Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[Ninanina]

Unfortunately I have no use for the headphone output. I have no headphones and have no thought of buying any either

I simply want it between my Meridian cd player and amp to hopefully give a better output and the Meridian is not too bad in this area either, so it's a fairly tough act to follow

[magiccarpetride]

I hope it lives up to my expectations

I'm pretty convinced it will

Can't wait

I'm such a hifi tart really

It will most likely surpass your expectations, Stewie. However, be a good toddler and leave it on playing in a loop for a few days to let it properly burn-in... Then sit down for a listen, a prepare to get scared.

[magiccarpetride]

Fine. I just didn't take too kindly to being told to 'man up' when I wasn't the one doing the complaining. Having said that if a member has a problem with a piece of equipment the management of AoS have always encouraged us to name and shame the company. That way things get fixed, and if they don't then other members know about it and can vote with their feet if they feel the need..

Let me repeat my argument: at this price/performance point, a product such as Bushmaster DAC is a veritable steal. Or, to put it more nicely, it feels like a gift from a very talented engineer. You'd have to pony up for a ten times more expensive product to get anywhere near the brilliance of BM's sound.

So, to me, complaining and voting with one's feet regarding a gift looks a bit foolish. But hey, where would we be without complaining, no?

[synsei]

Let me repeat my argument: at this price/performance point, a product such as Bushmaster DAC is a veritable steal. Or, to put it more nicely, it feels like a gift from a very talented engineer. You'd have to pony up for a ten times more expensive product to get anywhere near the brilliance of BM's sound.

So, to me, complaining and voting with one's feet regarding a gift looks a bit foolish. But hey, where would we be without complaining, no?

So Alex, what you seem to be saying is this: If I were to buy a product at what you consider to be a knock down price and it failed to work properly then I should be grateful, kiss goodbye to my money and just walk away? Bollocks to that. I will let you into a little secret, if I had truly received the BM as a gift and it hadn't been working properly, I would still have returned it because what good is a useless gift? It sounds to me as if somebody has a little more money than sense...

[Ninanina]

magiccarpetride

At last, someone who knows Stewie. I love both Family Guy and American Dad

BUT has anyone followed "The Mongrels" like I have, probably the funniest thing I have every seen on TV

PLEASE someone comment on "The Mongrels", it really was that funny...

[synsei]

I've seen clips on YT Bev but that's about it. What I've seen made me giggle

[Ninanina]

Dave

If you found YT clips funny you owe it to yourself to see the whole 2 series. It really is a right giggle... and I think I'm a reasonable judge of giggly things !!

[magiccarpetride]

So Alex, what you seem to be saying is this: If I were to buy a product at what you consider to be a knock down price and it failed to work properly then I should be grateful, kiss goodbye to my money and just walk away? Bollocks to that. I will let you into a little secret, if I had truly received the BM as a gift and it hadn't been working properly, I would still have returned it because what good is a useless gift? It sounds to me as if somebody has a little more money than sense...

Your definition of useless seems different than mine.

[pete_mac]

Hi all!

I thought I’d share my thoughts regarding the Bushmaster. I’ve been lucky enough to borrow one for the past month or two and have put it through its paces in my own system, as well as in a friend’s system against several other DACs.

In my rig, the Bushmaster offered a clear step-up over the onboard Squeezebox Touch DAC with improved resolution and clarity, and better separation of elements within the music. The automatic input selection feature is a nice touch too. I thought that the build quality and level of finishing was noticeably better than the Caiman.

As part of the big DAC comparison in my friend’s system, the Bushmaster offered performance commensurate with its price IMHO. It outshone the $100 Hifimediy Sabre-equipped DAC, but we thought that it wasn’t as musical and involving as the Resonessence Labs Concero which is around the $600 mark vs $300 for the Bushmaster. The higher priced DACs ($1200-3500) showed both the Concero and Bushmaster a clean set of heels, but this is not exactly a fair comparison as they are in a completely different price bracket.

When using the Concero as a USB to SPDIF converter into the Bushmaster, the Bushmaster had trouble locking onto an upsampled signal (24/192 from memory) but there were no such issues at lower sample rates. Perhaps this DAC contained an earlier firmware version, as I seem to recall some SB Touch issues being mentioned a while back, and this was rectified with new firmware?

It was a shame that we didn’t have some similarly-priced DACs on hand at the time so that we could conduct back-to-back listening (eg. audio-gd NFB-3, Schiit Bifrost or Emotiva XDA-2). Although, based upon our recollections of these three DACs from earlier listening sessions, the Bushmaster probably offers up the most detail of the lot, but isn’t quite as tonally satisfying as the Schiit and the audio-gd IMHO. I feel that the Bushmaster has cleaner and deeper bass response and improved portrayal of detail compared to the Gatorised Caiman that I listened to a year or two ago, but audio memory can be fickle at times!

As always, system matching and synergy plays a significant role, as does personal preference. I can see the Bushmaster as being an excellent choice for someone who wants to elicit as much detail as possible from the recordings at a bargain price, and who also requires multiple switchable inputs and the bonus of a headphone stage. I think the Bushmaster would be an excellent companion for neutral or warm-sounding gear (including vintage gear) but I personally feel that it may overcook a system which features bright sounding speakers and amplification.

Again, personal preference comes into play. One man’s bright is another man’s detailed, and one man’s warm is another man’s timbre/tone. Each to their own at the end of the day!

Great work Stanley, particularly with regards to the performance and selling price of this DAC.

[StanleyB]

What I set out to do was to design an accurate, detailed, and neutral as possible DAC that is the nearest thing to a straight piece of wire with D to A ability. In order to achieve that I had to figure out a way of getting the signal from the analogue audio output pin on a DAC chip to the RCA/phono socket with the least amount of components in that path. The benefits of such a method first came to light with the passive mod that devised for the TC-7510 etc.
The principle behind the idea is that a DAC should not add to the sound signature of the signal, but should be a neutral player in the grand scheme of things.

However, I have noticed that just about every person who has compared the Bushmaster to any other DAC, has made the point that the sound signature of the BM is down to its price .

Now, this is what now has me confused. In the threads about objectivists versus subjectivists great time was spent discussing the purpose of an audio component, and an audio equipment. People talked about designers voicing their designs etc. The BM comes from the school of thought that a DAC should not be voiced, but should be neutral accurate, and detailed.

But this brings it in direct conflict with other DACs that are not designed and built to those principles.
This is quite a bit of a shock and disappointment to me. My design parameter appears to have been associated with its low price. But do cheap DACs sound accurate, detailed, and neutral? Aren't those the parameters associated with a properly designed DAC? Could it be that a DAC with the parameters of the BM not be a good idea after all? Should it sound warmer,less detailed, not so accurate, etc? Would I be able to increase the selling price by voicing the DAC instead and adding those parameters that are associated with a more expensive DAC?
It's an intriguing option that has suddenly reared its head. It also highlights the absurdness of designing a brilliant sounding product and sticking far too low a price on it. Invariably its sound signature is put down to its low price instead of the technical breakthrough required to get the stated aims.