Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[Val33]

My Bushmaster arrived yesterday and has been playing ever since.

I can only compare it with a passive output Caiman with modded caps/regs and linear supply (now doing duty with the Bushmaster) and a chinese dual CS4398 with output transformers.

The Bushmaster beats them both with ease. Excellent clarity, separation and positioning and bass that is crisp, controlled and very very low

This is all through a NVA P90 passive pre > Leak Stereo 20 > Edingdale Floorstanders by Toppy


Val

[MartinT]

I assume that some people are right now listening to the Bushmaster via headphone instead of clocking in at AoS

I've just given my HD668Bs a blast through the Bushmaster and I'm very impressed. The difference here with the Caiman is huge: they sound vivid, dynamic and involving with cracking bass whereas I could never get enough gain from the Caiman without it becoming busy and harsh.

I'm not a great headphone listener but I would be very happy with your laptop, Bushmaster, battery pack and headphones in the park idea

[Stratmangler]

Just playing 24/48 files of Porcupine Tree's "Deadwing", and I'm hearing things I've never heard before.
And the whole thing boogies like a bastard!!!

[DaveK]

And the whole thing boogies like a bastard!!!

Which is how exactly?
Dave.

[Ali Tait]

Like a bastard boogying silly.

[jandl100]

The headphone output is great, bass is on a par with the Custom Hifi Cable HA10SE with the top DC2 PSU. And the bass on that is superb. Excellent clarity and dynamics, too, from the Bushmaster -- and without harshness or treble emphasis.

On the line-outs, the clarity from the Bushmaster is fantastic, genuinely world class imho in the way that you can see/hear into the recording acoustic. I've heard a few good'uns in my time and the closest I have heard in this respect is from the Krell KPS-25c (rrp £25k) and Opera Droplet 3.1 (£2.5k-ish, I think), those are superb imagers and the Bushmaster is defo in the same league. The Krell and Droplet had a bit more 3D depth to the image, but the Bushmaster is still burning in and audibly improving in that regard ....

Real boogie factor, too. Listening the other day, pre-Bushmaster, to Villa-Lobos' string quartet #1. The 2nd movement felt like it should have my butt gyrating around the room with its syncopated funky rhythms, but it just didn't happen. It was all a bit murky and subdued. Listening last night with the Bushmaster - the murk has gone and I could be seen jiving around in my listening chair making a total middle-aged idiot of myself. . The Bushmaster just latches on to rhythms like there's no tomorrow. Fabulous.

I did promise to raise the stakes as far as DAC musical progression goes, and make a mini statement with the Bushmaster .

A "mini statement"? Bloody hell, Stan - what will your mega statement DAC sound like!

[StanleyB]

The headphone output is great, bass is on a par with the Custom Hifi Cable HA10SE with the top DC2 PSU. And the bass on that is superb. Excellent clarity and dynamics, too.

There were a couple of heated exchanges between myself and a few AoS members about whether it was possible to pull this off in a DAC. It is generally accepted that headphone circuits in DACs are no match for stand alone headamps. I have done my best with the Bushmaster to demonstrate that it need not be so.

On the line-outs, the clarity from the Bushmaster is fantastic, genuinely world class imho in the way that you can see/hear into the recording acoustic.

You got good ears and a great level of observation . It took me a while to figure out how to kill or suppress any power supply and circuit noise so that the recording acoustic was not lost amongst the signal to noise ratio of the Bushmaster. Mark (R_M) picked up on the circuit layout that I employed when he commented on an early prototype board. Taken into account that I use a SMPS, which many consider to be the weakest link in a DAC, I went out of my way to show that it is possible to use a SMPS, as long as the right amount of care is taken in separating the SMPS noise form the rest of the circuit. My own VirtualDC power supply design is the key factor in keeping the SMPS noise sidelined by using it as a charger instead of a direct supply to the DAC.
Because the circuit is so quiet, it didn't need any muting circuit to mask any noise when there is no music playing.

The Krell and Droplet had a bit more 3D depth to the image,

I did come up with a design layout that has more 3D depth, but it would have likely taken the finished design pass my £200 retail barrier. But I intend to continue working on that version and very likely release it as a Caiman MKII since I think it is deserving of that "honour" and position in my range. As I mentioned before, the Bushmaster is a mini statement after all . The full statement will have to wait for another time.

[DaveK]

I was going to ask you guys to stop waxing lyrical about the Bushmaster as I have a Caimanised 7520 ( ) which I am very happy with but despite this I was beginning to yearn for a Bushmaster. I think I can 'put up with' the 7520 for the time being until the "Full Statement" becomes available - gives me time to save up for it as well
Dave.

[jandl100]

Mmmm .... you might turn an interesting shade of blue if you hold your breath and wait for the Full Monty Beresford DAC to come out.

You may (or may not) have noticed a change to my system signature - my 'high end' CDP is sold and the Bushmaster is in full control of the digital aspects of my system.

[wee tee cee]

Ordered one last night.....really looking forward to hearing what it can do in my set up.