Beresford TC-7520 and Macbook

[admin_exported]

I connected my macbook via USB to the Beresford TC- 7520 DAC but no audio is coming out (i changed the USB cable just i case). It works fine with optical or coaxial connections. Any tips?

 

[chebby]

Yes.

Go to 'audio midi setup' in utilities and select your new USB device. (Or configure it if you don't see it listed there.)

http://extra.benchmarkmedia.com/wiki/index.php/Audio_MIDI_Setup

This is where you optimise the settings for word length and bit rate. (24 bit is OK but set format to 44.1 khz otherwise your Mac will be forced to up/down-sample which is not ideal)

Keep system volume to maximum ('unity gain' is posh term for this).

The whole guide is useful as a checklist to ensure you have the system optimised...

http://extra.benchmarkmedia.com/wiki/index.php/ITunes-QuickTime_for_Mac_-_Setup_Guide

Also ensure you have the equaliser turned off in iTunes.

(Go into iTunes and click on 'Window' then click on 'equaliser' and uncheck the box to turn it off.)

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I went through the setting as you suggested and found that system output was selected as default. I changed it to USB and it started working!

Did you compare the audio quality between USB and the coaxial/optical? Was there a difference and if so, which one was better?

 

[chebby]

I only did a brief optical vs USB test on our iMac when I first got the Beresford.

I also did a USB (iMac iTunes lossless) vs USB (laptop iTunes lossless) the same time.

Frankly there was very little difference which was re-assuring as my usual music source is my laptop system and I use the optical connection for digital audio output from the DVD/HDD for Freeview radio and DVD sound. (The iMac resides in a different room as one of our two general purpose 'family' machines and would be impractical to use for the hifi).

The USB on the TC-7520 is extremely good and also has it's own seperate clock. (Does not share a clock with the optical or co-ax.