What EXACTLY does BDP do?

Have owned BDP-1/BDA-1 for 3 yrs -- love them! But..I still do not grasp what it is that BDP does. So...3 questions for Bryston engineering/James Tanner:

1. What exactly does BDP do with digital files from a drive? I've read that it "processes" the files -- what does "processing" entail?

2. The external DAC converts the digital output from BDP to analog (music). Why not have a DAC inside BDP? Shorter signal path, less signal degradation (and less sales revenue for Bryston).

3. What's the division of labor between BDP and BDA (external DAC)? 50/50? Which does the lion's share of the workload?

Don't get me wrong. BDP-1 + BDA-1 = OMG-1. I just need to satisfy my inner Stephen Hawking!

Thanks.

Pete

Got this reply this morning, from James Tanner. My original 3 Q's are in the previous post (above). Posting it here just in case anyone out there is interested.
Thanks, James.


Hi Pete

Think of the BDP as replacing the computer or laptop. Computers have many peformance issues switching power supplies, virus’s, moving parts etc.) when it comes to processing a music file so the BDP optimizes all those processes with a single minded computer that does nothing but play music files (Linux operating system linear power supply, no moving parts) etc.). The file comes in as raw data from the drive and is processed by a computer mother board to output a signal to a high quality sound card in the BDP and then the sound card in-turn outputs that digital signal to an external DAC which then processes that digital signal to an analog signal that your preamp can play.

2. We could but it complicates things and drives up the cost. Our DAC can be used with 8 different sources and we felt many people already owned our DAC or other DACs and the BDP would work in either situation.

3. I would say he BDP does the lions share when it comes to processing raw data to a quality signal – 75/25 maybe?

Hope this helps

James