Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[StanleyB]

Burn-in is real, of that I have no doubt.

And my DACs are possibly the world's most notorious piece of audio equipment that can be used to demonstrate this odd phenomena .

But what you guys have not yet discovered it seems is that the BM does a two way burn in. To demonstrate this secondary burn in you need two systems or at least two amps and/or two sets of speakers. Use the BM in one system for a week or two until there is no more improvements to be heard. Then put the BM in the next system set up and let it play there for another week or two. You are likely to hear the system improve as well over that period.

I happened to have discovered this odd behaviour purely by accident. I have two systems wired up to a TC-7220 audio router. I tend to use them at random so it was not so obvious to me that something strange has been going on. But then one day I decided to try out another amp that I have. As the days went by I noticed that the amp started to sound different. At first I thought that I might have plugged in a different DAC as well, but nope. It was the same one as used with the other systems.

This has had me thinking . So far my theory is that the faster pace and lower frequency ability of the BM (it goes down to 1Hz at 0dB ) is somehow causing old caps in the amps and speaker crossovers to be reinvigorated. Maybe those caps were not pushed hard enough before? The introduction of the BM's faster response may well be doing some re-energizing of the caps and possibly even the semiconductors.
All conjectures so far, but I would be interested to find out if anyone noticed the same thing. You might have dismissed it at first, but you may have experienced the same thing that I discovered.

[Søren]

All this after probably 200 hours of 'burn in' (what is this ?).

Most capacitors are fully charged, and perform their best, after 200 hours. So burn in is real.

[jfs]

ok, I have to admit that I am a 'burn in' convert. I didn't realise that my small jr's could resolve such detail, then again they have never been presented with a signal to generate the detail I am now hearing.
There be magic afoot, I tell thee magic and wizardry.

[mudan]

Okay well this is my first post in this AoS forum (excluding Welcome of course!)

I have been in the look out for a new DAC and from all reviews I have seen online, the Bushmaster appealed the most i.e. great performance at a low price and you have a headphone amp thrown in. Initially I was waiting for the USB feature but after learning it would be delayed I could not wait for this upgrade so bought a silver Bushmaster.

As expected, Stan had the item delivered on time and on unboxing the first thing I did was attach RF clamps to the PSU leads. 4 in fact.

Plugged in and I was impressed with the neutrality and detail of the sound but thought it sounded a bit flat - a bit like my Sony CDP-561E(HFC Best Buy) or Revox B226 I used to have years ago but with more detail. Yes it sounded better than my existing Sony SCD player but not quite what I had expected as it had a 'budget' tonality to it. My current Sony is well reviewed and I have been quite happy with it. I left the BM to run in non-stop.

Last night I tried the headphone amp and was very impressed. The bass does tend to thump in a soft and undefined manner at times but overall it sounds very rich, detailed and surprisingly good. My Sennheiser HD650 does not sound as good through my Pioneer A-400. It seems the BM's headphone input within a split second responds to the load put on it in order to optimise the sound- in fact you can hear this sound change taking place. I did also notice a slight low level hum I could hear through my A-400 on my HD650 when the BM psu was plugged in...but this was so low for it not to be audible through my speakers.

Tonight I did further listening through my speakers with the BM having run in around 48 hours. Now the BM sounded more complete. That lack of richness and upper frequency sparkle had gradually disappered leaving a very neutral and natural soundstage full of detail. My Sony use to accentuate upper frequencies adding an unnatural richness but the BM presented a much more accurate picture allowing the midrange to shine through with much better imaging and detail. Switching back and forth confirmed that the BM is distinctly better then my Sony (£800 in 2004). At times it can seem a bit tame but what it produces is a very detailed an convincing sound. It's very neutral and accurate. On SACD my Sony does sound better but that is not so surprising.

So yes I am mightily impressed with the Bushmaster - what an amazing product at a sensible price! I've not compared other DACs in my system but have recently heard a Roksan Caspian and Primare CD21 player through headphones when I chose my HD650 at a local dealer.

I only received it on Wednesday but I like it so much that I want to bring the best out of it so ordered a Mark Grant linear PSU today. I thought the MCRU psu was too expensive at more than the same price of the dac plus didn't fancy having an extra box sitting next to it with that lousy logo! Hopefully no one here will say the MCRU sounds alot better than the Mark Grant!

Okay so I tonight removed the 4 ferrite clamps that I'd attached to the supplied PSU leads and erm....oh what happened to the sound when I plugged it back in? Sounded like increased jitter, unnecessary brightness to the treble and lack of smoothness. Yes it still imaged better then my Sony with more detail but clearly was not leagues apart as it sounded earlier. Clearly what this confirms is that the BM definitely benefits from a better power feed with the VirtualDC not keeping the BM so guarded from external noise.

