Bushmaster Mk. II (TC-7533)

[worrasf]

Inter-track capacitance and reactance, audio signatures of electronic components in the signal path, and power line noises are are the enemies of good sound. The BM1 was an attempt to sideline those problems, but the power line noises were a limiting factor. The MKII takes care of that last remaining obstacle.

I don't do cuddly bass, heart warming vocals, or silky smooth treble. It's not my intention to mess about with the work and efforts from the original artist(s) and production team. The job of the Bushmaster is to concentrate on converting the digital signal into an analogue one, and leave what you hear to the content of the musical piece that you listen to.

So prospective DAC owners now have a clear and unambiguous selection choice: The Bushmaster MKII with its straight wire presentation, or the alternatives with artificially enhanced flavouring.
The BM2 won't gel with everyone, but they say that the sign of a good sound signature is the lack of one. The MKII is a follower of that ideal. And I hope you guys and girls like it.

Well I'm pretty pleased that my old ears told me the truth and that what I was hearing and reported was exactly what Stan had set out to achieve. And for all you sceptics out there I had no prior discussion with anyone let alone Stan prior to my listening session.

Steve

[icehockeyboy]

Inter-track capacitance and reactance, audio signatures of electronic components in the signal path, and power line noises are are the enemies of good sound. The BM1 was an attempt to sideline those problems, but the power line noises were a limiting factor. The MKII takes care of that last remaining obstacle.

I don't do cuddly bass, heart warming vocals, or silky smooth treble. It's not my intention to mess about with the work and efforts from the original artist(s) and production team. The job of the Bushmaster is to concentrate on converting the digital signal into an analogue one, and leave what you hear to the content of the musical piece that you listen to.

So prospective DAC owners now have a clear and unambiguous selection choice: The Bushmaster MKII with its straight wire presentation, or the alternatives with artificially enhanced flavouring.
The BM2 won't gel with everyone, but they say that the sign of a good sound signature is the lack of one. The MKII is a follower of that ideal. And I hope you guys and girls like it.

The old ad in the 70's....wasn't it for Quad, that said..." For the closest approach to the original sound "

Sounds like that is what Stan has achieved.

Anyway, I combined a vist to 2 of my offsprings today to swing by chez Stan, and collect my BM 2, unfortunately only just got home, so despite unboxing it, I have to wait until later to plumb it in!

Feels meatier in as much as the unit feels a bit heavier, ( edit point here as I made a comment based on memory, which was not factual!)
But that's all I can say so far....cant wait until the wife goes out tomorrow to get it sorted! It's actually quite amazing how many of us here are sneaky like that isn't it?!!!!!!,

[icehockeyboy]

Well, up at dawns crack, no smutty innuendos here!
Pulled out the mk1, stuck in the mk 2........... And..........nothing!
I hadn't selected the correct input!

First thoughts even only after playing a few tracks was more detail than I was aware of on certain well known ( to me) songs, and an improvement in bass.

Probably far too early in its little life to say too much at this stage, but what I will say is that once again, Stan has upped the ante yet again with the latest of his dacs!

I genuinely believed the mk1 to be a bit of a giant killer, well, a good deal more than a bit of one, but with the mk2, well, as an earlier poster said, just get one, assuming he hasn't sold out!!!

[quadsugdenman]

Inter-track capacitance and reactance, audio signatures of electronic components in the signal path, and power line noises are are the enemies of good sound. The BM1 was an attempt to sideline those problems, but the power line noises were a limiting factor. The MKII takes care of that last remaining obstacle.

I don't do cuddly bass, heart warming vocals, or silky smooth treble. It's not my intention to mess about with the work and efforts from the original artist(s) and production team. The job of the Bushmaster is to concentrate on converting the digital signal into an analogue one, and leave what you hear to the content of the musical piece that you listen to.

So prospective DAC owners now have a clear and unambiguous selection choice: The Bushmaster MKII with its straight wire presentation, or the alternatives with artificially enhanced flavouring.
The BM2 won't gel with everyone, but they say that the sign of a good sound signature is the lack of one. The MKII is a follower of that ideal. And I hope you guys and girls like it.

