Beresford TC-7510 or TC-7520 for my system?

[aewright78]

Good afternoon everyone,

I was hoping someone could give me some good information and opinions about my personal system. Here is my current audio/music setup:

WAV Files
Iomega ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Hard Drive
AudioQuest Hawk Eye S/P DIF
Primare SPA21 Surround Amplifier
AudioQuest Rockefeller Speaker Cables
Vienna Acoustics Strauss Speakers

PS Audio Power Port AC Receptacle
Furman Power Station PST-8 D
Shunyata Research Sidewinder Power Cord

I am considering the addition of:

Beresford TC-7510 or TC-7520 or TC-7520 with the LM4562NA
Kimber Kable Hero Interconnect Cables

If I theoretically had the option to buy a brand new TC-7510 at a severely discounted rate, would my system instead sound better enough by purchasing either the TC-7520 or TC-7520 with the LM4562NA to make the higher price worth while?

Thank you everyone and I really appreciate your help!

Sincerely,

-Adam Wright

[Dougr33]

With Primare and Vienna Acoustic equipment, it doesn't make any sense to me for you to skimp on the DAC.

[Stratmangler]

TC-7520, no doubt.

From opinions voiced here it sounds better out of the box.

I have a 7510 with self installed mods, and the mods were a bit of a pain to implement.

With the 7520 you take off the lid, yank out the op-amps, replace op-amps, maybe cut a leg on two capacitors.

No soldering iron involvement at all.

Chris

[aewright78]

Thank you both for your replies. So I am guessing you both recommend replacing the op-amps in the TC-7520?

Thank you again!

-Adam

[Dougr33]

Perhaps the dust hasn't settled on which op-amp mod is best, but simply installing the 4562 or 4032 is a marked improvement over stock. For a while, I believe Stan liked (as do I right now) 4032 in Line Out, and 4562 in HPA, but things are more complicated now with possible capacitor decapitations (clever, eh?).

[StanleyB]

According to some people the stock opamps give a better bass in their system. So swapping out the stock opamps blindly without first letting the DAC burn in and taking your time to assess things is not recommended. I clearly state in the instruction manual that the DAC should undergo the burn in period before anything else.
The stock opamps were carefully selected by me for an overall balanced sound. Once you remove them and use something else, you have to have a clear idea about what it is that you are trying to achieve with the replacement. So think before you jump.

Stan

[Dougr33]

According to some people the stock opamps give a better bass in their system. So swapping out the stock opamps blindly without first letting the DAC burn in and taking your time to assess things is not recommended. I clearly state in the instruction manual that the DAC should undergo the burn in period before anything else.
The stock opamps were carefully selected by me for an overall balanced sound. Once you remove them and use something else, you have to have a clear idea about what it is that you are trying to achieve with the replacement. So think before you jump.

Stan

An excellent point of course.

[aewright78]

Stan, thank you very much for your insight! I will take your advice and order the 7520 "as-is" and wait until after I break it in to make any determinations. I really look forward to adding this to my system!!!

P.S. After seeing the current list of my components, does anyone recommend any other changes or tweaks?

Thank you again everyone!

-Adam

[Stratmangler]

I have just looked at your component list (all looks to be good kit, I might add), and TBH I'm a little intrigued by your desire to include a TC-7520, especially as the AV amp already does conversion duties.

Sorry, I should have spent the time looking things up on the 'net earlier.

Chris

[aewright78]

I have just looked at your component list (all looks to be good kit, I might add), and TBH I'm a little intrigued by your desire to include a TC-7520, especially as the AV amp already does conversion duties.

Sorry, I should have spent the time looking things up on the 'net earlier.

Chris

Chris, thank you for your response. I agree it would be better to avoid an external DAC, but here is the issue I am having:

The Primare does a good job with the DA conversion, but the processor is slow to lock in a digital signal. So one of two things happens when I play music using a hard drive: 1) Either I miss the first 3-5 seconds of a song, or 2) I hear the first 3-5 seconds, then I miss the next 5 seconds or so.

The only solution I can think of is to convert before reaching the Primare. Can you or anyone else think of a different or better solution? I would be thrilled to skip adding another component or step to the system. And I am assuming I should avoid using the hard drive's internal DAC.

Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

Thank you again!

Sincerely,

-Adam