Overall I'm extremley glad I bought this DAC. Well done Stanley!

[NRG]

Technically the Longdog Audio PSU is better than the MG one. Its design is better thought out and engineered, the MG is based around an LT linear regulator available off the shelf with some external filtering added...IMHO expensive for what it is. However, the proof is in the listening and if it makes an improvement then don't worry.

[StanleyB]

Last night I tried the headphone amp and was very impressed. The bass does tend to thump in a soft and undefined manner at times but overall it sounds very rich, detailed and surprisingly good.

Unlike the majority of DACs currently on the market, the Bushmaster can go down to 1Hz at 0dB signal drop. That's extreme subwoofer territory. So any very low frequency bass sounds will be reproduced by the BM. If your headphones can reproduce those low frequencies then you might get to hear them, maybe even for the first time. Most speakers are unlikely to reproduce the very low frequencies unless they are supported by a subwoofer.

There is a thread somewhere where I asked for example of extreme low frequency bass sometime last year. I needed the info at that time in order to test the BM's low frequency capability. The Bushmaster is an eye opener if you are into deep bass and got the amp and speakers for it.

[mudan]

Technically the Longdog Audio PSU is better than the MG one. Its design is better thought out and engineered, the MG is based around an LT linear regulator available off the shelf with some external filtering added...IMHO expensive for what it is. However, the proof is in the listening and if it makes an improvement then don't worry.

Yes I can see that the MCRU is better designed however I'm sure the benefits will vary a lot system to system based on how much other mains noise there is.
I also agree with you about the MG - I wonder how much the LT PSU costs on its own... But as the benefits seem, according to others, more than the sum of its parts I hopefully will hear that the £110 was well spent. If not then it goes back and I'll be back to the ferrite clamps!

[Stubies]

I only received it on Wednesday but I like it so much that I want to bring the best out of it so ordered a Mark Grant linear PSU today. I thought the MCRU psu was too expensive at more than the same price of the dac plus didn't fancy having an extra box sitting next to it with that lousy logo! Hopefully no one here will say the MCRU sounds alot better than the Mark Grant!

Okay so I tonight removed the 4 ferrite clamps that I'd attached to the supplied PSU leads and erm....oh what happened to the sound when I plugged it back in? Sounded like increased jitter, unnecessary brightness to the treble and lack of smoothness. Yes it still imaged better then my Sony with more detail but clearly was not leagues apart as it sounded earlier. Clearly what this confirms is that the BM definitely benefits from a better power feed with the VirtualDC not keeping the BM so guarded from external noise.

Overall I'm extremley glad I bought this DAC. Well done Stanley!

Mudan,

I too would like to buy either the Mark Grant linear PSU or the MCRU psu - but is it worth it???

has anyone done a side by side comparison? that would be very interesting!!

Mudan when it arrives, please let us know how the Mark Grant sounds compared to the ferrite clamps!

And thanks for your thoughtful review!
Stuart

[Xaval]

Just this week I received a linear PSU + sbooster ordered from squeeze-upgrade which looks pretty similar, if not the same product, than the one offered by Marc Grant.

I'm pretty happy with the impact it had on the DACs performance: lowered noise floor, more detail, the sound is less congested with the improvement in clarity and the overall sound is more articulate and more "analog" like. It's not a dramatic effect, but it certainly is an upgrade. If you love the Bushmaster I highly recommend it.

[Xaval]

Last night I tried the headphone amp and was very impressed. The bass does tend to thump in a soft and undefined manner at times but overall it sounds very rich, detailed and surprisingly good. My Sennheiser HD650 does not sound as good through my Pioneer A-400. It seems the BM's headphone input within a split second responds to the load put on it in order to optimise the sound- in fact you can hear this sound change taking place. I did also notice a slight low level hum I could hear through my A-400 on my HD650 when the BM psu was plugged in...but this was so low for it not to be audible through my speakers.

Overall I'm extremley glad I bought this DAC. Well done Stanley!

I don't own the HD650 anymore, but I still use my 15 year old HD600. The Bushmaster seems to mate very well with high impedance headphones. The Beyers (+250ohm) sound also very good with the Bushmaster.

I'm not aware of the Bushmasters specs, but from personal experience owning many headphones and headphone amplifiers, I've concluded that once you have your impedance sorted you either have headphone outs putting out current or voltage. High impedance phones usually mate better with high current outputs. Lower impedance headphones prefer voltage. I find this is a rule and there are exceptions. Still, a rule that I've heard many times confirmed by my own ears.

Just listening to Mahler's 2nd with Kubelic through the HD600 and the Bushmaster with the tubas and percussion sound really impressive - the bass!