Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

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Originally Posted by jandl100

Mine arrived today, so I thought I'd kick off a review thread. :)

I know that StanDACs need to run in, but just out of the box it's a stunner! :wowzer:

Stereo focus and fine detail is a step-up from what I have heard before - from StanDACs or anything else for that matter.

Delicacy, fine detail, articulation - all exemplary.

Blimey, Stan - at first listen, it's a stonker! :thumbsup:

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I know you've had experience with a modified Marantz CD48 which employs the TDA1549 DAC, and you liked what it did (even though everything about it was not perfect). I too own an old CD48 (not modified though) and what this player does right it does superbly. Does Stan's DAC achieve what the CD48 does at its best do you think?

Yes it would seem churlish to compare the excellent, modern and up-to-date Bushmaster with an old dog like the CD48 when other are comparing this with a Naim for example - but my personal experience with the CD48 is excellent.

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Originally Posted by loonytunes

I know you've had experience with a modified Marantz CD48 which employs the TDA1549 DAC, and you liked what it did (even though everything about it was not perfect). I too own an old CD48 (not modified though) and what this player does right it does superbly. Does Stan's DAC achieve what the CD48 does at its best do you think?

Yes it would seem churlish to compare the excellent, modern and up-to-date Bushmaster with an old dog like the CD48 when other are comparing this with a Naim for example - but my personal experience with the CD48 is excellent.

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Yes, I agree, the TDA1549-chipped CDPs are very very good - I first came across a reference to the "TDA1549 magic" on the Lampizator site, where he reckoned a Philips CD751 (I think) was as good as, or better than, a top Wadia! I was intrigued and as the Philips machines are cheap as chips I bought one on eBay.

Well, maybe Lampi is prone to a bit of exaggeration ;) but yes, there is a real midrange magic to be had, a natural musical flow and insight. No, it doesn't do full justice to Big Music, and certainly not in the way that a good Wadia can, but in its own way it does sound better than most digital and certainly represents superb value at £30 or so from t'Bay.

And, yes, I bought another TDA1549 machine, a Marantz CD48, but with a valve output stage added. The mids suddenly got even better - a very special machine (I've just sold it and the new owner is over the moon and is selling his old Pink Triangle DAC!! It also demolished an Audiolab MDAC in small to medium scale music.) - but the bass loses some of the quite decent slam available from the Philips machine. Of course, all is not necessarily equal comparing the Philips and Marantz machines anyway - PSU, laser mech (?), chassis build etc would all be different. Nonetheless, there is enough in common between the sounds that a) I am inclined to attribute the magic mids heard from both to the TDA1549 chip and b) I am inclined to attribute the weaker bass from the Marantz to the valved output stage.
I might be wrong, though!

Anyhoo -- where were we? Ah yes! - the Bushmaster DAC.
Yeah, it does it all!
I would have thought the 'honeymoon' period should be over for me by now - I've had it about 6 weeks now - but it recently trounced a £2k unit that passed thru Jerry Towers, and I still love the Bushmaster sound madly/deeply.
Yes, it betters the midrange magic of the TDA1549, although I might be persuaded to concede that the TDA1549 mids are 'nicer' in a somewhat laidback and free-flowing way. I think that's a colouration, though!

I still rate the Bushmaster as the best digital I have heard, although it's a bit of a case of swings and roundabouts with the other top CDP I have owned - a £25k Krell KPS25c. It's hard to argue with the slam and precision of the Krell and the way it hangs an amazingly well focussed soundstage. But I think the Bushmaster beats it in terms of the naturalness of its 3D soundstaging when suitably partnered, and the rez, transparency and speed is easily up there, too.

_____
All of the above is just ime & imho, of course! :)

Oh well, I've just ordered a Bushmaster. I'll try and do some testing against the Naim before I box it all up. Tempting to get another mini-t amp to plum into my Denon amp with it.

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Originally Posted by jandl100

(I've just sold it and the new owner is over the moon and is selling his old Pink Triangle DAC!! It also demolished an Audiolab MDAC in small to medium scale music.)

