Originally entered in 2010 under opinions please. Nine years later the room and system change sufficiently to start the virtual system over. Impetus came from the Brinkmann going on the blink. I used a Bryston integrated while figuring out how to service the Brinkmann. Turns out only two places in the US qualified to service- one of the downsides of owning an esoteric unit. But the difference b/w the Brinkmann and Bryston was quite noticeable and DW and I were ecstatic when the Brinkmann came back in good working order. Sunny at the eponymous W. Covina audio store attributed the failure to blown capacitors and advised turning the power off if the unit is not going to be driving speakers for "a few days". I can't complain as the Brinkmann performed admirably for 10 years prior to going on the blink. The other major addition was the Native music server. This room is where I do much of my recreational reading and it is irritating to hear noninstrumental music not to mention verbiage from announcers when reading. The Nativ allows me to play uninterrupted music of my choice for hours on end. I cannot distinguish a difference in quality b/w it and the Bryston CD player; if anything the files played on the Nativ sounds a little less sharp- smoother.
Such a nice system and such a wonderful room. I really love the fact that the stereo doesn't dominate the room, but is just an integral part of the whole room. I've been trying to minimize the dominance of the stereo in our place myself.