Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[icehockeyboy]

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?

Get a sub!

[jandl100]

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...

Well, I don't think that they have yet, Dave!

I mean it's possible for me to mention a Reliant Robin and a Ferrari in the same breath, in fact I have just done so, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their performance is in any way comparable!

Let's wait and see what the listening verdict is ....

Althouigh I have done some equally esoteric BM comparisons myself ....

[edmondwolfman]

Well, I don't think that they have yet, Dave!

I mean it's possible for me to mention a Reliant Robin and a Ferrari in the same breath, in fact I have just done so, but that doesn't necessarily mean that their performance is in any way comparable!

Let's wait and see what the listening verdict is ....

Althouigh I have done some equally esoteric BM comparisons myself ....

I haven't heard the Rega DAC but have read many reviews and it seems to be the consensus that the Rega DAC has bloated bass. Maybe the people that prefer the Rega over the BM don't hear bass as well and don't hear the bloated bass. I'm not knocking the Rega I'm just saying some people hear different frequencies differently.

One example of this, a friend of mine doesn't hear high freqs very well. When I get in his car his stereo has the treble turned all the way up and th bass turned all the way down. That sounds right to him but it sounds like a $5 transistor radio to me.

This is just 1 example of all the Rega reviews I've read.

From Stereophile:

Overall, the Rega DAC offered respectable measured performance for $995. But I am concerned about the ±120Hz sidebands that accompany high-level tones. Psychoacoustic masking theory suggests that these sidebands will be too close in frequency to the musical tones to be perceived. On the other hand, Paul Miller has written, in the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review, that he has found that the presence of low-frequency sidebands in other processors correlates with the perception that a product's bass is larger than life, even a touch ponderous. Although my measurements show that the Rega DAC's frequency response is flat to below 20Hz, both Jon and Sam described the Rega's low frequencies as being exaggerated, which might correlate with this measured problem. Otherwise, it remains a puzzle.—John Atkinson

So I guess what I'm getting at is one person may think the BM to be much better at the same time as 2 people listening together decide they like the Rega better. Doesn't mean either is wrong

When I first plugged in my BM and did direct comparisons to my DACMagic the DM sounded better. Had more bass, better, clearer highs. After a few days that changed and now the BM betters the DM in all areas. It's not night and day but if you can change back and forth quickly enough you can definately tell that the BM has come into it's own and in my system sounds better than the DM.

[MartinT]

Althouigh I have done some equally esoteric BM comparisons myself ....

I'm beginning to have an equally high regard for the BM, Jerry. I have mostly used it for Sky HD and Blu-ray but more recently I've been using it with the Logitech Touch and I am beginning to realise just what a giant-killing package the Touch + Bushmaster + Linear PSUs is. Streaming just 16/44 material is really excellent, giving that palpable presence, air and space that only high end CD players can do. Hi-res material sounds even better.

[Gazjam]

[B]I haven't heard the Rega DAC but have read many reviews and it seems to be the consensus that the Rega DAC has bloated bass. Maybe the people that prefer the Rega over the BM don't hear bass as well and don't hear the bloated bass. I'm not knocking the Rega I'm just saying some people hear different frequencies differently.

One example of this, a friend of mine doesn't hear high freqs very well. When I get in his car his stereo has the treble turned all the way up and th bass turned all the way down. That sounds right to him but it sounds like a $5 transistor radio to me.

This is just 1 example of all the Rega reviews I've read.

From Stereophile:

Overall, the Rega DAC offered respectable measured performance for $995. But I am concerned about the ±120Hz sidebands that accompany high-level tones. Psychoacoustic masking theory suggests that these sidebands will be too close in frequency to the musical tones to be perceived. On the other hand, Paul Miller has written, in the English magazine Hi-Fi News & Record Review, that he has found that the presence of low-frequency sidebands in other processors correlates with the perception that a product's bass is larger than life, even a touch ponderous. Although my measurements show that the Rega DAC's frequency response is flat to below 20Hz, both Jon and Sam described the Rega's low frequencies as being exaggerated, which might correlate with this measured problem. Otherwise, it remains a puzzle.—John Atkinson

So I guess what I'm getting at is one person may think the BM to be much better at the same time as 2 people listening together decide they like the Rega better. Doesn't mean either is wrong

When I first plugged in my BM and did direct comparisons to my DACMagic the DM sounded better. Had more bass, better, clearer highs. After a few days that changed and now the BM betters the DM in all areas. It's not night and day but if you can change back and forth quickly enough you can definately tell that the BM has come into it's own and in my system sounds better than the DM.