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Thanks for being very comprehensive with your reply! I assume you finally sold your CD48 due to the Bushmaster - else perhaps you would still be clinging onto it a reference for its strong points.

Has the Bushmaster been fussy with the upstream transport? Or is it quite consistent no matter the host? The convenience of a Squeezebox Touch is tempting but not at the expense of ultimate SQ.

Hi Jerry,

Would the BM improve on the Musical Fidelity A5? I know you had one at Jerry Towers for a little while, would like to hear your opinion.

Nigel

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Originally Posted by NRG

Well its to do with non ideal cable termination and reflections for the wave length of the signal...1.5m came up as the minimum length somewhere I read...longer maybe better in multiples of 1.5m but for practical considerations 1.5 is OK.

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5 metres is the way to go. ;)

From an RF engineer who knows more about this than I ever will...

As for the Bushmaster, Stan or anyone else who knows, is there a 30 days return policy?

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Originally Posted by Yomanze

5 metres is the way to go. ;)

From an RF engineer who knows more about this than I ever will...

As for the Bushmaster, Stan or anyone else who knows, is there a 30 days return policy?

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I saw something about a return policy on one of the sites but I didn't read it. From what I've seen on the forums if the BM doesn't work for you for any reason Stan wouldn't try to make you keep it....but don't use it for 3-6 months and then say "I'm not happy with it" like I've seen some do at a restaurant, eat almost everything and then say "I didn't like this, I don't want to pay" :)

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Originally Posted by edmondwolfman

I too use a Touch and after carefully listening I found that optical connection to sound better than coax. I tried both and optical was just better...at least in my system.

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Agree with that. The optical connection does seem optimal for the touch

I'd like to try a Bushmaster in my work system but am deeply skeptical regarding substantial differences between reasonable dacs - certainly I've never heard any though my experience is limited.

I can assure you that there can be substantial differences Darren. The two DAC's I've owned, a Beresford Caiman and a CA DacMagic were as different as chalk and cheese. I prefer the sound of the Caiman having found the DacMagic to be far too polite for my ears.

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Originally Posted by Darren

I'd like to try a Bushmaster in my work system but am deeply skeptical regarding substantial differences between reasonable dacs - certainly I've never heard any though my experience is limited.

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I was able to hear a difference between my DACMagic and the BM. At first the DM had more bass and clearer highs but that was when the BM was just a few hours old. After the BM broke in (and I can tell you I was VERY skeptical of the people on the forum saying that after 4 or 5 days the BM changed a lot and for the better) it bettered the DM in all areas.

If I didn't have them both hooked up at the same time with both outputs from my Touch running to each DAC where I could just change from AUX1 to AUX2 and not miss a beat it would have been harder to hear the difference. If you have to take a few minutes to shut everything down and change cables, fire everything back up and then compare it can be really hard to hear a difference, at least for me but when you have both running and can just click a button and change back and forth it is very easy to hear the differences.

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Originally Posted by Yomanze

5 metres is the way to go. ;)

From an RF engineer who knows more about this than I ever will...

As for the Bushmaster, Stan or anyone else who knows, is there a 30 days return policy?

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Well theres no hard and fast rule as you don't know what the rise time of the signal is but yes longer the better it would seem on the majority of commercial kit, 1.5m was just a minimum figure.

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Originally Posted by Yomanze

5 metres is the way to go. ;)

From an RF engineer who knows more about this than I ever will...

As for the Bushmaster, Stan or anyone else who knows, is there a 30 days return policy?

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I found this at the HomeHIFI site:

Returns
We value our reputation as a value for money trader. So should you wish to return an item after having had a chance to evaluate it for a few days, please contact us for the return address and any additional information that you may require.

Hey Dave and Bobby,
Many thanks for your remarks. I am tempted. Its either that or a Nexus 7 tablet......

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Originally Posted by StanleyB

Do you hear the hiss when the music is playing and/or when there is no music playing but with the volume control turned to max?

