Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[MartinT]

Nice one, Bernie. Are you using the PR3 module or a variant of?

[Canetoad]

Yes Martin. Sorted my own transformer, rectifier diodes and smoothing caps.

[MartinT]

I've just received most of the parts so I guess I'll get drilling tonight...

[Xaval]

I've just received most of the parts so I guess I'll get drilling tonight...

Good stuff. Let's see some pics of the building process

[skimminstones]

been reading the thread. Does the bushmaster need all these different mods/psu's etc to sound good?

I just want a dac to use with my squeezebox classic that will sound better out of the box as im not really into modding my kit or anything

[Canetoad]

In standard form it will sound great! We just like to make improvements.

[Mr.Ian]

Does the bushmaster need all these different mods/psu's etc to sound good?

No

[StanleyB]

been reading the thread. Does the bushmaster need all these different mods/psu's etc to sound good?

I just want a dac to use with my squeezebox classic that will sound better out of the box as im not really into modding my kit or anything

The mods are designed to raise the DAC's performance way above its original capability, or to customize one of more aspect of it.
Even the Squeezebox Classic has numerous mods available.

[mudan]

Carrying on from my earlier review of the Bushmaster but now with a psu from Mark Grant + S-Booster...

Having removed the ferrite clamps from the Bushmaster, the sound quality was reduced. I then attached the linear PSU from Mark Grant and the great sound I was used to earlier had returned, but now to an even higher level. Smoother detail with less digital nasties,a much more well defined bass with vocals sounding more focussed due to better imaging. With this PSU attached it was much easier to hear what Stanley has been stating about the bass-yes it does go very low with definition. I would definitely be keeping this PSU. It's suprisingly large compared to the one supplied in the Bushmaster box and is not one you'd have on show, say like the MCRU one.

From Mark Grant I'd received the linear psu with S-Booster and a separate S-Booster. I tested the S-Booster by itself with the original Beresford PSU and it definitely made an improvement, however the extra outlay for the linear psu with S-Booster is definitely worthwhile.

With the linear PSU in place I began to wonder how it would sound with an extra S-Booster. So I plugged the S-Booster in as well - double boost! In fact that is what the result was. In my system the linear PSU sounds better with 2 S-Boosters! The benefits that the linear PSU brought had been raised to an even higher level. Bass was now even more well defined and the overall sound cleaner and detailed. With this quieter background finer subtle details could be heard.

Having heard this set up, these power ugprades need to stay in place so are definitely recommended. For those who want to start with just the S-Booster can do with the confidence that it can be used with the linear psu as well, should you buy it later. i.e. it won't become an idle part or something you'll need to sell.

Being that the power supply is affecting the sound of the Bushmaster to such an extent I was thinking about the MCRU option, however at £200, scaling up to £370 with the optional extras, this is not something I am not willing to do with a £200 DAC. Yes I do wonder if the MCRU option would sound better in my system but I am very happy with the sound I currently have.

Oh and I even put my ferrite clamps back onto the Mark Grant set up!

Stubies, so my advice is to buy the psu from Mark Grant with an additional S-Booster. If needed, you can always return any of the parts with their money back guarantee. I also noticed that you have a NAD C340. I know they were well reviewed but in my opinion it is not a very revealing amp. In fact I sold the superior C370 in order to move back to my Pioneer A-400!

[mudan]

Update...I no longer have the Bushmaster..

From new I'd been using it in sleep mode to keep the bright LEDs out of view so one day I thought I'd switch sleep mode off just to try but it didn't happen. The LEDs stayed off and it would not come out of sleep mode. I wonder if any of you have had trouble with this or tried taking your unit out of sleep mode?
After a bit of discussion Stan sent me a new IC control chip to fit rather than the long winded approach of having to send the unit back to him for repair. This new IC allowed the LEDs to light and work as expected but the DAC would now not enter sleep mode correctly - in fact it would just hang where the only way back to normal operation was to switch it off and back on again. This was no digital sync issue as the select button would not even change the input/led by this stage. Following the 'reset' option listed in the manual(rev 1.4) made no effect.

Stan suspects that I may have some main electrical issue causing this problem but I very much doubt this as apart from the sleep mode the DAC operated perfectly and no other AV device in my house has ever suffered a fault. If it is my system then the Bushmaster is clearly oversensitive and easily upset.

So sadly this has been quite a short lived romance. As you can see from my earlier posts, I was very happy with the sound, especially when coupled with the Mark Grant linear PSU+extra S Booster. Both have now been returned for a refund.

However I am now picking up an Audiolab M-DAC this weekend! I managed to get it as part of a promotion at £500. As most will know it has had excellent reviews most notable I think being the Editor's Choice in H-Fi Choice June'12.
The Bushmaster+linear PSU came to £300 so it will be interesting to what this extra money brings. In my view the Bushmaster needs a better PSU to bring out its performance.

As a previous Bushmaster owner and soon to be M-DAC I will report back with my findings...