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View Full Version : Would the Beresford Caiman suit my config?



nonidentity
19-03-2010, 22:34
Seeking advice / inputs :scratch:

I have the situation as follows:

A very nice Samsung LED TV (but the sound is crappy TBH; picture fantastic) with an optical link/ethernet in/scart/USB
A Blue ray matching player (optical as well)
Sky standard (I am thinking of getting rid of this - analogue scart) but for now....

A small Trend Amp 10a amp (that amazes me with it's output)
A Frugal-horn speakers design that I built (with a wow sound)

Internet and a streaming server (ethernet)

So I have optical on one side, ethernet on the other and lastly analogue.

What I would like is to integrate these, have flexibility and have the following combos: (Saying that probably go optical as much as possible where possible - I like the Caiman with 3 optical drivers - however)

Outcomes would be the streaming server and Internet be visual/audio or audio
Blue Ray and Sky visual/audio or audio


So I am asking what is the best way to do this? (of have a remote to change config is a nice to have)

I don't have a huge budget but am open minded about it, as long as I don't go crazy. Buying the TV at $$$ SWIMBO was not happy at the $$$ but likes the result.

Any advice?

Brian

Stratmangler
19-03-2010, 22:43
Hi Brian

Connect up the TV to the DAC - the Bluray will be connected to the TV by HDMI, and the Sky box by SCART (ie both boxes are feeding the TV, so you only need to link the common point to the DAC).

In theory it should work.

nonidentity
19-03-2010, 22:53
Well mostly yes,

Will the sound from the Blu-ray and sky travel out to the DAC and then on to the AMP etc. ?

Will the TV have to be on when I just want audio?

Reading the "What did you make of the recent Dac Test from Hi Fi Choice?" -StanB if you are listening to what the folks are saying - when to we get the integrates RJ45 etc, streamer with remote?? :)
I was thinking of feeding the Blu-ray sound to the DAC via optilink so Blu-ray is both audio only or audo/visual use.
The SKY scart sucks and probably has to go anyway - just junk on TV
An the streamer server and internet sound?

Labarum
20-03-2010, 08:06
The Caiman has two S/PDIF inputs on RCA (Phono) sockets, one S/PDIF input on a Toslink (Optical) socket and one USB input. I think you can ask Stan to replace the USB input with a second Toslink.

Do any of your boxes offer RCA S/PDIF out? If so that is often the better way.

You don't say what your streamer is - I use a Squeezebox, and that offers both RCA and optical digital outputs.

I connect the Squeezebox by RCA, a Cable TV Box by Toslink and the TV by Toslink.

If I want to watch a DVD the only way I have to play it is from the Laptop which I connect by HDMI to the TV. The sound loops through to the Caiman via the Toslink from the TV. The sound is certainly good enough: I have not listened to serious music by that means.

If (unusually) I want to stream directly from the Laptop rather via the Squuezebox, I connect the laptop to the Caimnan via USB.

I can hear no difference between USB direct and Squeezebox/SPDIF.

Lots of options. Standacs are very flexible.

dave2010
20-03-2010, 14:01
I know that some are concerned about optical inputs, and the use of different optical cables, so optimising optical inputs might require more than one optical input for a DAC. However, there are relatively cheap optical switches which can be used to at least triple the input capability of a DAC with a single optical input, such as http://www.kenable.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=1013. Personally I find these can be acceptable, and I am using one of these straight into a Caiman.

They can also be used to route a single input to different outputs - allowing more complex configurations - though perhaps using several in a system one after the other may eventually lead to problems. I've not checked that.

Themis
20-03-2010, 18:35
The Trends is a rather "sweet" amplifier, so, the Caiman should be a perfect match.
You can ask Stan for a two-optical input one, and, if you need an extra toslink input, you can get something like this : http://www.amazon.co.uk/OPTICAL-TOSLINK-SELECTOR-SPLITTER-Digital/dp/B000QRI2EI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1269110074&sr=8-1

nonidentity
20-03-2010, 22:09
Thanks!
This is great input folks, so it looks like I can get around most of my probs. Look like StanleyB might requiring one specific order. From what I have read on site - just the ticket.

technobear
21-03-2010, 18:07
I have a 40 inch Samsung panel. Any sound going into it will come out of the optical output - even analogue audio from a PC is digitised and sent out.

I use HDMI to connect my DVD/HDD Recorder to the TV and then optical from the TV to the Caiman. The sound quality is more than good enough for movies and even sounds good on quality music programs like Later With Jules Holland.

However you may want to connect your Blu-ray player directly to the Caiman for use when playing CDs. Most players will convert the signal to 48kHz for sending to the TV via HDMI and this is generally a bad thing. Your Blu-ray player may have the option to output CD audio from the optical output at the CD standard 44.1 kHz. Check the manual or wade through the setup menu.

If your streamer has a coaxial digital output then you can also connect this to the Caiman.

nonidentity
21-03-2010, 18:41
Thanks, I was thinking of that exact thing - my Blu-ray has an optical out which is one of the reasons to get a Caiman with 2 optical connections. And by using the switch suggested I can connect altenatives through the Caiman.

I suppose I need to start talking nicely the StanleyB !!

Brian

DSJR
21-03-2010, 20:10
You know, reading the posts above shows me just how narrow my audio/video knowledge is.....

MartinT
25-03-2010, 09:32
I would definitely take the Blu-ray player's output (optical or co-ax) directly to the Caiman (the same for a Sky box) and not use the HDMI > TV > Caiman route. You risk a standards conversion and a lot more jitter doing it the latter way.

dave2010
31-03-2010, 17:17
I've been experimenting recently with outputs from DVD players, and currently I'm driving my Caiman from the output of a Toshiba EP30 HD DVD player. I can't check out Blu Ray, as my Blu Ray player only has optical/coax inputs - not digital outputs other than HDMI to the TV.

I think you should be able to get reasonable audio out via the coax or optical outputs. This would work for CDs - and should also do DVDs (I'm currently listening to Anne Sophie Mutter playing Beethoven sonatas on DVD). Where there could be issues are if you try to get audio from surround DVDs - and then I gather that HDMI might be the better way to go. Apparently the SPDIF interface doesn't provide enough bandwidth for a large number of uncompressed audio channels, though HDMI should work.

It doesn't mean that you can't use SPDIF, but you might have to set the output to a compressed audio mode. In any case, I don't really expect this is an issue - you'd probably just want stereo output. If you wanted multi-channel surround you'd perhaps want something like one of the new Onkyo AV receivers at over £2000. You could get several Caimans for that price.