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Although I rarely use headphones, I have just the same hiss - except it is in the right channel.

My Grado SR80s pick it up whether the volume is turned-up or turned right down. When the music is playing it is very noticeable during quiet parts.

The hiss is quite choppy and seems to stop momentarily and then restart - quite unlike the white noise you get in both channels with the volume on max (no music). It is there irrespective of which input is selected but it did seem to reduce when I set the LEDs to be off. Turning BM off and on again made no difference.

There is no noise on the fixed output, which sounds excellent BTW after burning in.

Is there a fix to this problem, short of returning the unit and losing my hard-won burn-in?

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Originally Posted by Alp

Although I rarely use headphones, I have just the same hiss - except it is in the right channel.

My Grado SR80s pick it up whether the volume is turned-up or turned right down. When the music is playing it is very noticeable during quiet parts.

The hiss is quite choppy and seems to stop momentarily and then restart - quite unlike the white noise you get in both channels with the volume on max (no music). It is there irrespective of which input is selected but it did seem to reduce when I set the LEDs to be off. Turning BM off and on again made no difference.

There is no noise on the fixed output, which sounds excellent BTW after burning in.

Is there a fix to this problem, short of returning the unit and losing my hard-won burn-in?

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I'll have to give mine another listen. I only used the headphones for a few minutes and my wife had the television on at the same time so I'll do it again and pay closer attention.

UPDATE: I just tested the headphones again. First with no music at all and volume turned all the way up, next with music playing and finally with music paused and volume turned all the way up again and I have no hiss from any of them.

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Originally Posted by edmondwolfman

I'll have to give mine another listen. I only used the headphones for a few minutes and my wife had the television on at the same time so I'll do it again and pay closer attention.

UPDATE: I just tested the headphones again. First with no music at all and volume turned all the way up, next with music playing and finally with music paused and volume turned all the way up again and I have no hiss from any of them.

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I did the same initially which is why I only noticed it today. Thanks for checking. Hopefully Stan will come back with something. It definitely seems to be something to do with the LEDs. When they are set to go off after a few seconds, the hiss more-or-less disappears about 30 seconds later. On the few occasions I listen to headphones, I now know what to do.

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Originally Posted by Alp

Although I rarely use headphones, I have just the same hiss - except it is in the right channel.

My Grado SR80s pick it up whether the volume is turned-up or turned right down. When the music is playing it is very noticeable during quiet parts.

The hiss is quite choppy and seems to stop momentarily and then restart - quite unlike the white noise you get in both channels with the volume on max (no music). It is there irrespective of which input is selected but it did seem to reduce when I set the LEDs to be off. Turning BM off and on again made no difference.

There is no noise on the fixed output, which sounds excellent BTW after burning in.

Is there a fix to this problem, short of returning the unit and losing my hard-won burn-in?

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I also use the Grado SR80. When connected to the Bushmaster there is no hiss at all. With the music off and the volume turned at maximum level there is absolutely no sound audible (quite impressively so !). My guess is that somehow there must be interference getting in the course of your headphone signal. There's also no difference when the leds are on or out.
By the way,for reasonable listening levels I can only turn the volume knob one quarter of a turn up, putting the knob at 12 o'clock is already unbearably loud !

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Originally Posted by vinylspinner

Hi Jerry,

Would the BM improve on the Musical Fidelity A5? I know you had one at Jerry Towers for a little while, would like to hear your opinion.

Nigel

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Yup.

The A5 is a nice player, I enjoyed it.
But the imaging is a bit flat, especially compared to the Bushmaster, which is a superb imager once you're tuned in to it (which can take a while, it's so good as to be quite a different experience that you need to get used to, imo).

And there is a light & life, a musical freedom and exuberance, to the BM's playback that takes it into serious high end territory - you normally need to spend multiple-£k's to even have a chance of getting that sort of quality, ime. The A5 doesn't do it - most digital playback doesn't.

