Beresford DAC and the best place to buy one?

[Janat]

So, from what I've read it appears that TC7520 is almost as good as the Caiman and costs €70 less (~€280 including shipping, prices from beresford-dac.nl). The differences are:
- Caiman has a better volume knob?
- Caiman has a better DAC chip
- Caiman has a better PSU
- ???

Is the audio quality so much better that it's worth spending €70 more on it (it probably is)? I'm not going to mod it or anything.


My other question is, where can I get the TC7520/Caiman for least €€€? The beresford-dac.nl prices are the cheapest I've found.

Thanks in advance

EDIT: yet another question, does the EU power plug have a ground connector like here:

or is it non-grounded:
?

[Gazjam]

If your not upgrading at all I'd go straight for the Caiman personally.
The improvements in sound quality are worth it.

Cant help you with the plug question, sorry!

[Janat]

I think I might get a 7520 and upgrade some stuff in it, as I may get a second hand TC-7520 for €140

[DSJR]

Ask Stan (and look on eBay UK)

[Butuz]

I have a 7520 and having heared the sound increases from simple mods such as passive mod or changing op amps I would now go straight for the Caiman as you can then mod that and get even better sound!

Butuz

[michaelhigh]

I have a 7520 and having heared the sound increases from simple mods such as passive mod or changing op amps I would now go straight for the Caiman as you can then mod that and get even better sound!

Butuz

I'm hearin' this. Caiman is on my short list.

[slate]

it is a 2 pin non-grounded plug.

[michaelhigh]

You can get it direct from the Beresford site, I believe.

[dave2010]

Why not just go straight to Stan? Doesn't he do deals with people who use this board who ask nicely? Give him a call.

Anyway, not having tried the 7520 I can't do a fair comparison, but I'd have thought you'd need to get it a lot cheaper for it to be worthwhile. Almost all the reports suggest that the Caiman is significantly better, and if it's quality sound you're after then paying the extra is worth it.

I'm assuming your proposed purchase is cost sensitive. If not,there are other DACs in the range up to (say) 400 Euros - but you might still come back to the Caiman anyway. There is another new one (can't quite remember is it the Arcam rDac) which is supposed to be good, but costs £299. For me, personally, the Cambridge DacMagic, which is similar in price to the Caiman, didn't provide the extra magic I was looking for, though it's decent enough.

I hope I didn't imagine it, but the Caiman does take time to settle down - and improve.