Caiman MK2 upgrade?

[Drummerdave]

I currently use the Beresford Caiman in my system to stream Spotify, with good results. I'm reading great things about the Caiman MK2 so I'm wondering if it would be a worthwhile upgrade from the MK1?

Has anybody got a MK2 that could enlightne me?

Thanks.

DD

 

[fr0g]

I like Beresford. I have a 7510 and a 7520. Stanley makes great DACs at a reasonable price.

My personal opinion is once you get a well-implemented DAC, others sound pretty much the same.

I even got the upgraded op-amps for the 7520, but while I had an initial "wow, better" experience...it wasn't...I cannot tell the difference between 7510 and 7520 in a blind test.

The good thing for me mind you is that I use both.

In other words...I wouldn't upgrade ( )

 

[Drummerdave]

Thanks fr0g, think I'll stick with the Caiman MK1.

 

[DIB]

I'm a gatorised Caiman Mk I owner too, excellent DAC, and for £80 2nd hand a no-brainer. I went for this model over the newer Bushmaster model because of the USB input.

.

 

[Porknocker]

I got the Caiman MKII, and also theri new Capella headphone amp as well.

My impression of the Caiman II is that it should have a wider base of owners. The level of detail, imaging, dynamics, and analogue presentation is once of the best I have ever heard from any DAC. I only decided to really give it a try, under the Beresford very generous returns policy if I was not 100% satisfied, after I was tempted by someone on a forum trying to sell his Naim DAC. He was downgrading to a Caiman MKII after comparing the two DACs.
I did give the Audiolab DAC atry before that, but I was not impressed with the electronic like presentation from that one. The Caiman MKII is a lot warmer, with better bass and spatial separation, and even detail. The detail bit I think is down to a very low jitter performance.
I had mine delivered free of charge via Royal Mail next day delivery, which was an added nice touch. I can't think of any other item that I bought for a long while that was delivered so quickly after ordering. So a very nice touch to top it all off.

 

[chebby]

Fabulous value for money and great personal service from the company itself.

My old TC-7520 was the match of a Naim CD5i-2 when fed with lossless rips of the same CD.

 

[Porknocker]

I once read somewhere that Beresford offered a discount to What HiFi forum posters as part of the fact that the Beresford TC-7510 etc were reviewed by What HiFi. Unfortunately I can't find the forum post where I first read it. I already bought a Caiman, but I wish that I had remembered the discount offer. It might be worth being a bit cheeky and ask if the offer is still valid in case anyone has the Caiman on their radar.