Beresford Bushmaster DAC Reviews

[Covenant]

I for one would be very disappointed if you changed your approach Stan. I don't want to listen to someone's idea of a nice sound, I want to listen to how it was recorded or as close as is possible.

[NRG]

Stan, please do not change your design philosophy or pricing structure. Your products sound superb no matter what the price. Its an unfortunate trait that probably affects us all where we relate 'quality' to the price tag, many times wrongly, and in the process the real exceptions like your products get tar'd with the same brush.

I read the previous posts with some dismay and amazement, my new cars headlights are really poor, much worse than the units on my previous car of the same type and manufacturer, really they are barely fit for purpose but in all other aspects the car is fantastic and better than its predecessor - should I send it back for a refund No, of course not but I have the option to take the issue up with the manufacturer and give my feedback constructively instead of 'ranting' on an internet forum about some rather small injustice.

I hope you continue to produce successful class leading and breaking products at affordable price points.

[Clive]

Stan, I've been reviewing quiet a few DACs recently. The biggest problem I have is that they all sound virtually the same. I have to listen very analytically via my revealing system to pick out the differences. I've not heard a BM but from what I've read I expect it would be closer to the Metrum Octave or Ciúnas in sound, in part due to the way you've designed the output to be very direct. The DACs I mention are not run of the mill sounding, they communicate well. The trouble is that people spending on say Rega and MDAC etc have to feel they get a better sound as they've spent more. I have my views on those DACs and can believe the BM would be interesting in comparison. I say keep going in the same direction that took you to the BM. One alternative is to put the BM into a really expensive case and quadruple the price. Also sell a version with no holds barred power supply for 6 or 7 times the price of the base unit you sell today.

[icehockeyboy]

My two pennerth.........

I had one of his first dacs which improved the cdp that I was using at the time, I think it was an MF X Ray v3, but when I went "up" to a Consonance Linear 2.2 I couldn't detect any improvement, so it went in favour of a dac combination, Theta Pro Progeny A, with upgraded PSU and anti jitter device which was around £1700 RRP.

This was then used with the 2.2's replacement, the SBT, and I was pleased with the performance, until I then had a swap around and had to lose some kit because of too many boxes, strangely I found the in built dac of the SBT to be almost on a par with the Theta, so I happily went dac less and banked the cash.

But, at the time there was a lot of enthusiasm about Stans soon to be released Bushmaster, and, after it actually got released, and I had read all of the comments regarding how good it was, decided to try one.

My thoughts basically echoed what Jandl ( Jerry) had said about it, and to my ears bettered what the Theta had done, at approx one ninth of the costa,

Stan, just keep on doing what you do best, making amazing dacs at amazing (low!) prices!

[barry-potter]

it is human nature i suppose to think that something that costs more then something else will be better. the more i found out about hifi the more i realise this is complete bollocks. there comes a point where it just sounds different. now, i used to build stuff from kits and i got obsessed about having the shortest lengths of cable. without knowing it i was subscribing to the 'less is more' principle and my journey has ended up with me having nva amps/speakers and a bushmaster. so i subscribe to stans way of thinking. in theory fewer components means less cost, no? of course you have to factor in design.

as far as future design goes what do you have up your sleeve? the one area i would like to improve in my setup is the usb/spdif. i would prefer usb to go straight to the dac to a well implemented module (preferably with its own power supply). also is there any benefit in increasing the number of dacs per channel (i know that increases the component count but maybe the ups are greater than the downs)?

[pete_mac]

I've not heard a BM but from what I've read I expect it would be closer to the Metrum Octave or Ciúnas in sound, in part due to the way you've designed the output to be very direct.

IMHO the Octave, the older JKDAC32 and the newer Metrum Hex are a class above. This opinion isn't swayed by pricing in any way, shape or form - it is based upon what I've been lucky enough to listen to, and focuses upon sonic merit alone. The Hex is one of the DACs that took part in my recent comparison, and it's an utterly superb DAC at any price.

The Bushmaster sounds closer to the JK Sabre DAC IMHO. It has a brighter and more detailed presentation than the JKDAC32 (upon which the Ciunas is based).

Transparency isn't the be-all and end-all in a DAC IMHO. I've heard similarly neutral and transparent DACs which sound different regarding attack, decay, sound stage width and depth. The Bushmaster is a great technical achievement, no doubt, but it lacked the 'jump' factor in both of the systems that I heard it on to really engage me vs some of the other DACs at hand, as well as a few similarly priced DACs that I've previously heard.