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Originally Posted by jandl100

Yup.

The A5 is a nice player, I enjoyed it.
But the imaging is a bit flat, especially compared to the Bushmaster, which is a superb imager once you're tuned in to it (which can take a while, it's so good as to be quite a different experience that you need to get used to, imo).

And there is a light & life, a musical freedom and exuberance, to the BM's playback that takes it into serious high end territory - you normally need to spend multiple-£k's to even have a chance of getting that sort of quality, ime. The A5 doesn't do it - most digital playback doesn't.

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The BM certainly seems to be a bit of a giant killer - so I thought I would elevate my experience with hi-end digital and borrow a digital giant from another music lover that fortunately lives nearby. I am soon to become accustomed to the sound of a 'Rega Isis'. Let's see if David can kill this Goliath!

Wow - I've never heard any of the high end Rega stuff. I await your thoughts with interest! :)

MikeMusic has an Isis CD player and very fine it sounds, too. That will be an interesting comparison.

The Bushmaster didn't beat the Rega Dac when three of us compared it at mine, I'm assuming the Isis is better.
Funny old hobby this...

I'd have loved to have been at that comparison, Gaz!

IIRC the BM came last, after Ali's valve home brew, the Rega and the Beresford Caiman. I don't think anyone else here who has compared the BM to the fully tricked-out Caiman has come to the same conclusion.
.... :scratch:
A funny hobby, indeed.
I've heard the Rega DAC and I agree that it is indeed a good'un. But for me, the BM is very special indeed.

Yeah..its odd innit? :)
Just how it was on the day.

What matters is everyones happy with what they have and there's a lot of happy punters :)

Still remember how much of an improvement the TQ cable made, it made the dac differences seem insignificant..

The isis valve CD player hifi dave has is like the Rega DAC in overall flavour, but just more of everything. I have no idea if it's a subtle colouration - one would think so if reading between the lines on their website about it - but it's one of those select players that enable one to completely forget about the "mechanics" of "digital replay," the music taking total control. Years ago, I found the Naim CDS2/XPS did similar things in almost ANY system, the magic coming through with ease. All Naim's cheaper player combinations sounded mechanical rather false in comparison.

Mind you, for a retail price of several thousand quid, the Isis in both versions should be a bloody good player, and for the £500 Rega DAC and the £200 Bushmaster to be spoken of in the same breath is an achievement IMO...


P.S. I understand Rega are trimming their "Reference Dealers" down and a few Isis/Osiris combinations are being flogged off below trade price to ease some dealers' cash flow. The amp is good too, although a six grand integrated doesn't really fit well in the UK unless it comes imported by Absolute Sounds and is foo'd up accordingly ;)

The BM sounds great through my headphones - Audio Technica ATH M50 and Superlux. The problem is that I am not too keen in listening for long hours through those cans to begin with.

But, when connected to the Brio-R and Epos M12.2 it seems that the amp + speakers combo fails to replicate the thunderous bass thump and overall dynamics of the 'phones.

Am I missing something here.
Is there anything else that I could change or include to spice things up ?
A different speaker cables perhaps?

I remember demoing a £500 rega cd player when I bought my naim cd5i and I thought the naim was far better. I'm hoping my beresford when it arrives is more naimlike!

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Originally Posted by aBe

The BM sounds great through my headphones - Audio Technica ATH M50 and Superlux. The problem is that I am not too keen in listening for long hours through those cans to begin with.

But, when connected to the Brio-R and Epos M12.2 it seems that the amp + speakers combo fails to replicate the thunderous bass thump and overall dynamics of the 'phones.

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You are not the first Brio-R owner to mention something similar between the Brio and the BM, and I mentioned the feedback comments of a couple of Brio owners a while back.
But that suggestion has been dismissed as incorrect. Obviously as an engineer I have to accept that there are people out there who are even smarter than audio engineers when it comes to the detecting a pattern of possible issues between audio equipment. So hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon to make some suitable suggestions.

