Anybody tried a Hiface or an MF V-Link witha a Beresford Caiman SEG.

[brian2957]

Anybody on the forum tried either a Hiface or an MF V-link with a Beresford Caiman SEG. I was thinking about going down this road and would be interested to hear your experiences or comments. Also be interested in comments regarding any other USB to SPDIF converters which may work with the Caiman.
Thanks.
Brian.

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi Brian, I'd love to try a V-Link but got beaten to one on here a short while back :doh:

What I use at the moment sure as hell aint bad though ;) This is exactly what I use to convert USB to S/PDIF here (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FANMUSIC-FM-6011-COAX-USB-SPDIF-COAX-Converter-NEW-/120723650645?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_So undCards&hash=item1c1bb0b855).

It's feeding a dCS Purcell upsampler & Delius DAC & it sure as heck is making nice sounds. For the money it's a real steal. I'm pretty sure that John the music mod on here is using exactly the same ;)

It also has galvanic isolation, which is very handy indeed :eyebrows:

[isj1202]

I have used a HiFace with a 7520 fitted with a Wolfson Dac and a Gator Board for a while and have had no problems at all, sounds really good to me. (A friend uses the HiFace into a Gatored Caiman, again no problems)

Just got the V-Link (sorry Mark) and it certainly works into the Beresford. (Not had it long enough to do direct comparisons for quality)

A benefit of both is that they auto switch sampling rates to match the file.

The V-Link will down sample 192 kHz to 96kHz, so they play on the Beresford. (The HiFace will pass through 192 kHz recordings which the DAC can't play). If you plan on getting 192kHz music and a new DAC then go for the HiFace.

The V-Link also works with Linux but I have not yet managed to fix the computer so that it won't resample all the audio to 44.1.

[Reid Malenfant]

Just got the V-Link (sorry Mark)
You are more than welcome Iain, it was my dithering about looking for reviews & prices etc that made you get in the first ;) I certainly don't blame you either :eyebrows:

Enjoy & all the best to you :cool:

[brian2957]

Thanks Mark this little converter looks interesting . Nothing lost if it doesn't work. I might dip my toe in the water with this. Many thanks also Iain at least I know if I choose to go down this road there will be no problems. It's early days for me yet so I'm exploring the options. Please let me know how you get on .
Thanks again guys.
Brian.

[Alex_UK]

What I use at the moment sure as hell aint bad though ;) This is exactly what I use to convert USB to S/PDIF here (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FANMUSIC-FM-6011-COAX-USB-SPDIF-COAX-Converter-NEW-/120723650645?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_So undCards&hash=item1c1bb0b855).

Just a word of caution - probably an isolated incident, but I bought one too, and it packed up a couple of weeks ago - no idea why, not bothered to try taking it apart to see (I think it is the coax end, as Foobar still "sees" it) but just thought I'd pass on my experience. It sounded pretty good when it was working, though.

[Reid Malenfant]

Awww, mine still works if I plug it in... Thing is I get paranoid if I don't hear the windoze tune when i boot up my PC (as the hifi isn't on), so I only plug it in to listen to Album club & 320Kbps MP3s...

Not a lot to go wrong Alex at the end of the day, at £15 or so it's not worth putting in front of an electronics engineer to attempt to fix it :mental:

[wee tee cee]

Brian,
I run a v link in my system.I had a gatorised caiman for a wee while,they sounded smashin together.v link is a great device when utilising usb,I run a MF M1 it sounds better with the v link. Im running a Mark Grant Trico/wtb silver co- ax. Expensive but once heard.......
Regards Tony.

[brian2957]

Thanks Tony , I've bought a linear PSU to try first , then may go down the USB to SPDIF converter route. At least I now know that they can be used together.
Ta Brian.