Stan Beresford

[Pieoftheday]

Are Stans Dacs still a thing? I can't access the his websites?

[Macca]

Are Stans Dacs still a thing? I can't access the his websites?

I think he retired a few years back now.

[Pieoftheday]

I think he retired a few years back now.

Hi Martin, well that's fair.dooz,looking forward to that myself sooner rather than later:)

[Macca]

Hi Martin, well that's fair.dooz,looking forward to that myself sooner rather than later:)

I can recommend it but only been a month for me.

Was at a do last night, getting late, bloke I was chatting to says 'I better be going, got work in the morning'.

For a second I thought I had too, then I remembered no I don't, I'm retired. :)

[Pieoftheday]

I can recommend it but only been a month for me.

Was at a do last night, getting late, bloke I was chatting to says 'I better be going, got work in the morning'.

For a second I thought I had too, then I remembered no I don't, I'm retired. :)

Brilliant :cool:

[mikeyb]

Stan posted this on The Audio Standard Forum 18 hours ago

https://theaudiostandard.net/post/294890

[Pigmy Pony]

I can recommend it but only been a month for me.

Was at a do last night, getting late, bloke I was chatting to says 'I better be going, got work in the morning'.

For a second I thought I had too, then I remembered no I don't, I'm retired. :)

Still a few there to chat with :)

https://marketlavingtonmuseum.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image-16.png?w=1024

[Ali Tait]

LOL.

[Gazjam]

More time to enjoy the new speakers Martin,
never a bad thing!

Good to see Stan is still cutting about, a good guy and did some good things for us lot.

[Alex_UK]

Stan was the whole reason I ended up here - I bought a DAC from him, and he suggested I join AoS. So it's his fault! :lol:

[Clive197]

Perhaps we should rename the forum “Retirement Annonamous”

[Barry]

Are you saying we need some new blood ? I would agree.

[Lawrence001]

Why did Stan stop posting on here? I thought it was one of his communication channels with his customer base.

If anyone is after one of his DACs cheap let me know I saw one for sale the other day.

[mikeyb]

I think he was travelling whilst winding down the business, I'm sure he was posting from abroad on Audio Standard

[Wakefield Turntables]

Are you saying we need some new blood ? I would agree.

People are leaving because of the adverts and the fact that the main guy who ran the forum no longer posts.

[Barry]

People are leaving because of the adverts and the fact that the main guy who ran the forum no longer posts.

We're well aware of that, but as it's Marco's forum, we can't change it. :rolleyes:

Many of those who used to post here now post on The Audio Standard.

[Wakefield Turntables]

It's a shame I've clocked up nearly 10000 posts and still contribute but its not the same place. There are more vibrant places.

[Barry]

It's a shame I've clocked up nearly 10000 posts and still contribute but its not the same place. There are more vibrant places.

Do you have any suggestions as to how we can enliven The Art of Sound? None of us like what is happening. All ideas greatfully received.

[Lawrence001]

I'm not sure there's a way, unfortunately it's a feedback loop where less posts means less traffic from searches or people checking in to see if there's anything of interest, which creates a vicious circle.

We need more threads and posts on a diverse range of subjects, mainly hifi and music plus a few others just to provide a change. Unfortunately there's not enough of us to do it unless we spend a lot of time which I don't have, and even if a few spend all day doing it, it won't create the diversity of views and experiences to attract more people.

[Macca]

I went into this a while back, traffic dropped off massively when the ads were introduced as they are very intrusive, appearing in the middle of threads.

Try browsing on your phone without logging in and its terrible. I think that puts off a lot of casual readers from reading let alone joining. Added to which there are a lot of audio forums and only so many enthusiasts.

Most popular topics on forums (aside from music) are reviews of equipment and threads about modifications and tweaks. Which we don't get much of.

Next most popular are bun fights about cables, DACs, digital vs vinyl and other controversial topics. Which we don't get here anymore either.

Still, we have a laugh, and that's the important thing.

[Wakefield Turntables]

We could always have a cable debate that usually livens things up

[Macca]

We could always have a cable debate that usually livens things up

Or we could do 'valves vs solid state' :D

[CageyH]

Do you have any suggestions as to how we can enliven The Art of Sound? None of us like what is happening. All ideas greatfully received.

None whatsoever. Adverts are killing things for me, but this is probably what pays for the hosting costs.
I can only see HiFi fora going the way of the Dodo.
Youngsters these days are not interested, and us older folks should not waste money on it, as our hearing is no longer up to it, apparently.

[Macca]

None whatsoever. Adverts are killing things for me, but this is probably what pays for the hosting costs.
I can only see HiFi fora going the way of the Dodo.
Youngsters these days are not interested, and us older folks should not waste money on it, as our hearing is no longer up to it, apparently.

when I started buying hi-fi magazines there were often editorials and letters bemoaning that 'The hobby is dying' and 'who will replace us when we're gone?' but here we are 40 years on, all those old men are long gone but they've been replaced by new old men.

I think they're will always be hi-fi forums but the more popular ones tend to have a USP - Audiokarma is mostly about vintage American kit, ASR measures everything that moves, Headfi is headphones and related stuff, Hoffman is mostly about music, and so on.

Our USP is the crap weather thread :)

[willbewill]

The same thing is happening on Lenco Heaven and there aren't any adverts - us old lags are getting older and not much young blood coming along, they don't seem to be into discussion fora. But if the Safety Online Act gets its way all discussion fora will get closed down and all we'll be left with if Facebook, X, Tick Tock etc... sad days.

[Alex_UK]

Our USP is the crap weather thread :)

Brilliant! :lol:

[Pigmy Pony]

We could always have a cable debate that usually livens things up

I don't care what people say, my cable is huge.

