Originally Posted by
Lee
I want to thank Stan for creating something wonderful. I picked up the Bushmaster MkII from Stan in London last week. I live in Edinburgh, so I had to wait until i could get back home to give it a listen. I took the train back home Friday evening and arrived around midnight. I unhooked the Bushmaster MkI and slipped the new DAC into my system. .... Immediately I knew this was a different animal altogether. 4 1/2 hours later, I forced myself to go to bed, only to wake up at 7:30 and immediately switch the music back on. Needless to say, I'm a 60 year old kid with his new best of the best toy. It's the sort of feeling where you want to call all your friends over to have a listen. Not to show off, but just to share the amazement of how it sounds.
How does it sound? Emotional! Articulate. Detailed. Moving. Foot tapping timing. Definded, precise soundstage. All this, without a hint of fatique or edginess. The original Bushmaster had plenty of all of these qualities, but the MkII is in a different league altogether. Bass is deep and moving. I'm hearing the movement of acoustic strings, the reverb of live recordings, the breath (in and out) of singers, the foot taps, the sounds of the audience giving a real sense of the venue where it recorded. I've never been one to pay too much attention to lyrics, not that I don't like the poetry of a song, but until now, the words were always difficult to distinguish. With the MkII every word is articulated with precision and emotion. Listening to Tom Jones and Seasick Steve performing together on the BBC Sessions I recorded last week was a thing of beauty. Of course badly produced music is still badly produced, but even with those I can reach closer to the performance. With well produced titles, the sounds are GLORIOUS!
I have played the MKII mostly through my speaker system, but also had a bit of time to listen through my Grado 1000's. Both are excellent. But the sense of it being live, having the performers in place in my room, having the room melt away and the recording venue appear is something that keeps me listening through the speakers.
I just have one "complaint." I have two systems. One in the living room and one in the bedroom. Both were set up identically with Bushmaster MkI's. Now I'm going to have to buy another MKII to replace the remaining MKI. ... I can't even say this is a complaint, because in all honesty, Stan deserves to be recommenced for his genius and willingness to sell his creations to those of us that don't have tens of thousands to build their systems. And for anyone in doubt, Stan is the real deal. I've met him several times and every time I do, I leave impressed that he is evidences that good men, honest and with integrity do still exist in our world.
MOST HiGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!