There are many TC-7510 owners out there who'll tell you that the TC-7510 is better than the TC-7520, and even better than many far more expensive DACs.Quote:
Originally Posted by daveyboy
Look into the Teralink X2 USB converter.
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There are many TC-7510 owners out there who'll tell you that the TC-7510 is better than the TC-7520, and even better than many far more expensive DACs.Quote:
Originally Posted by daveyboy
Look into the Teralink X2 USB converter.
Some laptops have a S/PDIF hidden in their mini-Jack; if that is the case you need an adapter for thatQuote:
Originally Posted by daveyboy
Hi, I recently registered on this board and I just wanted to let Mr. Stanley know how much I appreciate the Bushmaster.
I've listened to a lot of gear (really a lot!) over the years and although there are great sounding DACs in the market, I think the Bushmaster is really something special. I bought it used with the Venom upgrade on a whim as the price was just right and I was needing a new DAC for listening with headphones with one of my computers and... well, it sounds spectacular. Thank you and I'm looking forward to listening to your "creations" yet to come.
I'm listening to the Oblivion soundtrack (yes, the PC Game) right now and it's so enveloping and full of light that it almost sounds magical.
I've posted this on another forum:
First impressions for the Bushmaster with venom upgrade (it's optimized for LCD2, which I don't own)
Mac Pro > Audirvana Plus > el cheapo optical cable > several Grados family members, all modded; HD600; modded HFI780 (Stax but that's another story and rig)
Music listened was mostly Classic Rock, Prog Rock/Metal, Classic Jazz. Mostly lossless ALAC, but ripped a few tracks in AAC @250ish and 192.
Pros: Very, very detailed; Fast paced; Amazing bass: articulate, textured, impactful; excellent for voices: you can hear voices as clearly as I have ever been able to, amazing; drumming in general is excellent as well as most instruments in general -> great timbre and loads of texture!; macrodynamics are incredible. It retrieves a lot of around the scene info since all audible cues that were captured by the mic just pop out of nowhere; Transparent. Great case/faceplate combo for the price; Apparently a linear PSU will improve a lot of things I hear and I plan on getting one as they can be had for not a lot of cash (this will lower the bang for the buck factor, though)
Not as good: Not a lot of air on the highs (not a lot of air in general, but this is not a sissy's music DAC as it's very engaging); Can sound congested in complex music; Microdynamics seem a couple of rows behing if this makes sense; Hot upper mids which can make Grados sound a bit tiring, but hey... it's a Grado (which I love too much); In your ears sound: little soundstage; Lossy music sounds... lossy when looking at redbook; Bad mastering sounds just like that; Volume control feels a bit flimsy; Not great at low listening levels as channel imbalance kicks in (no biggie for me)
Cons: analog RCA outs are too close for some of my ICs. Wireworld Gold Eclipse connectors barely fit... but they cost several times the Bush.
Last note: The HD600 (old drivers, stock cable) sound really amazing with this puppy. The HFI780 bass is the best I ever got out of anything with them.
Overall: Sounds like an amazing product for the price. Unbelievable, really, how little cash can get you so much overall quality.
There seems to be something different with the sound coming out of this DAC and I still need for it to sink in. It sounds different of what I'm mostly used to listening and it's disconcerting not being able to pinpoint what it is. I posted those impressions with no preparation and I wrote that it sounds transparent and also a bit hot on upper mids. It's this part I'm having trouble with... I think :)
I've plugged it onto the Audiolab transport into the Jadis off the Headtap - not factoring in the exotic cables and tubes, there's a rather large price difference with the transport and a huge one with the amp and the disconcerting (great sound) is even better - this is a great achievment for the guy who built this. Funny how there seems to be very little headstage with headphones but with the big Dunlavy's there's a huge wall of sound all around. I wouldn't have noticed this not-so-good aspect if I were using only the loudspeakers.
Note: Although not all is amazing with it's sound (I believe I may have my own faults:)), in no way it compromises the pleasure of listening to music with this source.
Amazing performance for so little cash but completely ruined for me by poorly implemented source selection code resulting in source hunting and occasional freeze ups, which require a power down/power up cycle to clear.
I'm sorry to hear that synsei - maybe a firmware update could sort that problem out?
