Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

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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.

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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?