Beresford TC-7520 DAC vs Arcam CD73

admin_exported

New member
Aug 10, 2019
2,556
4
0
Visit site
I got the Beresford TC-7520 DAC today and have been a/b testing it against my Arcam CD73. The difference is miniscule, as far as I can tell. The Beresford TC-7520 DAC appear to have a very slight edge at high frequencies, nothing else. From reading previous threads on this subject, I got the impression that people expected the Beresford TC-7520 DAC to outplay the Arcam CD73 but as far as I can hear, it hasn't. I would appreciate any comments, tips suggestions.
 

JoelSim

New member
Aug 24, 2007
767
1
0
Visit site
debt_collector:I got the Beresford TC-7520 DAC today and have been a/b testing it against my Arcam CD73. The difference is miniscule, as far as I can tell. The Beresford TC-7520 DAC appear to have a very slight edge at high frequencies, nothing else. From reading previous threads on this subject, I got the impression that people expected the Beresford TC-7520 DAC to outplay the Arcam CD73 but as far as I can hear, it hasn't. I would appreciate any comments, tips suggestions.

ÿ

This doesn't surprise me

ÿ
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I was playing Lambchop's latest album OH (Ohio). It's a good one for auditioning hifi but I'll listen to few other CDs tonight. I left it to play and let you know whether it will improve as others suggested it might.

BTW, can anyone tell me how to programm my Arcam CD73 to paly in repeat mode?
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
debt_collector:I was playing Lambchop's latest album OH (Ohio). It's a good one for auditioning hifi but I'll listen to few other CDs tonight. I left it to play and let you know whether it will improve as others suggested it might.

BTW, can anyone tell me how to programm my Arcam CD73 to paly in repeat mode?

I mean were you playing lossless files though the Beresford or were you playing the Arcam via digital out? If the former, I'm surprised, if the latter, I'm not. The DAC in the Arcam is good, but it's the nature of CD transport versus HD playback which I've found to provide the benefit - I stuck my Primare through my DAC and it sounded exactly the same, whereas lossless was a different matter.
 

JoelSim

New member
Aug 24, 2007
767
1
0
Visit site
JohnDuncan:JoelSim:This doesn't surprise meBecause the DACs you've compared to your CD player are...?

The clue is in the price JD. Unless it's a miraculous device it's not going to be much different in overall quality from the one in the CD73.

ÿ
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
JoelSim:
JohnDuncan:JoelSim:This doesn't surprise meBecause the DACs you've compared to your CD player are...?

The clue is in the price JD. Unless it's a miraculous device it's not going to be much different in overall quality from the one in the CD73.

ÿ

No, none is, since all DAC chips cost about a fiver. So as I say above, I *would* be astonished if the CD73 plugged into the DAC showed any improvement, whereas lossless should show a big* one (timing and separation was the big difference for me).

*define 'big', I know
 

Gerrardasnails

Well-known member
Sep 6, 2007
295
1
18,890
Visit site
debt_collector:I got the Beresford TC-7520 DAC today and have been a/b testing it against my Arcam CD73. The difference is miniscule, as far as I can tell. The Beresford TC-7520 DAC appear to have a very slight edge at high frequencies, nothing else. From reading previous threads on this subject, I got the impression that people expected the Beresford TC-7520 DAC to outplay the Arcam CD73 but as far as I can hear, it hasn't. I would appreciate any comments, tips suggestions.

This is surprising if you are using lossless files. The supposedly much better Arcam CD192 has been compared recently by a two forum members with the DacMagic and the result was a very very close call with the 192 just pipping it for one and the other saying that he was delighted with the DM. And as all Beresford fans will tell you, it's as good as the DacMagic. If you are just using the CD player as transport to the DAC, I'm less surprised as the transport will probably nullify any of the DAC's brilliance.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Swap the stock op amps for a pair of LM4562NA, you might get a nice surprise.
 

chebby

Well-known member
Jun 2, 2008
1,253
26
19,220
Visit site
The TC-7520 playing iTunes and Lossless is a significant improvement over the CD section of my old Arcam Solo mini. (Emphatically so).

The 'jury is out' in our family over whether the new CD5i or the TC-7520 sound better. It really comes down to what is being played.

I think the CD5i sometimes takes pole and sometimes the DAC. Freeview radio connected via optical digital audio into the Beresford can sound amazing.

If it were only direct comparisons of CD5i vs Lossless rips from iTunes then I would have to call a draw. Throw in all the other 'usability' of a DAC (freeview radio, internet radio, BBC iPlayer etc) and the DAC wins.

