beresford Dac

[admin_exported]

I have an audiolab 8000 / arcam cd73 / mission 752 speakers.

I was just wondering if the beresford dac connected to the optical out on the cd 73 would make and improvement?
Thanks in advance.

 

[Anonymous]

I would recommend you buy one and try it out. Stanley (Beresford) allows you to return the DAC if you are not convinced (used to anyway, you can contact him via his website/phone), so give it a go. I'm certainly pleased with mine.

 

[fr0g]

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with a CD73. It is a fantastic bargain DAC, but its £100 and probably 'on a par' - I originaly bought one for my Alpha 7SE, and it made a very small change. I love the thing, but I reckon it's more suited to the big selling budget crop of £200-£300 players and below, PCs and streamers like squeezebox (where IMO it shines)

You might want to try a punt at the price, but I'd aim higher if you want to see a distinct improvement.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the replies guys

 

[Anonymous]

fr0g:Honestly, I wouldn't bother with a CD73. It is a fantastic bargain DAC, but its £100 and probably 'on a par' - I originaly bought one for my Alpha 7SE, and it made a very small change. I love the thing, but I reckon it's more suited to the big selling budget crop of £200-£300 players and below, PCs and streamers like squeezebox (where IMO it shines)

You might want to try a punt at the price, but I'd aim higher if you want to see a distinct improvement.

Agree with fr0g on that one - poor with my Arcam CD93 - still used as a headphone amp though.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay stupid question:

Where does one acquire a beresford dac?? I can't find a website for the thing.

 

[Anonymous]

Nevermind I found it.

Here's a question. Instead of shifting my nad C525 would tacking the beresford on to it be worth a try? Can I expect a drastic change? Is the nad a decent enough transport?

 

[fr0g]

raypalmer:Nevermind I found it.

Here's a question. Instead of shifting my nad C525 would tacking the beresford on to it be worth a try? Can I expect a drastic change? Is the nad a decent enough transport?

If you look him up on ebay he offers money back if not satisfied. I imagine you might be pleasantly surprised with the NAD + Beresford. His own interconnects are very well made too.

 

[Anonymous]

I just bought a Beresford for my Sony Megachangers and am amazed by the increase in sound quality, especially when listening with the headphone amp.

If your CD player is more upmarket you can find DACs that go into the thousands.

 

[Anonymous]

I purchased a Beresford DAC and used it with my Musical Fidelity A3 CD Player and it was a dissapointment as the internal DAC in the CD Player was far superior. Sent it back and got a full refund (that was the plus factor!).

You have to try this out yourself and determine if there is indeed an improvement. Many owners with older or low-end equipment have reported a significant improvement to the sound though.

 

[Thaiman]

One or two things you will need to know about the DAC.

- Beresford need at least 3 weeks to run-in. The different from out-of-box preformance and weeks old one is very obvious. The soundstage will open up and bass become almost bottomless!

- Regardless of what some so call Expert say, transports does make a different (to my ears) so experiment is a must to get the best out of the little box. I heard that Alba DVD player (cheapo one) do make a good partner. I used my old beresford with Meridian 206 and thought the combo sound great too.

- The headphone output will not work with all cans! I remember that my Grado have some issue with Beresford MK 5 so if you have a highend cans and plan to use Beresford as a headphone amp, ask the seller first.

- The power supply upgrade can be done and some said it took preformance to another level, some said it improve a little....either way it can be tweak.

 

[fr0g]

Thaiman:
One or two things you will need to know about the DAC.

- Beresford need at least 3 weeks to run-in. The different from out-of-box preformance and weeks old one is very obvious. The soundstage will open up and bass become almost bottomless!

- Regardless of what some so call Expert say, transports does make a different (to my ears) so experiment is a must to get the best out of the little box. I heard that Alba DVD player (cheapo one) do make a good partner. I used my old beresford with Meridian 206 and thought the combo sound great too.

