Beresford Caimen SEG vs DA Dacmagic 200m

[Hypnotist]

A couple of days back I asked the question How good would a 10yr old Music Fidelity M1 Dac stack up against todays Dacs in the £5-600 bracket like the MF MX-Dac or the CA Dacmagic 200m.

Well I cant answer that question, but I can tell you that if someone says lets do a back to back of your Beresford Caimen SEG with the latest SEG 50 upgrade, with a new Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 200m, you may be surprised that the Beresford Caimen Seg with its 15v Linear PSU and Durado mk3, came out way ahead of the Dacmagic 200m. Bigger soundstage, and more bass and a better overhaul control on higher octaves (Flac Files). so if you have a new Dacmagic 200m don't audition one of Stans Caimen Seg with a linear and a durado, you'll be disappointed.

I reckon if you expect a upgraded Dac over Stans Caimen Seg 50 with the 15v Linear and Durado, your going to have to look at Dacs over the £1000 +. £600 just won't cut it.

Footnote:
No other components were changed during the test.

[Jerry B]

I found that to be true as well Dave.

The Beresford SEG settled my desire to upgrade.
It replaced a Beresford Bushmaster II.

I like the modded SEG so much, last year I bought a second one for work.
It certainly plays above its price.

[Adam D]

I used to own a Micromega Stage 6 CD player and I really liked the way it sounded.

It had a lovely musical quality to it and I could listen to it for ages as I did not find it fatiguing at all.

A year ago I bought a Topping E30 DAC for my headphone setup and I have enjoyed listening to it a lot.

Recently I wanted to try out different DACs and I bought a second Micromega Mydac off Ebay.

I was hoping that it would have that Micromega house sound.

I plugged it in and I have been very impressed with it. Not bad for a 2012 design!

The Topping will be sold soon because I am going to keep the Micromega :)

[CageyH]

I bought a 2nd hand RME ADI-2 DAC FS for £500.
I personally found this a step up from my fully modified SEG.

[Hypnotist]

Thats half the new price Kevin and a good buy, where was the main difference over the SEG ?

[worrasf]

I own both the DacMagic 200m with MCRU PSU and a Caiman SEG (47 firmware) with MCRU PSU and Dorado and by and large my experience is similar to the OP's.

Bass extension and control is noticeably better with the SEG, especially evident with bass drum and cello where there is more warmth and detail. Vocals have more expression (especially female vocals) for example Mazzy Star and London Grammar tracks have more emotion. I think solo piano (Einaudi for example) is better portrayed with more depth and resonance.

Comparing FLAC files to their vinyl version the SEG is far more "faithfull" with the DacMagic sounding more "CD".

I would hesitate to opine that one DAC is "better" than the other as both are fantastic but there is a definite difference in presentation. Overall, I prefer the sound of the SEG as it's more "musical"

As always YMMV

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

EDIT: I've just completed another session comparing the SEG with the DacMagic 200m and there is no doubt the SEG is more musical, dynamic and involving. The 200m sounds thin and recessed by comparison.

[Theadmans]

I've had the SEG50 upgrade for a couple of weeks now.

My Caiman SEG resides on my bedroom nightstand...

...I listen on Sennheiser HD650 headphones when I go to bed.

The soundstage is amazing - on more than one occasion I have been startled that someone is making noises in the room...

...but it's on the recording in super 3D soundstaging!

I'm sure I never used to get so many out of head experiences with my previous SEG30 chip.

At this rate the Caiman will have to go back into my main lounge Hi-Fi rig.

[Dauntless]

I have just had my Seg/dorado upgraded by Stan with the new clock/output stage upgrade. Sounds great and is now my DAC of choice.

[CageyH]

Thats half the new price Kevin and a good buy, where was the main difference over the SEG ?

For the money, the SEG is good, but I much preferred the RME.
It has been a while now since I changed, so to describe the difference would be difficult.
I just preferred the sound of the RME in my system would probably be a fair summary.

[biffo]

Totally agree the SEG 50 increases the soundstage giving a more 3d feel a great upgrade for the money

[Hypnotist]

Some positive reviews on the SEG50 chip upgrade from Stan, really chuffed with mine :D

Thanks Stan

[sanchezxxx]

I have 15v Seg / Dorado combo. Demo’d to a friend the other week for work background duties Vs a Dragonfly Red. Said they couldn’t handle working with the Seg - just too involving to leave on on the background while concentrating on something else ��

Need to try this 50 chip for myself.

If sound is the priority then it’s great.

