Beresford Caiman Review

Thanks! :)

I will post a review for sure, once I get delivery and listen to it for a bit.

I've been told it will most likely ship today itself. :yahoo:
 
Hydra, congrats on the new dac. Have you tried this or any other dacs before?
I've ordered a Caiman today. :yahoo:

I'll be using it with my WD-TV to play FLACs and with my el cheapo Philips CDP to play CDs. For now, I'll be listening to music mostly with Senn HD555s and occasionally with Audioengine A2s.

Can't wait to get it! :licklips:
 
Guys,

What does it mean by balanced outputs?. I read that DACMagic has balanced outputs where as the Caiman does not have. Does it matter?.

Thank you.
 
Hydra, congrats on the new dac. Have you tried this or any other dacs before?

Thanks :)

Nope. I haven't been able to audition a Caiman. This is a blind purchase, based on reviews here and on the 'net. I hope I won't be disappointed.

As for other DACs, it is the same. Never listened to any other DACs. The closest I've been to something resembling the functionality of a DAC is my (ancient) Audigy 2 NX.

...
Out of all which one of us is going to be ambitious and go DIY in modding the caiman ?

Caiman The Hi-Fi Watcher

Not me! I couldn't solder anything to save my life! :eek:
 
...

What does it mean by balanced outputs?. I read that DACMagic has balanced outputs where as the Caiman does not have. Does it matter?.

...

From what little I know, Balanced Outputs are outputs where the + & - connections (of each channel) work in opposite phase, so that there is minimum noise (noise in each connection gets cancelled out).

Balanced Output connections are usually XLR outputs since balanced outputs need three poles: +, - and shield.

Balanced output especially helps when the interconnects need to be pretty long.

You'll need balanced output on your DAC only if your amp (current or future) accepts balanced input.

I hope better informed members will correct me if I'm wrong. :eek:
 
Last edited:
Thank you Hydra.

One more question. I was looking at the outputs of the caiman and I see two pairs of analogue outputs. One says line and other says pre-amp. What is the difference?.

Also I am planning to use it with my media player for both music and movies. For music analogue output to the amplifier is fine, but for movies I want to send the digital out to the amplifier for decoding. So would I have to disconnect the DAC and connect the media player output straight to the amplifier?.
 
One more question. I was looking at the outputs of the caiman and I see two pairs of analogue outputs. One says line and other says pre-amp. What is the difference?.

The pre-amp outputs are variable level. You can connect them to an amp and control the level from the Caiman (using the knob on the Caiman) like from a Pre-amp. If you have a headphone plugged into the Caiman, the pre-amp output is muted, and the knob will control the level of the headphone output.

The fixed level outputs (line output) are to be connected to an amp (or active speakers), and the volume is to be controlled from the amp (or active speakers) itself. The level cannot be controlled from the Caiman.

This is what I understood from reading various reviews of the Caiman. :)

Also I am planning to use it with my media player for both music and movies. For music analogue output to the amplifier is fine, but for movies I want to send the digital out to the amplifier for decoding. So would I have to disconnect the DAC and connect the media player output straight to the amplifier?.

The Caiman does not have digital output. You will need to disconnect the digital cable from the Caiman and re-connect the digital cable to the amp (if you want the amp to decode the output from the media player).
 
The dacmagic has the optical out as well but does not have headphone output. Any other DAC that has headphone + optical input + optical output in a similar price range?.
 
One more question before I place an order.

My current setup is this:
1) xtreamer -> Harmon Kardon AVR 330 -> Bose AM 10
2) playon -> Logitech z5500
3) Laptop -> NuForce Ne7

I can use the caiman (or any other DAC) with any of the above 3 setups.
I would like to know from people who are using the caiman (or any other DAC)
if the DAC made any significant difference to their setup (such as the ones I
have above).

In other words, do I first need to get a better CDP/AMP/Speaker before investing
on a DAC or would the DAC make significant difference to my existing setup.

The caiman would cost me around 14k I guess, so I want to make sure I get the
best of out 14k. If the DAC would not make difference to my existing setup, I
might think of investing the 14k to upgrade my existing setup (such as buying
a bookshelf speaker or stereo amp etc).

Let me know your thoughts/inputs. Thank you.
 
siva,maybe the best way to have that qn answered would be do some 'googling' and see what a dac does :).its another world out there,and so many to choose from,so many implementations/schools of thought,for most budgets(100$-1000$).once u are done with the research,automatically u will realise the use of different inputs.this way,u'll be sure of what u require.dont just buy something cause people are talking about it ;).

i have seen what a dac can do to sonics downstream,so my answer would be...yes,it will make a difference.how much?YMMV!!!cheers
 
+1 to rallynut except get ready to loose some hair :confused:

So much on google but I am still wating for Arcam rdac or Emotiva XDA-1 :rolleyes:
 
siva,maybe the best way to have that qn answered would be do some 'googling' and see what a dac does :).

i have seen what a dac can do to sonics downstream,so my answer would be...yes,it will make a difference.how much?YMMV!!!cheers

Thank you for coming forward to help. I did google quite a bit. From what I read, a DAC does help but my question was if it would
make a difference in a budget setup like mine or would I have to have a higher setup that a DAC would justify its presence or make
a difference.

Anyways, I was reading the first 40 odd pages on head-fi on uDAC and few of them have reported it to be as good as DacMagic or
Tube Magic and many other budget DACs. So could not resist temptation, especially with the current price, ordered one. (I have been
following your views on the uDAC as well and I see that you recommend it as well.) I will use it with my laptop and the speakers at
home and see if the uDAC makes a difference and come back to something like DacMagic or Caiman.
 
Last edited:
Thanks! :)

I will post a review for sure, once I get delivery and listen to it for a bit.

I've been told it will most likely ship today itself. :yahoo:

hydra,

How you received your caiman?. I sent an email to [email protected] few days back but no response till now. Do you have any other form of contact for Stanley?. Let me know. Thank you.
 
hydra,

How you received your caiman?. I sent an email to [email protected] few days back but no response till now. Do you have any other form of contact for Stanley?. Let me know. Thank you.

Nope, Haven't got delivery yet. I've been able to track it, and it is in my city now. The Speed Post center told me it has been sent to the Foreign Post office here for clearance. They say I should get delivery tomorrow or the day after.

Stanley had responded to me by email through the homehifi ID. Why don't you PM Stanley right here on hifivision? I'd PMd him the day I made the purchase and I got a reply within a few hours.
 
Purchase the Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier at a special offer price.
Back
Top