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Originally Posted by aBe

The BM sounds great through my headphones - Audio Technica ATH M50 and Superlux. The problem is that I am not too keen in listening for long hours through those cans to begin with.

But, when connected to the Brio-R and Epos M12.2 it seems that the amp + speakers combo fails to replicate the thunderous bass thump and overall dynamics of the 'phones.

Am I missing something here.
Is there anything else that I could change or include to spice things up ?
A different speaker cables perhaps?

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Get a sub!:)

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Originally Posted by DSJR

Mind you, for a retail price of several thousand quid, the Isis in both versions should be a bloody good player, and for the £500 Rega DAC and the £200 Bushmaster to be spoken of in the same breath is an achievement IMO...

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Well, I don't think that they have yet, Dave!

I mean it's possible for me to mention a Reliant Robin and a Ferrari in the same breath, in fact I have just done so, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their performance is in any way comparable! :)

Let's wait and see what the listening verdict is ....

Althouigh I have done some equally esoteric BM comparisons myself .... :eyebrows:

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Originally Posted by jandl100

Well, I don't think that they have yet, Dave!

I mean it's possible for me to mention a Reliant Robin and a Ferrari in the same breath, in fact I have just done so, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their performance is in any way comparable! :)

Let's wait and see what the listening verdict is ....

Althouigh I have done some equally esoteric BM comparisons myself .... :eyebrows:

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I haven't heard the Rega DAC but have read many reviews and it seems to be the consensus that the Rega DAC has bloated bass. Maybe the people that prefer the Rega over the BM don't hear bass as well and don't hear the bloated bass. I'm not knocking the Rega I'm just saying some people hear different frequencies differently.

One example of this, a friend of mine doesn't hear high freqs very well. When I get in his car his stereo has the treble turned all the way up and th bass turned all the way down. That sounds right to him but it sounds like a $5 transistor radio to me.

This is just 1 example of all the Rega reviews I've read.

From Stereophile:

Overall, the Rega DAC offered respectable measured performance for $995. But I am concerned about the ±120Hz sidebands that accompany high-level tones. Psychoacoustic masking theory suggests that these sidebands will be too close in frequency to the musical tones to be perceived. On the other hand, Paul Miller has written, in the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review, that he has found that the presence of low-frequency sidebands in other processors correlates with the perception that a product's bass is larger than life, even a touch ponderous. Although my measurements show that the Rega DAC's frequency response is flat to below 20Hz, both Jon and Sam described the Rega's low frequencies as being exaggerated, which might correlate with this measured problem. Otherwise, it remains a puzzle.—John Atkinson

So I guess what I'm getting at is one person may think the BM to be much better at the same time as 2 people listening together decide they like the Rega better. Doesn't mean either is wrong;)

When I first plugged in my BM and did direct comparisons to my DACMagic the DM sounded better. Had more bass, better, clearer highs. After a few days that changed and now the BM betters the DM in all areas. It's not night and day but if you can change back and forth quickly enough you can definately tell that the BM has come into it's own and in my system sounds better than the DM.

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Originally Posted by jandl100

Althouigh I have done some equally esoteric BM comparisons myself .... :eyebrows:

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I'm beginning to have an equally high regard for the BM, Jerry. I have mostly used it for Sky HD and Blu-ray but more recently I've been using it with the Logitech Touch and I am beginning to realise just what a giant-killing package the Touch + Bushmaster + Linear PSUs is. Streaming just 16/44 material is really excellent, giving that palpable presence, air and space that only high end CD players can do. Hi-res material sounds even better.

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Originally Posted by edmondwolfman

[B]I haven't heard the Rega DAC but have read many reviews and it seems to be the consensus that the Rega DAC has bloated bass. Maybe the people that prefer the Rega over the BM don't hear bass as well and don't hear the bloated bass. I'm not knocking the Rega I'm just saying some people hear different frequencies differently.

One example of this, a friend of mine doesn't hear high freqs very well. When I get in his car his stereo has the treble turned all the way up and th bass turned all the way down. That sounds right to him but it sounds like a $5 transistor radio to me.

