Beresford Caimen SEG vs DA Dacmagic 200m

[Hypnotist]

A couple of days back I asked the question How good would a 10yr old Music Fidelity M1 Dac stack up against todays Dacs in the £5-600 bracket like the MF MX-Dac or the CA Dacmagic 200m.

Well I cant answer that question, but I can tell you that if someone says lets do a back to back of your Beresford Caimen SEG with the latest SEG 50 upgrade, with a new Cambridge Audio Dacmagic 200m, you may be surprised that the Beresford Caimen Seg with its 15v Linear PSU and Durado mk3, came out way ahead of the Dacmagic 200m. Bigger soundstage, and more bass and a better overhaul control on higher octaves (Flac Files). so if you have a new Dacmagic 200m don't audition one of Stans Caimen Seg with a linear and a durado, you'll be disappointed.

I reckon if you expect a upgraded Dac over Stans Caimen Seg 50 with the 15v Linear and Durado, your going to have to look at Dacs over the £1000 +. £600 just won't cut it.

Footnote:
No other components were changed during the test.

[Jerry B]

I found that to be true as well Dave.

The Beresford SEG settled my desire to upgrade.
It replaced a Beresford Bushmaster II.

I like the modded SEG so much, last year I bought a second one for work.
It certainly plays above its price.

[Adam D]

I used to own a Micromega Stage 6 CD player and I really liked the way it sounded.

It had a lovely musical quality to it and I could listen to it for ages as I did not find it fatiguing at all.

A year ago I bought a Topping E30 DAC for my headphone setup and I have enjoyed listening to it a lot.

Recently I wanted to try out different DACs and I bought a second Micromega Mydac off Ebay.

I was hoping that it would have that Micromega house sound.

I plugged it in and I have been very impressed with it. Not bad for a 2012 design!

The Topping will be sold soon because I am going to keep the Micromega

[CageyH]

I bought a 2nd hand RME ADI-2 DAC FS for £500.
I personally found this a step up from my fully modified SEG.

[Hypnotist]

Thats half the new price Kevin and a good buy, where was the main difference over the SEG ?

[worrasf]

I own both the DacMagic 200m with MCRU PSU and a Caiman SEG (47 firmware) with MCRU PSU and Dorado and by and large my experience is similar to the OP's.

Bass extension and control is noticeably better with the SEG, especially evident with bass drum and cello where there is more warmth and detail. Vocals have more expression (especially female vocals) for example Mazzy Star and London Grammar tracks have more emotion. I think solo piano (Einaudi for example) is better portrayed with more depth and resonance.

Comparing FLAC files to their vinyl version the SEG is far more "faithfull" with the DacMagic sounding more "CD".

I would hesitate to opine that one DAC is "better" than the other as both are fantastic but there is a definite difference in presentation. Overall, I prefer the sound of the SEG as it's more "musical"

As always YMMV

Sent from my Pixel 6 Pro using Tapatalk

EDIT: I've just completed another session comparing the SEG with the DacMagic 200m and there is no doubt the SEG is more musical, dynamic and involving. The 200m sounds thin and recessed by comparison.

[Theadmans]

I've had the SEG50 upgrade for a couple of weeks now.

My Caiman SEG resides on my bedroom nightstand...

...I listen on Sennheiser HD650 headphones when I go to bed.

The soundstage is amazing - on more than one occasion I have been startled that someone is making noises in the room...

...but it's on the recording in super 3D soundstaging!

I'm sure I never used to get so many out of head experiences with my previous SEG30 chip.

At this rate the Caiman will have to go back into my main lounge Hi-Fi rig.

[Dauntless]

I have just had my Seg/dorado upgraded by Stan with the new clock/output stage upgrade. Sounds great and is now my DAC of choice.

[CageyH]

Thats half the new price Kevin and a good buy, where was the main difference over the SEG ?

For the money, the SEG is good, but I much preferred the RME.
It has been a while now since I changed, so to describe the difference would be difficult.
I just preferred the sound of the RME in my system would probably be a fair summary.

[biffo]

Totally agree the SEG 50 increases the soundstage giving a more 3d feel a great upgrade for the money