Rega Dac

[Fulci]

This could be all a limitation from the transport and the coaxial output on the cd player, of course, as well as the cheap coax cable I was using. Though it doesn't sound far off from the Airport Express fed with ALAC.

[nieji]

Good Morning!

I am new at this so forgive my ignorance of your previous conversations as I begin .

I have just purchased the Bushmaster MK II and am "burning" the unit for stability. I purchased this unit due to my previous experiences with Beresford products. I teach basic recording at a college here in the USA and require as clean reproduction as possible during mix-down and editing so a dac that offers this characteristic is very important to me.

What I like about the Beresford, as oppose to the Rega, is the non-coloring of the sound reproduction that the Rega and the DacMagic gives during playback--both of whom I had either owned or auditioned. The latter two dac's are terrific performers and offer a quality of sound that is definitely better than whatever original digital sources that one uses before connection to a dac. However, the cost of the 'brand named' units is not worth the money spent when one can purchase a Beresford.

In my brief conversations on email with Mr. Beresford, it is apparent that using good, yet non-boutique, components is important to him. The sound then is very 'open' and transparent. At this moment I am listening to Cara Dillon in a sound file from B&W. Remembering the same file listening through both the Rega and the DacMagic, the Beresford has more presence and more detail. The Rega and the DacMagic is 'warmer' but sacrificing the attacks and openness of the file. The strumming of the guitar is cleaner and one can hear Cara's voice clearly without any edge.

I can continue to ramble but I hope I haven't 'muddied' the waters.

An opinion from a Chinese Immigrant, USA Citizen, whose passion is music and great quality of sound.

Thank you.

Ian

[synsei]

It all comes down to personal preference in the end Ian which is what makes this game so interesting. What I particularly like about the Rega is it's smooth yet detailed delivery. It's output is absolutely devoid of any digital glare. The BM is a smooth operator in itself but in my experience the Rega pips it to the post. Incidentally, I run my CD player into the Rega via an optical input and my music server via an excellent quality RCA digital lead. I'm not a fan of the USB input on the Rega though as I find the presentation via this input to be somewhat cold and uninvolving. Another useful facility that the Rega has is a digital out jack. My previous DAC was a BM incidentally and one feature I do miss is the BM's headphone stage, which is excellent

[nieji]

Very much in agreement. I do wish the BM has digital out, but that is minor to the larger scheme of things. I have run my Apollo through the BM and liked the smoothness and the detail. You are right, personal preference.

Talk with you again.

Ian

[RichB]

So my Rega DAC continues defy logic, for the last 12 months or so I've fed my Rega DAC from a vlink II and USB from my PC using mostly the optical connection.

A few months ago I bought a Supra USB.2.0 cable and used this from the PC to the vlink. Didn't make too much difference as far as I could tell, still it seemed better engineered and built than a cheapie and as it didn't cost the earth I thought fair enough.

Out of daftness last night I used the cable straight to the USB input on the Rega. The results were not insignificant. The Rega on its own just sounds a bit more natural and analog than with the vlink. Maybe this is down to the lower resolution but right now the vlink remains unplugged and I'm enjoying listening to what the DAC is doing on its own.

Without the vlink there are definitely fewer of the sparkly details there and the soundstage isn't quite a wide but somehow it just seems easier on the ears and dare I say it 'musical', bass isn't quite as deep but the laptop seems to be much smoother sounding all round. Possibly fewer drop outs in the sound, none in fact, whereas I always had the odd one before, more so when streaming internet radio.

This DAC is a great bit of kit and it does seem to respond well to the supra USB cable which for around 25quid is worth a punt I reckon. I think I'd struggle to justify spending more.