I've had the Beresford Bushmaster for quite some time and have accidentally discovered a weakness or discrepancy in its otherwise great sounding armor.

I purchased from Amazon an admittedly cheap Ace deal branded Analog to Digital converter (ADC), with both coax and optical outputs, to digitize my cassette collection, using my Nakamichi Dragon cassette deck as source and my custom Modified Pioneer Tangential Straight line Tracking turntable for my vinyl collection.

Source used for testing was my Optimus CD 3400, powered by a custom Dick Sequerra PS1 battery Operated power supply, into the Ace deal ADC, then into the Bushmaster coax or optical inputs for playback. For those interested, or may have questions about this set-up, Stereophile has highly reviewed and commended the Optimus CD 3400 and Dick Sequerra PS1 combination as an arguably excellent, if not great input source for CD playback. For those who may or may not know, Dick Sequerra is the famous manufacturer of the best rated FM tuner on the planet. Period.

When I first used the Ace deal ADC, into the Bushmaster, I got no sound from its coax input and some distortion from its digital input. So I ordered a replacement unit and also purchased an additional Okeba ADC with coax and optical outputs feeding the coax and optical inputs of the Bushmaster.

RESULTS: Good sounds from both ADC units using their Optical outputs into the Bushmaster Optical inputs. However, NO sound when using their coax outs into the Bushmaster coax inputs. Numerous times I tried, still NO sound from the Bushmaster coax inputs.

I then pulled out and tried these combinations with my old trusty Audio Alchemy DAC in a box and the french made Battery NOS (non-oversampling) DAC. Both units played and sounded good with no problems, using both their coax and optical inputs with the two ADC's.

ANALYSIS: There may some anomaly or weakness in the Bushmaster coax input (either hardware or software related) that causes it not to lock onto the 48khz outputs of the 2 ADC's. The Bushmaster Optical inputs, on the other hand, works perfectly fine and sounds great, with no issues. This has placed a damper, on my desire or fantasy of converting my over 40 yr old vinyl and cassette collection into the digital realm.

RESULTS: The Bushmaster is still a great sounding product, and will remain in my system, as my favorite DAC for digital playback. But this anomaly or incompatibility has also led me to look at other ADC/DAC combinations for digitizing my vinyl and cassette collections, which would possibly take the Bushmaster out of the equation.

Namely the NAD PP3i and the Furutech ADL GT40 and Furutech Esprit. All of which contain ADC/DAC within one unit. Owner or users of the above products, your comments and reviews of the above, would be greatly appreciated by one and all. Thanks.

Rex