Beresford Bushmaster DAC

[Covenant]

The arguments for playback above 2/96KHz seem dubious, many comments from people suggest that the recording quality is responsible for any perceived improvement. What is your own view Stan?

[StanleyB]

My own view in the case of the Touch is that I think the issue is related to the year it was built. I know someone who has two pieces of the Touch, with both of them running the same firmware bulld. But one plays OK on everything, whilst the other is a bit patchy. The two units were each bought in different years.

[MartinT]

Mine is a relatively late Touch and I have no trouble playing 24/192 via Toslink or co-ax. I use the EDO software mod.

[NRG]

96Khz is already past the upper rated bandwidth limit of the vast majority of Toslink cables at 12.3MHz. At 192KHz you are double that, refraction and internal reflections will limit the distance and quality of the signal at such speeds and given the use of slow rise time diodes with Toslink I'd be surprised that 192Khz is genuinely achievable, certainly not without severe signal degradation. Also the Tx and Rx modules need to be rated for this speed, many struggle to get to 6Mhz although the better Toshiba Rx and Tx modules are rated to 15Mhz....still some way off 25Mhz.

[MartinT]

Agreed, Neal. That's the reason I believe that the Touch/BM sounds better via co-ax and I'm leaving it that way. In any case, both of my optical inputs are taken up with Sky HD and Blu-ray.

[magiccarpetride]

The arguments for playback above 2/96KHz seem dubious, many comments from people suggest that the recording quality is responsible for any perceived improvement. What is your own view Stan?

Can I offer my own view even though my name is not Stan?

I am one of those people who claim they can hear improvements in sound quality with the so-call hi-rez format. Of course, I'm talking listening comparatively to the same master, rendered in standard red book 16 bit/44.1 kHz and also in 24 bit/96 kHz (otherwise we'd be comparing apples to oranges). My experience when comparing the two formats is that hi rez offers more 'depth', it appears less strenuous to my ears.

That said, I've been humbled recently when reviewing some hi rez formats with a friend. We did a bit of blindfold listening, and I had to throw the towel in and admit that under blindfold conditions, all the perceived 'depth' and 'effortlessness' of the hi rez format over the regular format somehow melted away and disappeared. I wasn't able to differentiate between the two.

So at this point I don't know what to think about the format wars...

[Dalster]

If we take into account that it's even physically possible for the ear and mind to hear the difference I think we vastly underestimate the psychologie that's behind it.
We are social beings that get's influenced everyday , in the end I'm glad I can still enjoy good low rez music .

[Ammonite Audio]

I recommend having a play around with the free sample files from www.2l.no where the same recordings are available in various formats. 192kHz does not bring anything useful to the musical party, IME, but I do find 24bit 96kHz to be best. That said, I have recordings in that format which are bettered by plain CD versions of the same performances, so even though something has been overhauled and flogged by the record companies as genuine high-res (and most are), that does not guarantee that the remastering has not ruined the sound. There are many variables here, but the one certainty is that we don't need bit depths greater than 24bit, nor sampling frequencies above 96kHz.

[MartinT]

I agree, Hugo, I haven't heard any 24/192 files that sound better than 24/96. It could be that the stresses of a higher bitrate and rounder waveforms counter any possible benefit it might have over 96kHz sample rate.

[Ninanina]

I got my Bushmaster today

It is very tragic news that Stan has had today

I will say that the DAC seems super smooth, that's my first impression of it, sort of analogue sounding

I'm quite sure that I need a better Toslink cable as the one I'm using is a pretty cheap old thing

Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced Toslink cable to use?

Thanks all