Right now we are happy having both. My wife prefers to use CD but likes the sound from either.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I was playing the Arcam via digital out, effectively using the CD player as a transport for the DAC. And it seems that we came to a similar conclusion: there isn't much difference between the Beresford DAC and the Arcam cd73 DAC.
some of you say that lossless rips (WAV files) played from a hardisk via the Beresford DAC would sound better than my Arcam CD73, is that right? I'll hook up my PC via optical digital out through the Beresford DAC and have a listen than.
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
debt_collector:I was playing the Arcam via digital out, effectively using the CD as a transport for the DAC. And it seems that we came to a similar conclusion: there isn't much difference between the Beresford DAC and the Arcam cd73 DAC.
some of you say that lossless rips (WAV files) played from a hardisk via the Beresford DAC would sound better than my Arcam CD73, is that right? I'll hook up my PC via optical digital out through the Beresford DAC and have a listen than.

Yep, that's about the size of it - I wouldn't expect much if any difference between the two DACs, whereas I'd expect improvement from lossless files from your PC (though if it's a PC as opposed to a Mac, see this thread for optimisation tips).
 

Gerrardasnails

Well-known member
Sep 6, 2007
295
1
18,890
Visit site
debt_collector:I was playing the Arcam via digital out, effectively using the CD as a transport for the DAC. And it seems that we came to a similar conclusion: there isn't much difference between the Beresford DAC and the Arcam cd73 DAC.
some of you say that lossless rips (WAV files) played from a hardisk via the Beresford DAC would sound better than my Arcam CD73, is that right? I'll hook up my PC via optical digital out through the Beresford DAC and have a listen than.

Recently two members have bought DacMagics to use instead of/as well as the supposedly better Arcam, CD192. They used their DacMagics with lossless files and one of them said there was hardly anything in it (and this was a straight out of the box DM) and the other was over the moon with the sound but had not done any A/B testing. Considering all Beresford owners and most reviews rate them as good as or better than the DM, I would say that you would get a lot better results than your 73 using lossless files and a digital cable as the only transport.
 

jaxwired

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2009
284
6
18,895
Visit site
chebby:

The 'jury is out' in our family over whether the new CD5i or the TC-7520 sound better. It really comes down to what is being played.

Bingo! That's why I'm going to become one of those guys that has massive amounts of equipment. You know, like when you enter my hi fi room every square inch is used by various equipment dating back 25 years and there's just one clear path leading to a single chair. Then I can just swap in and out equipment based on the music.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
As mentioned this exercise of connecting the cd player to the dac is fairly pointless. If you are not going to be using the dac for lossless files, then I would just stick with the cd player.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
hi fi newbie:As mentioned this exercise of connecting the cd player to the dac is fairly pointless. If you are not going to be using the dac for lossless files, then I would just stick with the cd player.

No, it is not pointless. When you're using an external DAC with a CD player your are effectively swapping DAC (bypassing the internal one). If your external DAC is of higher quality than the one built into the CD player you will get better results.

Also, I see people sometimes talk in general terms about 'lossless files', not considering where they originally came from. If ripped from a CD using the computer built-in CD player, stored on hard drive (in a lossless format) and then streamed to a DAC, vs streaming from a CD player to DAC directly, the comparison is between the computer's CD drive and the ripping software against the the stand-alone CD player's transport. There is a lot of CD-ripping software out there which will give rubbish results. There is also software that applies clever tricks to try and read the CD with minimum error, for example re-reading the same sectors several times and compare for differences. So I suspect that by coupling a decent CD drive with good software, the data reproduction will be comparable if not better than the best stand-alone CD transports out there, so to that note I agree with you.

Not to mention higher quality audio files which wouldn't physically be possible to represent on a CD, of course (higher bit rates, higher sampling frequencies)...
 

stephennic

New member
Jul 27, 2008
75
0
0
Visit site
Hi,

I used the original cambridge dacmagic on my marantz cd63se and it made it smoother sounding, more dynamic and a little more detailed. Yes adding a dac does seem to improve a cd player from my experience.

Cheers,

Steve.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Joel,

The retail price has nothing to do with it.

Beresford and Arcam have quite different overheads and distribution costs.
 

matthewpiano

Well-known member
...but the point is that the CD73 is one of the best budget CD players ever made and its own DACs are more than capable. Expecting a £150 external DAC to significantly better them is only going to lead to disappointment.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Im taking it you haven't heard the latest Beresford then?

I've one and swapped out the Opamps and Jeez.....my next source upgrade will be another 1TB hard drive.

No more CD players for me.

Oh,
I sold my Cambridge 640C V2 on because my last Dac, the 7510 made it sound mechanical and shouty by comparison. The 7520 is significantly better out the box, waay better with the Op Amp mods (a five minute job for under a tenner)

I'd say the 640 was a pretty good budget CDP?
 

Don Guess

New member
Jun 4, 2008
1
0
0
Visit site
In my opinion the Beresford 7520 is better than the Cambridge Audio 840C when used as a DAC. I've owned both and even with the stock opamps I prefered the Beresford. It's tremendous value for money.

YMMV of course.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts