bi-200. This is pretty radical stuff for Bryston but it doesn’t really alter the idea that the Bi-200 is very much a product of function over form. I’d hesitate to describe it as beautiful (or even handsome) but it conveys a feeling of absolute, no nonsense, engineering rigour. The way it feels is interesting too. Compared to some similarly priced integrated models, there isn’t the same finish to the Bryston but the longer you use it (or indeed the small but solid remote handset it comes with), the more utterly confidence inspiring it becomes. Aside from the fact it briefly sounds like an old telex machine when you first power it on, it’s the very definition of unobtrusive.
Sound quality
Your perception of how the Bi-200 performs will hinge entirely on one thing and that is how happy you are with your existing sources and speakers. It’s a cop out to say that something has no identifiable character of its own but, with the Bi-200 sat between the resident Vertere MG-1 MkII turntable, Cyrus Phono Signature and Kudos Titan speakers, the impression more than anything else is that the vinyl front end has magically gained the horsepower required to drive the Kudos with seemingly no need for intervening electronics.
This amplifier is the very definition of unobtrusive and it means that with one partial exception we will return to the Bi-200 will not alter the characteristics of what you have at all. It’s not a fix for anything that ails your current setup and has very pointedly been designed with that in mind. Of course, if you like the kit you have, the result is to frame their abilities like an insect jammed in amber. Listening to the Seatbelt’s flawless jazz funk soundtrack for Cowboy Bebop via the Vertere is as dynamic and energetic as you could hope for, but all the Bi-200 does is expose the energy in the recording rather than add its own.
This is no less apparent when used with a Chord Electronics 2Go and 2Yu streamer/server combo feeding a Hugo Mscaler and TT2 DAC. The effortlessly spacious and tonally believable presentation of the Chord units is replicated completely without embellishment. The closing Barbiturik Blues on Laurent Garnier’s and Bugge Wesseltoft’s unlikely but magnificent collaboration Public Outburst is astonishingly dynamic at points. At every moment, the Bi-200 has the energy and composure needed to ensure you hear what’s on the recording.
What I find most notable about this is that, with the Kudos on hand at least, the result is entirely forgiving. I am sure that an equally studio derived speaker could be made to tease some aggression (or at least forwardness) from the Bi-200 but, while it is capable of resolving a formidable amount of information, the result never feels sterile or forensic in what it does. The only slight quirk is the nigh on complete absence of distortion can actually have you believing it doesn’t have that much headroom, at least to begin with. The reality is that the cleanliness of the signal means that conventional cues for loudness don’t really work anymore; a point generally hammered home when someone wanders in from elsewhere in the house to make sure that everything is OK.
In one specific area, the Bryston does have the means to help an underperforming system along rather than simply allow it to be the best version of itself. The power on offer, combined with the equally healthy current delivery is enough to ensure that pretty much any remotely price equivalent speaker isn’t simply ‘powered’ but is in fact driven. The Bi-200’s time on test coincided with the re-mastered Acoustic Energy AE1 40th Anniversary being here. The new version retains the same fervent need for wattage that the original did and, in the hands of the Bryston, the result is wholly magnificent. This diminutive and let’s be honest for a moment, periodically rather angry sounding speaker, takes on a refinement and scale that is utterly improbable. 200 watts is not a huge number by the standards of some of the amps doing the rounds but what the Bryston has on tap really does tend to let things open up.
Conclusion
There have been points during the test phase where getting a handle on quite how capable the Bi-200 is has taken a little while. It’s sufficiently self effacing that the sheer ability on offer can be easy to miss; initially at least. In a shorter demo, some people might find themselves drawn to a little more visual and sonic drama, deciding that the pared back functionality and lack of theatre of the Bi-200 is hard to reconcile with the nigh on ten grand asking price. Other people though will listen a little longer and find themselves completely beguiled by what this amp can do and I have to say I’m one of them. Sometimes honesty really is the best policy.