For simplicity / ability to stream via Airplay I’m loving my Nord / Khadas / Arylic streamer but that’s more expensive. Now if Stan adds Airplay to the Beresford, with the Dorado all in the same box things will get really interesting.

[palace]

I've had the SEG50 upgrade for a couple of weeks now.

My Caiman SEG resides on my bedroom nightstand...

...I listen on Sennheiser HD650 headphones when I go to bed.

The soundstage is amazing - on more than one occasion I have been startled that someone is making noises in the room...

...but it's on the recording in super 3D soundstaging!

I'm sure I never used to get so many out of head experiences with my previous SEG30 chip.

At this rate the Caiman will have to go back into my main lounge Hi-Fi rig.


Totally agree the SEG 50 increases the soundstage giving a more 3d feel a great upgrade for the money


I have 15v Seg / Dorado combo. Demo’d to a friend the other week for work background duties Vs a Dragonfly Red. Said they couldn’t handle working with the Seg - just too involving to leave on on the background while concentrating on something else ��

Need to try this 50 chip for myself.

If sound is the priority then it’s great.

For simplicity / ability to stream via Airplay I’m loving my Nord / Khadas / Arylic streamer but that’s more expensive. Now if Stan adds Airplay to the Beresford, with the Dorado all in the same box things will get really interesting.

I have found exactly the same, I listen/watch a lot of HD recorded music video's off of my Virgin box as well as DVD music videos from Cream live to Palestrina sung in the Sistine Chapel. Occasionally if looking at my PC an advert/scene comes on a door bell, sounding so realistically like our WiFi door bell I have gone to answerer the door. At other times with the SEG 50 sounds are compelling in the air as if in the room.

From my days of car audio I have David Chesky HQ stereo Test CD's, on one track a group of "musicians" or people making continuous noise enter a long hall/church approach the listener they then proceed to walk around the listeners head 3 times walk away and exit the hall/church via the entry door. In a car with sub's & front rear + door speakers with a parametric graphic equaliser with adjustable time delay needing near perfect phase coherence it worked amazingly well.

I have never heard the CD on any 5.1 or 7.1 domestic set up. I had never had the effect work convincingly in my lounge before even with Caiman SEG42 & Chinese LPSU via my OTA Quad 57's; since Stan completed the clock/caps mods that included the SEG 50 I also added individual phono sockets using 7n OHNO copper wire and buying an MCRU/Long Dog linear PSU all within a few days. Now with SEG 50 & after a couple of weeks playing I was listening to the music tracks on the Chesky CD I thought I would try the effect track to my surprise the effect works convincingly as it was intended to with the SEG50 stereo set up, yes I am very pleased with the SEG 50 etc.

[dave2010]

I have an older Caiman. Is the newer SEG+upgrades version available now direct from Stan? If so - how much?

I could be interested, but I'd probably want to go direct to a ready made device, rather than having to buy and then upgrade etc.

I'm assuming also that the SEG versions are considered improvements on the Bushmaster unit which was available at one time, and considered better than my original.

[palace]

I have an older Caiman. Is the newer SEG+upgrades version available now direct from Stan? If so - how much?

I could be interested, but I'd probably want to go direct to a ready made device, rather than having to buy and then upgrade etc.

I'm assuming also that the SEG versions are considered improvements on the Bushmaster unit which was available at one time, and considered better than my original.

Dave that is exactly what I wanted to do however Stan is reluctant to "mod" at first point of sale, he says because having lived with the standard SEG you can easily spot the difference post mod's. I suspect that he prefers to "mod" a Caiman SEG that has settled down.

This route initially seemed unnecessary however the up grades made to the the Caiman SEG. It came back from Stan's with SEG 50 fitted as part of the modifications, at Christmas, as well as the clock, super-caps I added a phono socket upgrade, individual sockets connected to the board with 7n OHNO wire + the addition of an MCRU Long Dog designed linear 15v 2 piece PSU.

This route then made sense, give Stan a call, due to your distance away he might do all at once I live 45 minutes from Stan so no great effort required to give and take. The Caiman SEG and Dorado 3 with mods etc is very pension friendly baring accidents should see me out, I have not heard a Bushmaster, the Caiman SEG with mods is a real improvement on the standard Caiman SEG which according to posts I have read is a big improvement over a Bushmaster with "mods" The Dorado Mk3 is also a must as is a 15v linear PSU.

Read my previous post for specifics...

Link with contact phone number

http://www.homehifi.co.uk/S/tc-7535.htm