Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[rxjr]

To synsei and highstream and to others whose sensibilities I may have injured in some fashion or manner: So sorry - did not mean to be provocative or cynical in my remarks. Being married to a woman, who has run her own business for the last 25 years; was just sharing with StanB, some of our real life experiences with customers in the course of running our business. Those tidbits were meant to be food for thought for StanB, which of course, he or anybody else for that matter, could use or discard, as they see fit.

Just keeping it real folks.

Rex

[Marco]

It was Marco's heavily modified Technics deck with Ortofon SPU, Croft Charisma X phono amp into a fairly ordinary sound card (EMU 0102) using Audacity. Standard 16/44 file format in FLAC.

Glad to have been of service, Martin! One wonders what results would be achievable if something rather better than (I agree) "a fairly ordinary sound card" were introduced into the equation...?

Marco.

[synsei]

To synsei and highstream and to others whose sensibilities I may have injured in some fashion or manner: So sorry - did not mean to be provocative or cynical in my remarks. Being married to a woman, who has run her own business for the last 25 years; was just sharing with StanB, some of our real life experiences with customers in the course of running our business. Those tidbits were meant to be food for thought for StanB, which of course, he or anybody else for that matter, could use or discard, as they see fit.

Just keeping it real folks.

Rex

Please don't fret Rex, I can assure you my sensibilities were not offended in the slightest

[magiccarpetride]

I didn't start this business to make loads of money, but to share my ideas on how some things can be built to sound excellent without costing the earth. Few in the industry would deny that I shook the DAC market to its core with the release of the multiple inputs TC-7510, and the use of surface mount components for much of the design. Many have entered/re-entered the market after seeing how successful I was with my alternative design and manufacturing ideas, and have more often than not surpassed me in terms of turnover.
I didn't start this business to make loads of money in the first place. Of course I'll continue designing things from a different angle and showcasing the end results. I am however not in the business to accept some wi(l)dely held views on many aspects of musical reproduction and equipment pricing, and I am not afraid to say so. My designs try to show otherwise where possible. But of course there will be people who are still stuck to the ideology that I don't pay much attention to. Staying quiet about it might be the norm for many businesses, but I am not from that school of thought. Otherwise I could be seen to give credence to those misconceptions, and thereby denying the end user the chance to pay less for more.

The above is an example illustrating that talent and passion don't necessarily come with monetary value attached to them. Your work speaks for itself, Stan. How are you going to monetize it is strictly up to you.

[Xaval]

I should say that I have performed the following mods, so my SQ comments should be taken with that understanding:

Touch: EDO (Enhanced Digital Output) module, all unnecessary functions shut down, screen off, Paul Hynes PR3 PSU
Bushmaster: Latest async firmware, diode removal, Paul Hynes PR3i PSU

Can you please report what were your findings after the diode removal? What impact did it have on the DACs performance?

[highstream]

To synsei and highstream and to others whose sensibilities I may have injured in some fashion or manner: So sorry - did not mean to be provocative or cynical in my remarks. Being married to a woman, who has run her own business for the last 25 years; was just sharing with StanB, some of our real life experiences with customers in the course of running our business. Those tidbits were meant to be food for thought for StanB, which of course, he or anybody else for that matter, could use or discard, as they see fit.
Just keeping it real folks. Rex

Not provocative, just not helpful - you could have spoken to my initial post's question about switching (or didn't you bother to read what the discussion was about?). The repeated phrase about opinions is pure cynicism - and not very self reflective: what about your opinions, should Stan treat them like another a-h*** too? I wish Stan had the confidence in his product and humility about his work to let it speak for itself. He could then answer factual questions and comments about product ideas and problems, and leave the opinions to open discussion by the other participants. While I don't think there's a clique atmosphere here, in part exemplified by people calling him out, his bullying behavior is that of which cliques (and cults) are commonly forged (as well as not being very good salesmanship).