[Lawrence001]

The same thing is happening on Lenco Heaven and there aren't any adverts - us old lags are getting older and not much young blood coming along, they don't seem to be into discussion fora. But if the Safety Online Act gets its way all discussion fora will get closed down and all we'll be left with if Facebook, X, Tick Tock etc... sad days.The Lenco Heaven forum is quite niche though and relies on some high end/hands on vinyl fans which may be a dying breed. We can move with the times more effectively than them.

[Lawrence001]

Or we could do 'valves vs solid state' :DDigital Vs Analogue. Do all DACs sound the same? Can you judge a component solely through its measurements?

[CageyH]

Or a HiFi fuse debate, or should that be foose?
Cables debates are just for beginners. ;)

[Macca]

Or a HiFi fuse debate, or should that be foose?
Cables debates are just for beginners. ;)

Yes just the nursery slopes.

[Lawrence001]

I've never understood these cable debates. I took mine out and there was literally no sound, nada.

Having said that I heard the inkiest blacks I've ever encountered. As the experienced audiophile said, building a good system is all about compromise.

[Theadmans]

Shame Stan has retired - I used to enjoy my chats with him on the phone.

I started out with a Bushmaster DAC which I powered with an Anker battery. The Anker Battery would cut out because the Bushmaster drew such little current. To get round this Stan advised the ingenious solution of wiring a grain of wheat bulb into the battery to keep it running!

At some stage I considered using a 12v battery from my father's electric golf trolley!

I got the Caiman SEG and all the firmware updates and finally a MK1 Dorado powered by a Chinese Linear supply adjusted to 16v.

Unfortunately my wife complained about all the blue LEds making the lounge look like a science lab!

So I shifted all the Beresford kit to an upstairs room where is fed by Raspberry Pi based streamer. The lounge got a more aesthetically pleasing Creek setup.

I will be listening to some Pink Floyd on the Caiman SEG after Sunday lunch with my trusty HD650s. The Beresford stuff still sounds fantastic and has been faultlessly reliable.

Thanks for all the fun Stan - enjoy your well deserved retirement.

[Pete The Cat]

I'm no expert. But maybe as the demographic of its traditional market contracts the forum might want to broaden its appeal to all the younger folks buying turntables, dabbling in cassette and picking up on CD. There's a gazillion of them using Reddit for this kind of thing and from what I see the quality of the advice and insight that they receive there is really poor compared with a forum like this.

Why not have a clearly signposted newbie's section where people can ask the questions that we all had when we began. Members would need to be prepared to answer the basics, and not come across as jaded or impatiently tell them to search for 100 previous threads on the subject (not an observation about AoS by the way, but there's a sense of ennui on other forums when an innocent soul comes along and asks a question that has been discussed previously).

I hear that landing page design is everything. At face value sites like this are probably quite daunting to the uninitiated.

I see plenty of folks out and about with expensive headphones - the AoS headphones section is somewhat buried.

And as others have said, those ads waterboard the site if you're not a logged in supporter. (What makes them think I want a caravan, a full-sized cardboard Kylie Minogue or an Airfix plane?)

If anyone knows someone in web marketing well enough to have a casual chat I'm sure you'd get some really useful ideas.

Pete

[Macca]

Good points Pete. The problem is that none of us have the access to make any changes like that to the forum.

[Pete The Cat]

Oh.

On the upside there are currently 1,263 guests online. I can safely say that this is the most welcoming forum that I know, so hopefully some of them will read this thread and join in.

[Barry]

Hello Pete,

You make some very good points and suggestions.

Firstly, none of us here like the intrusive nature of the adverts which invade the site if you are not a Contributor. However not only do we not have the ability to change things, but the use of adverts helps pay for the running cost of the Forum. It is Marco's forum and he pays the fees. All the while he is away from contributing directly, we are obliged to continue running AoS as he would have done.

Your suggestion for setting up a 'room' for beginners and new members to ask questions, and be given appropriately worded answers is a good idea. We will kick it around in the Mod room, and see what we can do.
I agree that simply asking a question in Google gives a poor AI compiled answer, or transfers to say Reddit which offer poor answers or manufacturer biased advice.

[Pete The Cat]

Hi Barry,

Thank you for your reply.

I hadn't appreciated some of the constraints. The DNA of the forum is certainly to be respected. One of the things that appealed to me when I joined is that it feels like a good pub, in so far as the landlord has set the parameters and the tone and this creates a culture and consistency that mean folks want to keep coming back.

Something that I should have added is that the question is for all of us to do something about in some way. My own run rate at posting is slower than a Geoff Boycott innings, so I must make AoS part of my morning coffee time trawl.

:cool:

Pete

[StanleyB]

Hi guys, I am still about. But I have suffered some setbacks, which is now leading me to branch in a different direction.
The problem with my site is that the company that hosted it was sold by the owner, and my web spaces moved to a new company. They new company has messed up my online business. Eventually I ended up just selling on eBay because people couldn't order from my site at homehifi.co.uk.
I have made a link to the docs at www.beresford.me and by all means email me if you need help.
Trading wise I have now had to give up on the current range. My manufacturing partner is losing his sight so he has decided to close his business.
I have reached retirement age, but I hope to do some technical stuff on my website listed above.
At the same time I have been involved in some research of historical events that were attached to the triangular trade. Amazingly, even though I have no professional qualifications in history, I appear to have become a leading expert at some aspect of it! That includes some major historical discoveries that had baffled academics etc for , in some cases, centuries.
But more about that in a different topic.

[StanleyB]

Shame Stan has retired - I used to enjoy my chats with him on the phone.
I still answer my phone :).