Beresford Caiman

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Just my 2c on the subject, for whatever it's worth... I think computer audio, now it has got to the stage that it can be as good as or even better than cd, is only going to get more popular and probably quite quickly! I can see cd players quite drastically loosing popularity quite soon... I heard a rumor that naim are going to stop making them in aprox 5 years! But that might be crap so don't quote me!
Anyway needless to say I recon you got into the comp audio market place at the right time stan

[Labarum]

mmm

Not too long ago 7510s were doing quite well second hand on eBay. Are they still?

I certainly have in the back of my mind the idea of selling my 7510 and buying a second Caiman. Too busy buying furniture and a flat to put it in at the moment.

7510 (all Standacs) should score over the competition on their ability to replace a pre-amp. Perhaps that could be laboured more is the sales pitch.

[Labarum]

That leaves just the TC-7520 as my main product.

Develop the pre-amp angle. Remote volume and source switching. An analogue line in or two?

What does the AVI electronics do? Fewer inputs, but I believe it remembers the last volume setting for each input.

Licence the Squeezebox streaming chip firmware from Logitech and put in the Standac. All of the software is in the public domain.

Total control can be effected from any box that will run a browser, from PDAs and most smartphones. No need for a display on the Standac.

That could be a killer in the long term.

Market a power amp. Simple no nonsense case to match Standac.

Or make an integrated amp with the Standac instead of a preamp section.

And that's more than two penneth. I had better shut up.

[brainz2000]

Remote Volume is the killer feature for me! I'd be reaching for the credit card, especially if it was a decent passive!

Just my 2p worth!

Tim

[Alex_UK]

Remote Volume is the killer feature for me! I'd be reaching for the credit card, especially if it was a decent passive!

Me too, I'm a lazy B%$£&*+...

Also, I'm superficial - stick it in a full-width case with a 12mm machined front panel and that's another hundred quid at least to Mr Barclaycard!

[Gints]

I can see cd players quite drastically loosing popularity quite soon...

That will happens if manufacturer continue to be so conservative making them without additional digital inputs. Only expensive ones have them. Ordinary computers are too noisy for music in late night and that is a time for cd player. And if I need a special hardware for music why not a cd player? There is still so many discs around, and not so many 24/96 tracks which to download.

[Gints]

Except for AoS members, there has been little uptake of the Caiman. Sales are extremely slow. I sell one Caiman for every 5 or more TC-7520. I reckon that the price is very similar to the DacMagic, and many potential buyers probably prefer taking a chance on the DM due to the rave magazine reviews.

I think many of potential buyers know nothing about Caiman. Homehifi page is not accessible for normal people (me as well) , it automatically redirects to beresford.me where is NOTHING about Caiman's existence.

[Alex_UK]

I think many of potential buyers know nothing about Caiman. Homehifi page is not accessible for normal people (like me), it automatically redirects to beresford.me where is NOTHING about Caiman's existence.

That's a good point there Gints - Stan, you might want to look into that (assume it does some clever stuff from the user's IP address?) but when we were talking a couple of weeks ago, the only way I could see the "current" site was to clear all my cookies/temp files, and that only gave me a "one shot deal" before I couldn't see the Caiman details again. That could explain it, because to me £40 to get all those improvements was a "no brainer"

[Labarum]

And if I need a special hardware for music why not a cd player?

Better to use a streaming device. I use a Squeezebox, but there are others.

The DAC should be in the budget integrated amp, or in a quality pre-amp; but since stripping out the phono (cartridge) section from the HiFi, manufacturers have stalled.

[StanleyB]

What's wrong with using the volume control on your amp?

A motorized passive volume control costs quite a bit to buy. By the time you add it to a product, the cost would have gone up at least 3 times. That excludes any product size changes, including amended packaging etc. So the total bill for a passive volume control would easily surpass £100 at the sales counter. I am a small fish in a big pond, and my sales turnover is a mere fraction of say other UK DAC brand names. Plus theirs cost less to make in China. In order to stay competitive I can't afford to go and load my DAC with features that would double the price! Magazine reviewers concentrate on how products sound, and that is the prime focus of attention by their readership when it comes to parting with cash. I have a Ditton DAC/preamp with all possible inputs etc. But how many people bought one?

Just imagine that the real Caiman price should be between £250 to £300, if I use the same cost calculations as on the TC-7510 and TC-7520.