This is just 1 example of all the Rega reviews I've read.

From Stereophile:

Overall, the Rega DAC offered respectable measured performance for $995. But I am concerned about the ±120Hz sidebands that accompany high-level tones. Psychoacoustic masking theory suggests that these sidebands will be too close in frequency to the musical tones to be perceived. On the other hand, Paul Miller has written, in the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review, that he has found that the presence of low-frequency sidebands in other processors correlates with the perception that a product's bass is larger than life, even a touch ponderous. Although my measurements show that the Rega DAC's frequency response is flat to below 20Hz, both Jon and Sam described the Rega's low frequencies as being exaggerated, which might correlate with this measured problem. Otherwise, it remains a puzzle.—John Atkinson

So I guess what I'm getting at is one person may think the BM to be much better at the same time as 2 people listening together decide they like the Rega better. Doesn't mean either is wrong;)

When I first plugged in my BM and did direct comparisons to my DACMagic the DM sounded better. Had more bass, better, clearer highs. After a few days that changed and now the BM betters the DM in all areas. It's not night and day but if you can change back and forth quickly enough you can definately tell that the BM has come into it's own and in my system sounds better than the DM.

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I actually have heard the rega dac and "bloated bass" is not the first thing I'd say comes to mind describing its sound.
To me its tight, agile tuneful and musical.
System synergy always comes into play, so really there's no absolute verdict on any piece of kit.
(apart from Lidl stereo's vs proper kit of course)

I'm always wary of any "general conscensus" when (as you say) different people hear differently. :)
(though all three of us at a recent dac comparison at my gaff ranked the BM less than other dacs on show that day)


That Stereophile Review... there's a fair bit more to it than just that.
(Including comment by Paul Darwin of Rega)

Have you the link to the full article?

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Originally Posted by Gazjam

I actually have heard the rega dac and "bloated bass is not the first thing I'd say comes to mind describing its sound.
To me its tight, agile tuneful and musical.
System synergy always comes into play, so really there's no absolute opinions on any piece of kit.
(apart from Lidl stereo's vs proper kit of course)

I'm always wary of any "general conscensus" when (as you say) different people hear differently. :)
(though all three of us at a recent dac comparison at my gaff ranked the BM less than other dacs on show that day)


That Stereophile Review... there's a fair bit more to it than just that.
(Including comment by Paul Darwin of Rega)

Have you the link to the full article?

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I just googled it, it's on the Stereophile site, I just pulled the conclusion from the end.

Just looking at reviews, professional and just regular users I see a lot of bass bloom, bloated, heavy bass, warm and slightly lacking in upper detail. Things like that. I'm not knocking the Rega at all but generally when most of the reviews mention that something is a little bass heavy there is usually at least a little something to it and I also know that the system, room, etc. that is used contributes to the outcome.

If only we could all have the perfect listening rooms and hearing as good as it was when we were young we would all probably agree a lot more about our music playback:)

What I can say though, is that in my system the BM sounds better than the DACMagic. The brightness/harshness on some music is not there through the BM.

One other thing that made it even better was when I plugged the Magenta ADE-24.1 back into the siganl path. Its a analog digital enhancer made in Mexico by Margules. It's kind of a weird product. Some say in no way can it make the music sound better, but those are mostly the ones that never heard it. You can see a write up here http://adventureshifi.blogspot.com/2...genta-ade.html .

It says it does something about odd order harmonics but I don't know enough to talk intelligently about that I just know that it makes my music, in combination with the BM, sound great.

If one listened to their music and then turned everything off, added the Magenta, turned everything back on and listened you may not be able to tell a big difference. You might say, well that sounds good and doesn't detract so I'll just leave it in.

If you have a setup like I do where you have 2 DAC live at the same time with the Touch feeding each and connected to your preamp so you can just change from AUX1 to AUX2 and never miss a note you can hear a big difference but I can't explain it, it just sounds better. Music has more weight and sounds fuller if that makes any sense.

