Bryston BP-19 Preamp, $5395 (Line Stage Version)

Bryston’s new BP-19 is a legitimate contender for the state of the art, line stage preamp. It includes a remote. I mention this because for years Bryston sold the remote a la carte. Yep, we Americans have to have a remote.

BP-19 is clean and solid. It has a unique INPUT circuit called the Salomie Circuit- for Dr Salomie who created it. Bryston has learned that it is valuable to prevent over loading the INPUT of preamps and power amps. The Salomie design does just that. Think of it as having more headroom at the input. By not saturating the input, the preamps sounds cleaner with less distortion. The Bryston Cubed series of power amps also uses the Salomie circuit. It’s equally important for the preamp and power amp to run free from over loading at the input.

Most of BP-19’s competition runs $20-70k. Serious competitors come from Switzerland, the EU or Arizona- for which you pay a king’s ransom. If you don’t look at the tinges of gold and silver on the expensive guys, and just listen to the music, you’ll find BP-19 right there with the best of the best. The differences are so subtle that you’ll be arguing the benefits of Ding Dongs vs Ho Hos. With that in mind, it’s crazy not to save a bundle and get Bryston’s 20 year warranty.

BP-19 is different from BR-20 in that, it’s an analog preamp. BR-20 has a built in DAC.

Most of our customers already have a DAC and / or phono preamp they like. When you consider the great options out there, like an Atoll PH100 or Atoll DA100, for most buyers, it makes sense to buy BP-19 in line stage form. You can run other functions with other products and change as the market dictates. I recommend BP-19 in the best of systems. Install it and forget about it!