I actually have heard the rega dac and "bloated bass" is not the first thing I'd say comes to mind describing its sound.
To me its tight, agile tuneful and musical.
System synergy always comes into play, so really there's no absolute verdict on any piece of kit.
(apart from Lidl stereo's vs proper kit of course)

I'm always wary of any "general conscensus" when (as you say) different people hear differently.
(though all three of us at a recent dac comparison at my gaff ranked the BM less than other dacs on show that day)


That Stereophile Review... there's a fair bit more to it than just that.
(Including comment by Paul Darwin of Rega)

Have you the link to the full article?

[edmondwolfman]

I actually have heard the rega dac and "bloated bass is not the first thing I'd say comes to mind describing its sound.
To me its tight, agile tuneful and musical.
System synergy always comes into play, so really there's no absolute opinions on any piece of kit.
(apart from Lidl stereo's vs proper kit of course)

I'm always wary of any "general conscensus" when (as you say) different people hear differently.
(though all three of us at a recent dac comparison at my gaff ranked the BM less than other dacs on show that day)


That Stereophile Review... there's a fair bit more to it than just that.
(Including comment by Paul Darwin of Rega)

Have you the link to the full article?

I just googled it, it's on the Stereophile site, I just pulled the conclusion from the end.

Just looking at reviews, professional and just regular users I see a lot of bass bloom, bloated, heavy bass, warm and slightly lacking in upper detail. Things like that. I'm not knocking the Rega at all but generally when most of the reviews mention that something is a little bass heavy there is usually at least a little something to it and I also know that the system, room, etc. that is used contributes to the outcome.

If only we could all have the perfect listening rooms and hearing as good as it was when we were young we would all probably agree a lot more about our music playback

What I can say though, is that in my system the BM sounds better than the DACMagic. The brightness/harshness on some music is not there through the BM.

One other thing that made it even better was when I plugged the Magenta ADE-24.1 back into the siganl path. Its a analog digital enhancer made in Mexico by Margules. It's kind of a weird product. Some say in no way can it make the music sound better, but those are mostly the ones that never heard it. You can see a write up here http://adventureshifi.blogspot.com/2...genta-ade.html .

It says it does something about odd order harmonics but I don't know enough to talk intelligently about that I just know that it makes my music, in combination with the BM, sound great.

If one listened to their music and then turned everything off, added the Magenta, turned everything back on and listened you may not be able to tell a big difference. You might say, well that sounds good and doesn't detract so I'll just leave it in.

If you have a setup like I do where you have 2 DAC live at the same time with the Touch feeding each and connected to your preamp so you can just change from AUX1 to AUX2 and never miss a note you can hear a big difference but I can't explain it, it just sounds better. Music has more weight and sounds fuller if that makes any sense.

So in short with that setup and not Magenta the BM sounds better than the DACMagic. Add the Magenta to the BM, switch back and forth and the BM sounds much better.

Short story and I'll cut this off. I have a friend, while not an audiophile has always poo poo'd digital music. He listens to albums almost exclusively and swears how much better they sound. He's heard my system dozens of times and always talks about how smooth vinyl sounds. The other night he came by and as we were listening to music (first time he's heard the BM and Magenta together and I didn't say anything) he sat there for a bit and looked at me and said "I always thought vinyl sounds so much better than digital music but this sounds so good I'm having second thoughts!"

[Gazjam]

I've read most of the reviews too and cant honestly draw the same conclusion..
Personal experience (and that of others) hearing the same kit says otherwise too.

This is a good read?
Big dac comparison over on Pinkfish, see the comments on the Rega,Young, Audiolab.
etc.
http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=93581

An analogue sounding dac, like vinyl?
sounds perfect!

*EDIT*
Rega Dac Review that you talked about.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/r...c-da-processor

[Ali Tait]

Yep, agreed Gary, it didn't sound bloated to me either.

[brian2957]

Got to agree with you Ali , I know there's synergy involved with your all- Rega system Gary and the Mogami speaker cables , but the bass from the RS3s was amazing . Tight , tuneful , deep and 'settee shaking ' . IMO possibly as good as I've heard in any system in my time.

[aBe]

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.

Am I?

I might need to try to connect the BM to my other amps - the Creek & T-Amp, and see how it goes over the weekend.

Ahhh..I really like both the BM and the Brio R.
The last thing that I want to do is to keep them apart.

Maybe it's already time for me to save up for an Audionote OTO SE..