[rxjr]

Ahh - my heart goes out to poor StanleyB - a hard working and talented design engineer and businessman, who in these pages, has been accused of almost everything, from being an arrogant, self centered, self serving aggrandizing bully whose only crime, as far as I can see, is to produce and manufacture, a great sounding piece of audio gear (I think this opinion is shared by a lot of people in this forum) at a bargain basement price to boot. Of course, he has the right, to defend his product and his design philosophy, from what may seem to him, unreasonable views and opinions about his creation (the Bushmaster can't be any good cause it's cheap - or at its price, too many compromises were done to achieve that price point). The Bushmaster is, what it is. Take it for what its worth. Whether one likes or dislikes his product, consumers always have their choice, oftentimes voting with their feet and wallet. I for one am thankful for the Bushmaster, as I find it a great performing and excellent sounding unit , at a very affordable price. Thus, a true high end bargain, in my book.

When I first ventured into the world of High End audio in the 1990's, I initially got mesmerized and enchanted, by the great sound of these extremely expensive units, saving up and later purchasing, some of these expensive creations for my personal use. $20,000.00 power amps, $10,000.00 CD transports, $15,000.00 DACs, $2,500.00 cassette players, $10,000.00 speakers, $1,000.00 designer speaker cables and interconnects - I went through this whole phase, expending loads of time and money, chasing that ever changing, continually elusive, straight wire with gain, design philosphy that the high end reviewers and designers continually espouse and preach to its customers. Only to be disappointed with my current purchases, because the new year brought even better, even more expensive versions of the best amps, best speakers, best cables, etc... a non-stop roller coaster of an audio ride. This ever ongoing chase for audio excellence and perfection stopped, when I had the chance to listen, to a Demo set of audio note speakers (arguably colored due to cabinet vibrations as stated by hi-end reviewers), powered by a flea powered single ended 300B amp by cary audio for the measly sum of $2,500.00. I wanted to purchase these units, but my wife, finally put her foot down and so ended my audio adventures, for the time being.

Being much older (with lighter pockets) and much wiser (hopefully), I have arrived at the following conclusions:

That there is really NO such thing as a straight wire with gain (A high end design Philosophy) - If this was really true, then all amps, Preamps, CD players and DACs, when opened up, would only contain a single piece of wire, and nothing else. That's the basic truth. So, if any of your units contain circuit boards, volume pots, resistors, capacitors, etc... Then, it is not a straight wire with gain.

And finally, the only real opinion that counts, is your opinion of your audio system, warts and all. Enjoy it for what it is, and every once in a while, be thankful for the emergence of a true audio gem, like the Beresford Bushmaster.

Oh, and by the way, my statement about: Opinions are like A**holes, everybody's got one, also applies to me and my posts. Thank you and have a good night.

Rex

[synsei]

Generally I agree with you Rex, the BM sounds fabulous and it is testament to Stan's design skills that he has produced a real gem of a giant killer in regards to sound quality. If only he'd matched those dizzy heights when designing the interface then the Bushmaster would be perfect pretty much. I'm a huge believer in the philosophy of K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid). I think the Bushmaster would benefit greatly from a return to the original input select system used on earlier Beresford products. As you say though Rex, it is my opinion and I do not expect everyone to agree with it, in fact I would be disappointed if they did

[StanleyB]

Ahh - my heart goes out to poor StanleyB - a hard working and talented design engineer and businessman, who in these pages, has been accused of almost everything, from being an arrogant, self centered, self serving aggrandizing bully whose only crime, as far as I can see, is to produce and manufacture, a great sounding piece of audio gear (I think this opinion is shared by a lot of people in this forum) at a bargain basement price to boot.

I would say that your summary is in line with that expressed by many others.
But these negative impressions are only expressed by a select few. The majority of contributors have been more than supportive .

[jajh2204]

Hey All,

Ive been enjoying the BM for about 8 months or so with my Naim amp & KEF XQ5 speakers and it sounds gorgeous

Quick question (not sure if this has been asked in any other of the threads) what headphones are you using with the Bushmaster??

I am looking to buy my first decent set of on or over the ear cans and wondered what brand/model would be a great match and bring out the best from the BM.