Beresford TC-7510

Hi all,
I know this appears to be a bit of a dirty word on some forums (probably here to) but have just taken delivery of one of these and would value any points of view. Has anyone else got one or tried one?
I am on a search to make my rotel rcd-02 listenable for not much extra money (mortgage, kids, etc). At present the cpd is bright and harsh and have been concentrating on my record collection. However, have lots of cd's (cheaper to buy too) so have turned my attention back to this area.
Am a recent convert to decent hifi but am getting huge enjoyment from messing around!

 

I have one. Mk6/3 - can't comment on any of the other models but I think from reading up on them the 6/3 is the one to have.

It bettered (IMHO) my Copland CDA-823 CDP when coupled with a 13.5 Maplin Power supply and TEAC VDRS T1 Transport.
Slightly more forward presentation that I found appealing. Non of your CD / digi sound and the highs are very good. The T1 gave more dynamics and timing a lift.
The other thing I have learned is that you need a good 75ohm digi interconnect with proper 75 ohm RCA plugs - Canare for example.
I have a Belden 1694A and a homemade one out of HT100 OFC copper / copper foil Sat signal cable - I prefer this one but there's not much in it.

Before selling the Copland I tried a pals 7510 6/3 and we tried various transports. The Copland itself as a transport wasn't bad. The T1 just moved all aspects up a notch. we did back to back tests, blind tests etc. My wife was
upset when the Teac / 6/3 beat the Copland to her ears as well as she doesn't like black HiFi.
I plan to try an Ack Dack at some point in the near future...

So for £120 for the 6/3, for ~£200 for the T1 or a Meridian transport and an effective coax ~ £15 or cheaper if you make you own. You can go a long way.

 

I've just bought the Maplin power supply - but need to have a proper listen. The coax cable that came with it seems o.k. However, am a I likely to get a better result with a better cable (i think beresford charged £15 on top for it)?

Also, am i going to get more of a result buying a Teac transport or equivalent??

 

I have a mk 6/2 that I'm using with a Teac VDRS-7. I've spent a lot of time switching between the beresford and the Teac analogue out (I have both connected to my amp) and I have to say that I think the difference is not great....but I think the beresford just about pips it by virtue of an extra bit of 'air' at the top end. It's not night and day though, and tbh I did recently consider selling the beresford so that I could spend the money elsewhere, but figured I might as well keep it for now. I did think that the beresford improved a bit with time/burning in.

BTW I think Stanley Beresford reckons there's no improvement to be had by using a different power supply since he made some mod or other from the mk 6/2 onwards:

"The Virtual DC power supply of mine makes any other power supply upgrade a waste of money".

Sounds pretty definite doesn't he (!), but the maplins ones are cheap so no harm in trying I guess.

The beresford does attract fairly polarised opinions, but I think maybe that's just because some people have made such extravagant claims about it, but it's cheap enough to try and although I'm no DAC expert it clearly isn't completely crap .

 

that most c ertainly IS a dirty word around here....






BUT,



you're in good company!



From personal experience , major tonal changes are possible using cones and ball bearings+mass under your cd player......but there must be 101 different things you can do......

 

Your'e right it's not completely crap, however, am struggling a little to find any tangible differences between the rotel onboard dac and the beresford.

The difference is minimal but I am starting to feel (now that reason has taken over after the 1st flush of enthusiasm) that it has made the rotel more listenable to. Still slightly annoying compared to my planar 3 but better than it was - my wife calls it less 'tinny' but then changed her mind later on .

I'm not after perfection but just want to listen to my cd collection without getting annoyed / fatigued. If I want some spine tingling I put on a record.

 

dos,
I think that digi coax should be fine - as long as it's 75 ohm.
From the pic it looks like Canare 75ohm plugs but hard to tell...
Mr B knows his stuff so I should think it will be 75 ohm.

