Hi, I recently registered on this board and I just wanted to let Mr. Stanley know how much I appreciate the Bushmaster.

I've listened to a lot of gear (really a lot!) over the years and although there are great sounding DACs in the market, I think the Bushmaster is really something special. I bought it used with the Venom upgrade on a whim as the price was just right and I was needing a new DAC for listening with headphones with one of my computers and... well, it sounds spectacular. Thank you and I'm looking forward to listening to your "creations" yet to come.

I'm listening to the Oblivion soundtrack (yes, the PC Game) right now and it's so enveloping and full of light that it almost sounds magical.

I've posted this on another forum:
First impressions for the Bushmaster with venom upgrade (it's optimized for LCD2, which I don't own)
Mac Pro > Audirvana Plus > el cheapo optical cable > several Grados family members, all modded; HD600; modded HFI780 (Stax but that's another story and rig)
Music listened was mostly Classic Rock, Prog Rock/Metal, Classic Jazz. Mostly lossless ALAC, but ripped a few tracks in AAC @250ish and 192.

Pros: Very, very detailed; Fast paced; Amazing bass: articulate, textured, impactful; excellent for voices: you can hear voices as clearly as I have ever been able to, amazing; drumming in general is excellent as well as most instruments in general -> great timbre and loads of texture!; macrodynamics are incredible. It retrieves a lot of around the scene info since all audible cues that were captured by the mic just pop out of nowhere; Transparent. Great case/faceplate combo for the price; Apparently a linear PSU will improve a lot of things I hear and I plan on getting one as they can be had for not a lot of cash (this will lower the bang for the buck factor, though)

Not as good: Not a lot of air on the highs (not a lot of air in general, but this is not a sissy's music DAC as it's very engaging); Can sound congested in complex music; Microdynamics seem a couple of rows behing if this makes sense; Hot upper mids which can make Grados sound a bit tiring, but hey... it's a Grado (which I love too much); In your ears sound: little soundstage; Lossy music sounds... lossy when looking at redbook; Bad mastering sounds just like that; Volume control feels a bit flimsy; Not great at low listening levels as channel imbalance kicks in (no biggie for me)

Cons: analog RCA outs are too close for some of my ICs. Wireworld Gold Eclipse connectors barely fit... but they cost several times the Bush.

Last note: The HD600 (old drivers, stock cable) sound really amazing with this puppy. The HFI780 bass is the best I ever got out of anything with them.

Overall: Sounds like an amazing product for the price. Unbelievable, really, how little cash can get you so much overall quality.

There seems to be something different with the sound coming out of this DAC and I still need for it to sink in. It sounds different of what I'm mostly used to listening and it's disconcerting not being able to pinpoint what it is. I posted those impressions with no preparation and I wrote that it sounds transparent and also a bit hot on upper mids. It's this part I'm having trouble with... I think

I've plugged it onto the Audiolab transport into the Jadis off the Headtap - not factoring in the exotic cables and tubes, there's a rather large price difference with the transport and a huge one with the amp and the disconcerting (great sound) is even better - this is a great achievment for the guy who built this. Funny how there seems to be very little headstage with headphones but with the big Dunlavy's there's a huge wall of sound all around. I wouldn't have noticed this not-so-good aspect if I were using only the loudspeakers.

Note: Although not all is amazing with it's sound (I believe I may have my own faults), in no way it compromises the pleasure of listening to music with this source.