- The headphone output will not work with all cans! I remember that my Grado have some issue with Beresford MK 5 so if you have a highend cans and plan to use Beresford as a headphone amp, ask the seller first.

- The power supply upgrade can be done and some said it took preformance to another level, some said it improve a little....either way it can be tweak.

Must admit. Mine sounded good from the off. I did the obligatory 'running in' (on all the time with amp off.), and surprise surprise, it sounds the same today as it did when new (which I kind of expected)

Mine is now used for computer and headphone use...where it does a great job.(wouldn't have tried upgrading a £600+ CD player with the thing!)

 

[Thaiman]

The thing was when my "B" Dac arrived I still have my mate's old one on the rack. When I listened to the new one I thought it was lacking bass so we did compare the new and used one side by side that is how I can fully say it does take time before it reach 100% preformance.

Where is Darren? I think he had one too.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Thaiman:
The thing was when my "B" Dac arrived I still have my mate's old one on the rack. When I listened to the new one I thought it was lacking bass so we did compare the new and used one side by side that is how I can fully say it does take time before it reach 100% preformance.

Where is Darren? I think he had one too.

I plan to get a media centre extender (the latest Linksys one) and connect it using coaxial to my 840A. Do you think I would notice a big improvement with one of these £120 or so DACs from Beresford? I will only bother with FLAC or 320kbps mp3s. Would I then connect the DAC to the extender with coaxial and then RCA from DAC to 840A? Also, do you know if Beresford make a DAC with XLR connections? I wouldn't mind utilising the XLR on my Cambridge amp.

 

[fr0g]

Gerrardasnails:Thaiman:
The thing was when my "B" Dac arrived I still have my mate's old one on the rack. When I listened to the new one I thought it was lacking bass so we did compare the new and used one side by side that is how I can fully say it does take time before it reach 100% preformance.

Where is Darren? I think he had one too.

I plan to get a media centre extender (the latest Linksys one) and connect it using coaxial to my 840A. Do you think I would notice a big improvement with one of these £120 or so DACs from Beresford? I will only bother with FLAC or 320kbps mp3s. Would I then connect the DAC to the extender with coaxial and then RCA from DAC to 840A? Also, do you know if Beresford make a DAC with XLR connections? I wouldn't mind utilising the XLR on my Cambridge amp.

It will almost certainly be an upgrade to any non high end media player.
He doesn't do one with XLR, however my new DAC (Harmony DA9) has this, but is 4 times as expensive, and I'm not sure about supply to the UK...

I have mine connected to the amp with £16 Van Damme XLR leads, and it sounds fantastic.

It's rather superb, and information (scrappy) can be found on the www.harmonydesign.se website.

 

[fr0g]

Thaiman:
The thing was when my "B" Dac arrived I still have my mate's old one on the rack. When I listened to the new one I thought it was lacking bass so we did compare the new and used one side by side that is how I can fully say it does take time before it reach 100% preformance.

Where is Darren? I think he had one too.

Fair enough. I guess the 'ears bedding in' can work both ways 😉

 

[Anonymous]

(- The power supply upgrade can be done and some said it took preformance to another level, some said it improve a little....either way it can be tweak.)

Can anyone point me in the direction of power supply upgrade I'm interested in finding out whether it makes a difference. Cheers

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Apparantly the tweak is a Maplin regulated power supply. One of the other forums has details on this. Just google "Beresford TC-7510" and have a browse through.

You could even power it from a car battery (the ultimate 12v DC source!), providing you have the right connectors.

It is worth noting that whilst the comments about different PSUs were endorsed by Stanley at the time, with the latest versions of his DAC, he mentions that the latest power supply is more than adequate and that changing it to something else could well be a waste of time and money...

It's also worth noting that doing anything like this may well invalidate the warranty on the DAC.

 

[Anonymous]

Cheers FBSF I came up with the same conclusions after reading similar forum posts. Think I will give it a miss then.