My 7520 First Impressions.

[DaveK]

Hi All,
Just thought that I would post my first impressions of my 7520, for 2 reasons: -
1) it will act as a diary for me to keep track of progress on any 'upgrades'
2) it will give others the opportunity to offer advice, guidance and (constructive) criticism - all opinions welcome, I'm here to learn.
Took delivery on Saturday morning - Thanks Stan. I had already received an Maplin alternative PSU and a single crystal phono interconnect to connect the 7520 to my Marantz 6010OSE KI amp. Unfortunately the left channel of this interconnect was dead - a relacement is awaited.
I first connected the 7520 with the supplied PSU and a 'bog standard' cheapo phono interconnect, using my PC as source (mp3 and FLAC) and 'bog standard, USB interconnect. My PC is capable of outputting up to 24/196 over Line, Co-Ax, Optical and USB, according to the Control Panel, Sound, Options' dialogue box and this was the option I selected (24/96 output possible using USB ?? - opinions invited).
I believe that the mp3 files sounded better than pre-7520 but couldn't discern any 'night and day' improvement in the FLAC playback, if any.
Swapping the USB interconnect for optical gave similar results and I could not tell any difference between USB and Optical. Co-Ax interconnect not yet tried.
I then tried the Maplin PSU at 12v across the same options as above and this gave an immediate change across all options - not sure about 'improvement' but everything was louder - had to turn down the volume significantly.
Upping the PSU voltage to 13.5v did not seem to make any noticeable differences to my cloth ears.
Comments invited pease - feel free !! . I am very willing to try other changes which more experienced fellow travellers may suggest.

[lovejoy]

Hi Dave,
Good to hear your 7520 arrived safely and you're up and running.
What software are you using to play your music at the moment? Have you had any luck with setting up ASIO yet? Remember that everything is being resampled to 48KHz if you're still going through the Kmixer in Windows - So quite a large scope for improvement there.

USB connection will only give you up to 24-bit/48KHz, but if all of your source material is 16-bit/44Khz, then it's not an issue.

How long have you had it running so far? The DAC does need a good few hours (I reckon up to 50) to bed in nicely. Might be worth re-evaluating the different power supplies after that. I was quite underwhelmed with the Maplin supply, but Stan's new one - not the wallwart but the little box on a lead - I found nicer to listen to over longer periods.

[StanleyB]

As I have mentioned before, the new TC-7520 PSu was specially designed for the use with the TC-7520 (and also the TC-7510). The Maplin PSU is no longer of any benefit and is more expensive than the TC-7520 PSU.
However, people are free to blow their money on the Maplin PSU even if it is no longer recommended by me. It helps Maplin in shifting their stock at least. And it makes for a very good paperweight.

Stan

[Spod]

I think you've been around here long enough to realise you have to go for the Opamp changes! From the supplied opamps to the LM4562NA or THS4032 really is a night and day difference.

Lengthy running in for all configurations is a must (and was quite entertaining when I first went to the 4562s, the sound was all over the place for the first couple of hours).

Regarding the psu, with my 4032-modded 7520 there's definitely a difference between the supplied and the Maplin. To my ears the Maplin gives more muscle and body to the sound while with the supplied unit the music's probably more agile but weedier and more fatiguing. Depends on your system, opamps and preferences methinks, but worth experimenting with (shame the supplied one's so small, it's hopeless as a paperweight ). 13.5v was just ... wrong. If you don't hear a difference at the voltage then keep away from it, there's already a discussion in here somewhere about how it could push some components over their limit.

Hmm, sure this thread was on "the Drawing Board" when I first saw it

[Marco]

I moved it because it belongs more in here than in the D.I.Y room.

Marco.

[roscoeiii]

To my ears the Maplin gives more muscle and body to the sound while with the supplied unit the music's probably more agile but weedier and more fatiguing. Depends on your system, opamps and preferences methinks, but worth experimenting with

Spod,

Are you comparing the Maplin to the original or new and upgraded power supply? Wasn't clear from your post and seems that this would make a difference to any of us evaluating the fit of PSUs with the 7520.

[Gazjam]

For any changes you make Dave, always "sanity check" them by going back to what you had before and BE HONEST with yourself
Is it REALLY better?

[Spod]

Spod,

Are you comparing the Maplin to the original or new and upgraded power supply? Wasn't clear from your post and seems that this would make a difference to any of us evaluating the fit of PSUs with the 7520.

Yoiks, hadn't notice this thread had come back to life.
The upgraded power supply. Since writing that sooo long ago, I've gone back to the supplied psu. While the Maplin sounds like it has that much more muscle behind it, the supplied psu gets the toes tapping more readily with that little bit more agility it has. Think if I listened to slow powerful classical tracks the Maplin would win. But I don't, so it hasn't.... for now.

[roscoeiii]

Thanks for the clarification Spod.What kind of tracks are you listening to that lead you to prefer the upgraded Beresford PSU?

[Spod]

Thanks for the clarification Spod.What kind of tracks are you listening to that lead you to prefer the upgraded Beresford PSU?

Pop, punk, rock, alternative kind of stuff (as opposed to classical, operatic, country, folk, etc.), mostly upbeat and therefore deserving of the head-nodding toe-tapping that the DACs now drawing out of me!