I think I'm the kind of listener who is willing to sacrifice a bit of absolute resolution in exchange for realistic timbre and tone which helps to achieve suspension of disbelief. This also rules out some mega-buck DACs for me which seem to be all about ultra-detailed, hifi presentation at the expense of musicality.

Again, this is one man's opinion. The best way to judge the Bushmaster is to get your hands on one and listen for yourself. It is a worthy inclusion on anybody's short list.

[Clive]

IMHO the Octave, the older JKDAC32 and the newer Metrum Hex are a class above. This opinion isn't swayed by pricing in any way, shape or form - it is based upon what I've been lucky enough to listen to, and focuses upon sonic merit alone. The Hex is one of the DACs that took part in my recent comparison, and it's an utterly superb DAC at any price.

The Bushmaster sounds closer to the JK Sabre DAC IMHO. It has a brighter and more detailed presentation than the JKDAC32 (upon which the Ciunas is based).

Transparency isn't the be-all and end-all in a DAC IMHO. I've heard similarly neutral and transparent DACs which sound different regarding attack, decay, sound stage width and depth. The Bushmaster is a great technical achievement, no doubt, but it lacked the 'jump' factor in both of the systems that I heard it on to really engage me vs some of the other DACs at hand, as well as a few similarly priced DACs that I've previously heard.

I think I'm the kind of listener who is willing to sacrifice a bit of absolute resolution in exchange for realistic timbre and tone which helps to achieve suspension of disbelief. This also rules out some mega-buck DACs for me which seem to be all about ultra-detailed, hifi presentation at the expense of musicality.

Again, this is one man's opinion. The best way to judge the Bushmaster is to get your hands on one and listen for yourself. It is a worthy inclusion on anybody's short list.

It's tricky to compare a USB only DAC with an SPDIF only DAC. I'm interested to know what were the transports you used.

BTW, the Ciúnas is quite a step up from the 32 in terms of focus, soundstage, treble detail and decay.

[DSJR]

I'm sure power supply is all important these days - as well as keeping noise away from the output stage supply line (if there's a separate output stage of course). I was very surprised how different humble op-amps can perform with supply upgrades, something that may well be dealt with in todays mechanically flimsy but possibly better electronically CD players and DACs.

[StanleyB]

I think I'm the kind of listener who is willing to sacrifice a bit of absolute resolution in exchange for realistic timbre and tone which helps to achieve suspension of disbelief. This also rules out some mega-buck DACs for me which seem to be all about ultra-detailed, hifi presentation at the expense of musicality.

In order to achieve realistic timbre and tone in a DAC designed along the lines of a straight piece of wire, they have to exist in the original source material. But when that information is not present, it is possible to voice the analogue audio output stage to mimic those parameters. But it can also be used to accentuate parameters that would otherwise not be so prominent in the actual audio file or musical production. Previously these sort of tampering with the music was left to the end user through the addition of treble bass, and loudness controls. But such facilities would look out of place on a DAC. Mind you, DAC chip manufacturers have been adding those things to their chip and leave it up to the designers if it is used or not.

I have read many times that detail is not so important for some owners. But the side effect of extremely low jitter is increased detail. You can't have one without the other. Less detail means more jitter and blending of signals. So signal separation becomes worse. It's a question of what do we as an individual expect and what do we enjoy. Maybe DACs should be fitted with a switch that says 'the whole truth' on one end, and 'the sexed up version' at the other end.

[pete_mac]

It's tricky to compare a USB only DAC with an SPDIF only DAC. I'm interested to know what were the transports you used.

BTW, the Ciúnas is quite a step up from the 32 in terms of focus, soundstage, treble detail and decay.

Thanks for the feedback regarding the Ciúnas! I hope to hear it some day.

When previous listening comparisons were made between the JK USB DACs and other DACs, the transports included an Audiophilleo 2 and JKSPDIFmk3 via a Mac Mini. The recent comparisons featured the Resonessence Concero as a USB to SPDIF converter via a Mac Mini which fed the SPDIF-input DACs with a clean, low-jitter feed. The Concero also acted as its own interface as it is a USB DAC. It's a very versatile bit of kit, and as a USB interface it is damn close to the Audiophilleo 2.

We did not have the JKDAC32 to compare directly with the Bushmaster during the recent session, but we had previously listened extensively to both of the JK DACs back-to-back, and the 32 was clearly the more subdued of the two.