Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[jandl100]

Wow - I've never heard any of the high end Rega stuff. I await your thoughts with interest!

[MartinT]

MikeMusic has an Isis CD player and very fine it sounds, too. That will be an interesting comparison.

[Gazjam]

The Bushmaster didn't beat the Rega Dac when three of us compared it at mine, I'm assuming the Isis is better.
Funny old hobby this...

[jandl100]

I'd have loved to have been at that comparison, Gaz!

IIRC the BM came last, after Ali's valve home brew, the Rega and the Beresford Caiman. I don't think anyone else here who has compared the BM to the fully tricked-out Caiman has come to the same conclusion.
....
A funny hobby, indeed.
I've heard the Rega DAC and I agree that it is indeed a good'un. But for me, the BM is very special indeed.

[Gazjam]

Yeah..its odd innit?
Just how it was on the day.

What matters is everyones happy with what they have and there's a lot of happy punters

[Ali Tait]

Still remember how much of an improvement the TQ cable made, it made the dac differences seem insignificant..

[DSJR]

The isis valve CD player hifi dave has is like the Rega DAC in overall flavour, but just more of everything. I have no idea if it's a subtle colouration - one would think so if reading between the lines on their website about it - but it's one of those select players that enable one to completely forget about the "mechanics" of "digital replay," the music taking total control. Years ago, I found the Naim CDS2/XPS did similar things in almost ANY system, the magic coming through with ease. All Naim's cheaper player combinations sounded mechanical rather false in comparison.

Mind you, for a retail price of several thousand quid, the Isis in both versions should be a bloody good player, and for the £500 Rega DAC and the £200 Bushmaster to be spoken of in the same breath is an achievement IMO...


P.S. I understand Rega are trimming their "Reference Dealers" down and a few Isis/Osiris combinations are being flogged off below trade price to ease some dealers' cash flow. The amp is good too, although a six grand integrated doesn't really fit well in the UK unless it comes imported by Absolute Sounds and is foo'd up accordingly

[aBe]

The BM sounds great through my headphones - Audio Technica ATH M50 and Superlux. The problem is that I am not too keen in listening for long hours through those cans to begin with.

But, when connected to the Brio-R and Epos M12.2 it seems that the amp + speakers combo fails to replicate the thunderous bass thump and overall dynamics of the 'phones.

Am I missing something here.
Is there anything else that I could change or include to spice things up ?
A different speaker cables perhaps?

[gilesw]

I remember demoing a £500 rega cd player when I bought my naim cd5i and I thought the naim was far better. I'm hoping my beresford when it arrives is more naimlike!

[StanleyB]

The BM sounds great through my headphones - Audio Technica ATH M50 and Superlux. The problem is that I am not too keen in listening for long hours through those cans to begin with.

But, when connected to the Brio-R and Epos M12.2 it seems that the amp + speakers combo fails to replicate the thunderous bass thump and overall dynamics of the 'phones.

You are not the first Brio-R owner to mention something similar between the Brio and the BM, and I mentioned the feedback comments of a couple of Brio owners a while back.
But that suggestion has been dismissed as incorrect. Obviously as an engineer I have to accept that there are people out there who are even smarter than audio engineers when it comes to the detecting a pattern of possible issues between audio equipment. So hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon to make some suitable suggestions.