So in short with that setup and not Magenta the BM sounds better than the DACMagic. Add the Magenta to the BM, switch back and forth and the BM sounds much better.

Short story and I'll cut this off. I have a friend, while not an audiophile has always poo poo'd digital music. He listens to albums almost exclusively and swears how much better they sound. He's heard my system dozens of times and always talks about how smooth vinyl sounds. The other night he came by and as we were listening to music (first time he's heard the BM and Magenta together and I didn't say anything) he sat there for a bit and looked at me and said "I always thought vinyl sounds so much better than digital music but this sounds so good I'm having second thoughts!"

I've read most of the reviews too and cant honestly draw the same conclusion..
Personal experience (and that of others) hearing the same kit says otherwise too.

This is a good read?
Big dac comparison over on Pinkfish, see the comments on the Rega,Young, Audiolab.
etc.
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=93581

An analogue sounding dac, like vinyl?
sounds perfect!

*EDIT*
Rega Dac Review that you talked about.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/r...c-da-processor

Yep, agreed Gary, it didn't sound bloated to me either.

Got to agree with you Ali , I know there's synergy involved with your all- Rega system Gary and the Mogami speaker cables , but the bass from the RS3s was amazing . Tight , tuneful , deep and 'settee shaking ' . IMO possibly as good as I've heard in any system in my time.

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Originally Posted by StanleyB

You are not the first Brio-R owner to mention something similar between the Brio and the BM, and I mentioned the feedback comments of a couple of Brio owners a while back.
But that suggestion has been dismissed as incorrect. Obviously as an engineer I have to accept that there are people out there who are even smarter than audio engineers when it comes to the detecting a pattern of possible issues between audio equipment. So hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon to make some suitable suggestions.

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Am I?

I might need to try to connect the BM to my other amps - the Creek & T-Amp, and see how it goes over the weekend.

Ahhh..I really like both the BM and the Brio R.
The last thing that I want to do is to keep them apart.

Maybe it's already time for me to save up for an Audionote OTO SE..

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Originally Posted by aBe

Maybe it's already time for me to save up for an Audionote OTO SE..

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A lovely amp. :thumbsup: - a mate of mine has one. Give it an easy-ish speaker load and it can be magical!

I'm losing too much sleep these days after having listen to a terrific sounding Audionote setup last week.

The amp sounds lovely...surreal.
I really have to get one of those Otos.

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Originally Posted by edmondwolfman

I haven't heard the Rega DAC but have read many reviews and it seems to be the consensus that the Rega DAC has bloated bass. Maybe the people that prefer the Rega over the BM don't hear bass as well and don't hear the bloated bass. I'm not knocking the Rega I'm just saying some people hear different frequencies differently.

One example of this, a friend of mine doesn't hear high freqs very well. When I get in his car his stereo has the treble turned all the way up and th bass turned all the way down. That sounds right to him but it sounds like a $5 transistor radio to me.

This is just 1 example of all the Rega reviews I've read.

From Stereophile:

Overall, the Rega DAC offered respectable measured performance for $995. But I am concerned about the ±120Hz sidebands that accompany high-level tones. Psychoacoustic masking theory suggests that these sidebands will be too close in frequency to the musical tones to be perceived. On the other hand, Paul Miller has written, in the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review, that he has found that the presence of low-frequency sidebands in other processors correlates with the perception that a product's bass is larger than life, even a touch ponderous. Although my measurements show that the Rega DAC's frequency response is flat to below 20Hz, both Jon and Sam described the Rega's low frequencies as being exaggerated, which might correlate with this measured problem. Otherwise, it remains a puzzle.—John Atkinson

So I guess what I'm getting at is one person may think the BM to be much better at the same time as 2 people listening together decide they like the Rega better. Doesn't mean either is wrong;)

When I first plugged in my BM and did direct comparisons to my DACMagic the DM sounded better. Had more bass, better, clearer highs. After a few days that changed and now the BM betters the DM in all areas. It's not night and day but if you can change back and forth quickly enough you can definately tell that the BM has come into it's own and in my system sounds better than the DM.