Must agree with all of the above. This DAC is a seriously impressive piece of kit for the money. There is no real comparison with its predecessor. Increased bass definition strikes you immediately then the dynamics and overall clarity much improved over the MKI. However what continues to impress me is the perspective both front to back and side to side when compared to the MKI.
Stan has done it again and continues to deliver impressive improvements for relatively small sums of money!! Congratulations Stan.
Downside: I will need to buy another to replace the MKI in my second system at some point now I know how much difference replacing it will make!

[franz159]

....There is no real comparison with its predecessor. .....

I'm listening to SMV using Squeezebox touch + Bushmaster MKI and the bass is absolutely defined, controlled and authoritative...
In short, the sound of the MKI is really really good in my system. Probably the burn in took quite some time to complete!
So, for me, it is really hard to believe that the MKII can really be that much better.
However... hearing is believing, so much so that tonight I ordered the MKII from Mr Beresford.
I should receive it on Friday!

[StanleyB]

There is no real comparison with its predecessor. Increased bass definition strikes you immediately then the dynamics and overall clarity much improved over the MKI. However what continues to impress me is the perspective both front to back and side to side when compared to the MKI. :

These are the key aspects of the information inside a digital audio file that I have been trying for years to be able to access and reproduce. I eventually figured out that it could only be achieved with a direct coupled output stage. Every DC blocking capacitor, opamp, etc. would be a potential barrier to micro detail. So they were avoided like the plague. How it sounds and what impact it would have on the music I have left to the listener. But the outcome is telling. One often repeated phrase is discovering extra layers in the music that owners have played for maybe decades, but were not even aware existed.

[magiccarpetride]

Inter-track capacitance and reactance, audio signatures of electronic components in the signal path, and power line noises are are the enemies of good sound. The BM1 was an attempt to sideline those problems, but the power line noises were a limiting factor. The MKII takes care of that last remaining obstacle.

I don't do cuddly bass, heart warming vocals, or silky smooth treble. It's not my intention to mess about with the work and efforts from the original artist(s) and production team. The job of the Bushmaster is to concentrate on converting the digital signal into an analogue one, and leave what you hear to the content of the musical piece that you listen to.

So prospective DAC owners now have a clear and unambiguous selection choice: The Bushmaster MKII with its straight wire presentation, or the alternatives with artificially enhanced flavouring.
The BM2 won't gel with everyone, but they say that the sign of a good sound signature is the lack of one. The MKII is a follower of that ideal. And I hope you guys and girls like it.

Apologies if this has already been discussed (didn't have the time to read all the BM MKII related discussions), but has anyone here tried BM MKII with fully modded Squeezebox Touch (by 'fully modded' I mean EDO mods plus Klaus's TT 3.0)? I have somehow (through a lot of trial-and-error) managed to achieve stunning performance with such modded SBT into BM MKI, and am wondering if further improvements are possible on MKII?

I'm in particular keen on comparing various digital formats (I think I'm hearing improvements in the Beatles remasters from 16 bit to 24 bit, etc.) Would be really nice if the reportedly significantly lowered noise floor in BM MKII can further reveal those differences.

[StanleyB]

I'm in particular keen on comparing various digital formats (I think I'm hearing improvements in the Beatles remasters from 16 bit to 24 bit, etc.) Would be really nice if the reportedly significantly lowered noise floor in BM MKII can further reveal those differences.

Whilst I was developing the MKII I frequently asked on the forum in a casual way if anyone could hear or detect certain details or differences with their existing DAC irrespective of what make or model it was. I used the replies to compare the performance I was getting from the proto type of the MKII against what the conventional wisdom was. One of my question was about perceived differences between 16 and 24 bit recordings.

You would have to tear up your reference book of superlatives and come up with new ones for the BM MKII. I have current owners of the MKII emailing me on a regular basis just to tell me about their latest discovery on this or that piece of music they thought they knew so well.

If you take into account that your hearing decreases as you get older, then to hear even more detail in the same track from the same CD in your decades old collection is more than enough of a reference as to the sonic abilities of the MKII.

[NRG]

....

The most striking thing is that it has no sonic signature

I would go along with that, that's the impression I got from a short listen yesterday. I did feel however, that it's going to need a little burn in time unlike the BM MK1 which I noted as sounding the same out-of-the-box vs running for a week...

[Ali Tait]

What's the price Stan?