I see no interface on the back of the device for a clean update so I guess it would involve a chip replacement.
I haven't experienced that specific problem since I connect only one source to each DAC.
It is a shame Luis. Other than that it is an excellent product but I have two digital sources and the product purports to support four, so it seems a bit remiss to me that users are required to use just one source if they wish for a perfectly functioning DAC. I'd go as far as to say it is a firmware design fault. Removing the auto-selection code from the firmware would go a very long way to solving this issue I feel. I am awaiting the original owner to supply me a return address so that he can have it back as I now have a Rega DAC which fulfils all my needs more than adequately ;)
Your comments are at odds with the facts I am afraid to finally have to say. You asked me if I could modify the firmware for you so that the auto function is disabled. that is exactly what I did. Unfortunately this code hack seems to have affected the normal operation of the firmware. Your original complaint was that if you had two sources playing and you switched from one to another you got a clicking sound at the moment the 2nd source was engaged.Quote:
Originally Posted by synsei
However since then you have given varying accounts of the original situation. None of them has ever made it clear that the firmware that you have in the DAC is not the same as the firmware in the standard DAC. However, readers are led to believe that it is, which is not helpful to me and anyone else reading your complaint.
As for the original owner: he was not too pleased when he found out that you had the firmware modified. I now have to send him a copy of the original one.
It was a developing situation Stan, which is why my account of what happened has also developed. Please remember dear reader that DAC's and how they operate would not be my chosen subject of expertise on an episode of Mastermind, however like anybody else without a grounding in electronics, I know when something isn't working correctly so Stan's attempt to belittle me is a bit rich.
FACT: The BM was not working properly for me from the time I first set it up...
FACT: Within a day and a half of receiving it the BM packed up completely (which is why it went back to Stan with Nigel's blessing)...
FACT: Stan informed me that disabling the Auto-Select feature would solve the problem...
I also object to you stating that the original purchaser, Vinylspinner, (who isn't the original purchaser incidentally, that would be Martinh) is angry with me for having the unit "modified" when in fact you stated to me on the phone that this would fix the problems I was experiencing, therefore I bowed to your superior knowledge and agreed to have the work done. If what you say is true and Nigel is angry with me for sending the DAC back to you for repair (at my expense incidentally, that's nearly twenty pounds, ten pounds each for the outbound and inbound postage) then he should have said so at the time as I was in contact with him, and not got you to do his dirty work for him. Bearing in mind I agreed to pay Nigel £160 for a second hand BM, with the money I have already paid out in postage, I would in fact have paid full retail price for this machine had I continued with the deal. As it is, including yet another tenner in postal charges to return the unit to Nigel, I will be thirty pounds out of pocket because of somebody else's problem by the end of all this :(
All I can say is that I am delighted with the Bushmaster and the standard of service from Stanley.
I love the sound quality of the Bushmaster and the headphone amp is a real bonus to me as I have been able to retire my Little Dot III Headphone Amp to a bedroom system (using just the Bushmaster to drive my Sennheiser HD650s in my main lounge rig).
Over last weekend my DAC started misbehaving on source selection. I basically couldn't get it to change source. I rang Stanley on Monday morning and by Tuesday he had sent me a new Firmware Chip. I slotted in the new chip and hey presto everything was working nicely again.
Stanley has advised that I switch off the DAC after use as the source selection problem is - he believes - temperature related. I use Sleep Mode so with no tell tale LEDs I sometimes forget to turn it off - I must try harder to remember (should help with leccy bills too).
I am glad you are happy with your BM Adam, this is certainly not how I wanted to handle it but unfortunately I am being singled out as the villain in this and it feels as if I am being told that I should have just put up with the situation. It was a difficult one for me as I was well aware that I was not the original purchaser therefore I was always concious that any support from Stan could be dropped at his whim, and this is exactly what happened. Stan told me to return the BM to Nigel and inform him that he was to send it back to Stan for a full refund.
I should state that money has not changed hands between myself and Nigel as he kindly deferred payment until after Scalford to allow me to recoup some funds after a particularly expensive month. I was due to pay him today incidentally.
Anyway, I have drawn a line under it now and put it down to experience... ;)