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The first Bushmaster comparison I've seen with the Dacmagic, cheers.
Would have been good to have heard a DM at my recent Dac comparison.
Interesting!

As a Rega DAC owner I cant agree with the bloated bass comment either, it is certainly more bassy than any other DAC I've owned but then I use it as part of an all Rega system and as others have said system synergy really does count for a lot.

One of these days I'll try it with other amps and speakers but for now I find it perfectly matches the Brio-R which some have found overly bright and bass light!

When I compared the Rega DAC with my old M2Tech Young DAC, a 'bloated bass' was certainly not evident. In fact, the 2 DACs sounded remarkably similar - both were good!

Appologies to Stan for taking so long to post my thoughts. I picked up the Bushmaster over a month ago and have put it through it's paces, both listening through speakers (Hornshoppe / Heils) and headphones (Grado 1000GS). I was very happy from the moment I connected the DAC. Everything was more clear and musical than either the Gator or DacMagic. This week the linear power supply from Mains Cables r Us arrived and WOW WOW WOW! I'm feeling like I'm in the big leagues now. Music that was sometimes a little edgy is now both smooth and detailed. The Bushmaster with the new power supply has made even previously stident female vocals sound clear and yet still raspy when that is what they intended. But never brittle. I can hear breathing, double bass strings reverberating and rubbing, piano textures are fantastic. Whoever is thinking of getting a Bushmaster, stop thinking and buy one. Whoever is debating whether the linear power supply is worth it, stop thinking and buy one as well. I was worried the improvements would be subtle, but they are dramatic. EXCELLENT toe tapping sounds. Airy highs, dramatic lows, sweet and clear top to bottom. Sound stage is spread beyond the speakers and makes me put the headphones down (as great as they are) in favour of performers on stage in front of me. Of course I should give more than a little credit to my Dayens Ampino Power Amp, Hornshoppe / Heil speakers and Truth preamp, and BK sub. Together they are a force to be dealt with and from which it's difficult to pull away.

Cracking stuff Lee!

Which linear PSU did you get? (Going to push the button soon)

I bought the linear power supply for the Bushmaster from Mains Cables r Us. Seems crazy to buy a power supply that costs more than the DAC, but it really is like a different DAC now, and SO much better. I didn't compare it to other options, but with the sound I'm getting I have absolutely no second thoughts. It just works amazingly well and I'm looking no further in the DAC department. Stan has created something that should put smiles on many faces, for many years to come.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lee

I bought the linear power supply for the Bushmaster from Mains Cables r Us. Seems crazy to buy a power supply that costs more than the DAC, but it really is like a different DAC now, and SO much better. I didn't compare it to other options, but with the sound I'm getting I have absolutely no second thoughts. It just works amazingly well and I'm looking no further in the DAC department. Stan has created something that should put smiles on many faces, for many years to come.

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What he said. Could not agree more.

The thing that the Rega DAC "is," is a product from a vinyl loving manufacturer. As such, and when designed, the compromises would probably have been laid in a sonically "organic" kind of way, rather than a brightly lit "deeeeetailed" treble for example. Compared with my ancient ton-up Digit (with a few silly cap tweaks inside as well as two supplies), it has a slightly meatier bass, which is NEVER stodgy - the QED lost it's bloat ages ago with the twin supplies - but the trebly performance of the Rega is far better in a quick comparison. All I wanted to do was prove to myself that I hadn't ruined the QED and in all honesty I don't think I have, thankfully.

Although my financial state appears to be slightly easing (thank gawd for that!), we have some house repairs to deal with and it'll be a while before I can look at DAC upgrades, since this will form part of the second system primarily. The Bushmaster is top of my list and since the Digit uses a 12V supply for the 5532 audio output chips, maybe a heavy duty linear supply might be a good halfway option since it could be used with a BM later?