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davidorp
06-06-2012, 15:58
Hello, thought i'd introduce myself as requested.

I'm still starting out in the world of hifi audio, but am looking to expand my kit. At present i have a Marantz CD6002, and PM6002 (cd player and integrated amp respectively) which i plug into a pair of KEF Q3's.

I like to listen to a wide variety of music. At the moment I am exploring the world of jazz (although i'm generally working my way through the 'classics', Melody Gardot is a current favourite - she's spectacular, check her out if you havent already!); over the last few years i have developed a passion for ska/reggae (when i came across toots and the maytals, i couldnt believe i hadnt heard of them before!) and varieties on that theme, and more recently folk and nu-folk (for example, Fleet Foxes i think are one of the greatest musical developments of the past 2-3 years); I also enjoy the emerging genre of electro swing with artists such as Caravan Palace combining those grooves of gypsy swing with more modern electro beats and effects. Also the hard rock of my teenage years often gets a play. A good general rule is anything with horns, or that demonstrates some thought, or something you can dance to.

Increasingly playing music from my laptop, i noticed that when i plug RCA cables straight from the headphone jack, the quality isnt great, particularly weak and undefined bass lines, which is rubbish. I noticed that playing through the tv, using the HDMI out from the laptop, and headphone socket on the tv greatly increases quality. But now i want to invest in a specific bit of kit. And these Beresford DACs seem to get raved about, so im interested.

My question is how to connect it all up. I dont have a toslink on my laptop, so was hoping to use a usb connection (which i recall being present on the caiman, but doesnt appear to be present on the bushmaster?) What does everyone think? Is it possible to use the HDMI or USB with the bushmaster?

Spectral Morn
06-06-2012, 17:00
Welcome to AOS David

Reid Malenfant
06-06-2012, 18:06
Hi David, welcome to the forum from me as well :)


My question is how to connect it all up. I dont have a toslink on my laptop, so was hoping to use a usb connection (which i recall being present on the caiman, but doesnt appear to be present on the bushmaster?) What does everyone think? Is it possible to use the HDMI or USB with the bushmaster?
What you need if you want to use the Bushmaster is some kind of USB to S/PDIF convertor.

I used to use one of these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-FANMUSIC-USB-SPDIF-COAXl-Converter-PCM2902E-/250734022377?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a60e98ee9), which as you can see is quite cheap & considering the rest of my system was in no way a letdown :cool:

I recently aquired a Musical Fidelity V-Link, which is what I now use & is an improvement of the Fanmusic :)

There are other types out there, but I have no experience of them apart from a brief play with an M2Tech HiFace..


Hope that helps, & I hope you enjoy your stay!

davidorp
07-06-2012, 14:25
Hey guys, thanks for the rapid replies, very helpful already! As you can see from above, i have a relatively low budget system, so the fanmusic seems like a great idea. I read a blog/review about the v-link, in which it mentioned that the v-link demands the data at the rate that it is stored from the computer, which i assume increases gives the DAC more data to play with and decide what needs to be converted to the analogue signal with more precision. Do you know if the fanmusic has a similar ability?

It seems like a good feature but at the end of the day, i'm not fussed about the technical details (yet) as long as the sound is right. As i'm still in the starting out stage, and positive changes should bring vast improvements in quality, so as long it sounds decent I'll probably stick with the fanmusic - it probably wouldnt be limiting factor in my setup, and the v-link can be kept in mind for the future, in anycase. It also looks to represent pretty good value for that price =)

Cheers x

webby
07-06-2012, 14:46
Welcome David,

What kind of laptop do you have? Some Apple laptops do have a toslink output.

davidorp
08-06-2012, 20:58
Thanks Webby.

Unfortunately my laptop is an ageing Dell inspiron 1525, so no toslink!