Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[icehockeyboy]

I use an older DACMagic and Touch and I compared each for DAC and I can say that if you compare a standalone DAC to the internal DAC in the Touch and you can't tell the difference then you should definately move on. The DACMagic was far better than the internal Touch DAC. If I didn't have them side by side I may not have seen such a stark difference but being able to switch and listen within a few minutes proved that while the Touch DAC works fairly well the external DACMagic just sounded a lot better.

I think the rub is in the fact that the Theta, although high end and high priced, may be of an age that didnt do the Touch any favours.

Worthy of mention, years ago when I had my first Stan dac, it boosted the SQ of the Minimax cdp, but when the MM was replaced by a Consonance Linear 2.2' it did nothing, and was outed, to be replaced by the Theta, which did make a difference.

[The Vinyl Adventure]

Been there,thought i recognised the table,and the statue,that room can be an expensive place to be in.

Indeed ... It has been for me a few times!
Although concidering the fact that you could buy my whole system and still have change for a pretty decent s/h car for the cost of the speakers we were listening to ... It can get a touch more pricey!
Still, you can't argue with the service!

[magiccarpetride]

To be honest, that is EXACTLY my thought. I do not use a DAC inside any device, I only own external DACs (Stan's, Moodlab Concept), and I do use unspecific sources that all sound the same when configured to output bitferfect:

Dell D830 on docking station with coax and Foobar/Asio
Acer 1810TZ with toslink and Foobar/Asio
Asrock Z77 Pro3 workstation with coax and Foobar/Asio
Squeezebox Touch with Toslink
'Shitty' 18€ DVD-Player with toslink (bitperfect configurable!)
'Expensive' ex-1800€ DVD-Player with coax
Panasonic 42inch plasma with toslink

And IMHO the effects on the source side on SQ are neglectable when compared to a exchange of speakers, DAC, or amp.

Wow, that's a very impressive list, and a very interesting conclusion. I just did a side-by-side comparison between Squeezebox Touch into the Bushmaster via coax and Playstation 3 slim into the Bushmaster via optical. Colossal differences in the sound reproduction, switching back and forth creates such a jolt. I'm not sure if it's just the Playstation, or if other transports would give me the same jolt of surprise.

But if you can, do try comparing SBT with Playstation 3. I'm sure you'll be able to hear the difference.

[nightyy]

Well there are differences, when you cannot control the source or chain. I have a broken 7510, and the replacement Moodlab DAC just would not accept the 15m coax connection (signal to weak?) So I had to go via HDMI to my HP ZR24W LCD, and using its coax out with a short cable to the Moodlab DAC. I just couldn't get SQ right there. But well, maybe it was just the Moodlab DACs performance?
As long as you can force ASIO or WASAPI out or have a source putting out nice bits you're ok

[Ali Tait]

Ok, back from the shoot out at Gary's. Can't be arsed posting all about it tonight, I'll do a write up tomorrow. Some interesting conclusions, which we all agreed upon.

One star of the show was my TQ Black cables. I have never heard a cable make such a difference in a system.

[wee tee cee]

majik

[sq225917]

If we were to accept that, all digital transports and streamers should sound the same. After all, it's only the DACs that sound different. Is that really your experience?

I'm 100% behind the statement that all transports and streamers 'should' sound the same, yes of course they 'should'. Any decent dac should render all competent transports to sound the same. Obviously there are varying degrees of dac 'quality' out there (quality being technical ability to deal with the source variance) but we're being told the Bushmaster is a high quality dac with a reference grade sound. Are we now to understand it has that but not the ability to reject moderate jitter?

To answer your direct question though, yes it is my experience that a good dac renders the source moot, certainly the Weiss does.

This is far of topic however, shall we move it to the other thread where pc sources are being discussed with the Bushmaster, Mods?

[MartinT]

It's difficult to hold the two threads separate but yes, let's keep this one for actual reviews.

[brian2957]

Ok, back from the shoot out at Gary's. Can't be arsed posting all about it tonight, I'll do a write up tomorrow. Some interesting conclusions, which we all agreed upon.

One star of the show was my TQ Black cables. I have never heard a cable make such a difference in a system.

I think the TQ Black caught us all by surprise mate . Good meeting you and hearing your excellent system Ali.
Brian.

[Ali Tait]

Cheers Brian, yes likewise, it was good to meet you, it was an enjoyable afternoon.