Some have said you need to give this Dac lots of burn in time...
I didn't really find it needed that long / does burn in really exist in electronics? Speakers/headphone yes, etc blah blah blah...

I did try 12v accumulator power (bit of a faff) and at the time I preferred that and the Maplin PSU to the supplied one but there was perhaps not much in it.
Must try the supplied PSU again to see.

My ears did love the extra cash promised to be freed up when I planned selling the Copland...

I like the multiple transport inputs. You can compare transports back to back at the press of a button. That and my TVC passive pre with 4 inputs mean I have lots of comparison modes.

Give it some time and then test again.

The transports we tried at the time, in order of preference, and I kid you not:-

Teac VDRS T1 ca £200 2nd hand
Copland CDA-823 (ca £1700 new), CDP as transport - uses DVD transport
Roskan CDP as a transport (ca £600)
Alba DVD recorder ca £40
Musical Fidelity A3 CDP
Phillips surround sound DVD player

This was done before I had a proper 75ohm digi interconnect. I can say having run the Alba up again on the Belden 75ohm cable and the T1 on my 75ohm cable the gap is not huge!
Quite listenable to. No nasty digi sound.
I make two copies of the same CD and play them in each transport and switch between the two.

If I were you I would experiment with some borrowed cheapy DVD players - fun and games

Yet to try our upstairs Alba DVD player.
Some say the Yamada DVD 5520 is good as a transport - not heard it myself.

 

I emailed Stanley - i've found him to be very helpful - he reckons his co-ax is extremely good. Also that the maplin power supply won't help the later model dac's.

 

Hey for the price of entry its worth a try. If it works in your system great. The next best DACs start at over $400 so give it a try.


rollo

 

It works a little!

 

Hey dos, just a quick note re the burn in period; if you intend to keep that cdp then do give the beresford a bit more time, as mine sounded a bit bright at first but really did seem to improve over a couple of weeks+. Whilst I think the improvements the beresford brought on my system are slight I think in reflection they're worthwhile (I've spent a couple of hours this morning switching between the cdp analogue out and the digi out + beresford), and they have become more apparent over time (unless I've just become more aware of the changes or more comfortable/used to the sound of the beresford, who knows).

 

I think I will keep it for a while. Whilst it's difficult to hear specific differences I feel it has improved things (there seems to be a little more of everything and less harshness).

I'll give it a little more time.

 

Some have said they takes ages of use time to settle down. Or is it that your ears become adjusted - who knows.

 

I have a Beresford v6 and a recently delivered iBasso D1. Doing a comparison between the two I find the Beresford sounds canned and woolly compared to the iBasso.

The iBasso represents the current state of the art in dac & opamps. This is reflected in the quality of it's sound.

 

MarkS; Interesting, what system are you using the Ibasso with?
Are you using the coaxial input?
It doesn't have an RCA / phono output by the looks of it. Do you run the phones output into a power amp?

 

The ibasso is the current state of the art! I must get one, always keen to deflate internet forum hype.

 

I'm sure there are dac's out there that will give better performance and there will be new ones coming out every so often that will also be better as the chips improve, but, at the £142 inc delivery price point it is an excellent purchase.

 

My comparisons were done on the coax input as I was using a Arcam AAA+ as my source. This was fed into a Naim 32.5/HiCap and then into Meridian M60 active speakers.

The iBasso has two outputs, one variable gain for the headphones, and one fixed line level for preamps etc.

 

Mark can you use the Ibasso conventionally, I have aes / toslink digital out , does the basso have coax or xlr to go into my pre?

 

I don't really understand your question in that the iBasso has analog outputs(unbalanced) and therefore can be fed into anything you like.

The output sockets are 3.5mm jacks for which a number of manufacturers make full metal barrel jacks if you want to make your own cable, though I must confess to not hearing any difference between those and the moulded ones. I use the Chord/Naim lead from my Sony Pro Walkman because it's around and I can't be arsed to turn on the soldering iron, or go to Maplins, or Richer Sounds.