The more additional features one adds to a product, the higher the price becomes. My aim is to design value for money products, which means keeping the price down to suit the budget of my customers base. Just consider that the component cost of a remote control system and a motorized volume control is in excess of U$20 in bulk quantity of 1K. By the time you add those components to a system and the item reaches the end user, that U$20 will have grown to at least U$100 in added retail cost.
Beresford Caiman Review
- Thread starter ashishkesarwani
- Start date
audiodelic
Well-Known Member
Ordered a caiman ... stanley is going to ship it today .... :yahoo:
ashishkesarwani
Well-Known Member
Congrats Satish for your new purchase, do give us a brief review when you recieve it.
spirovious
Well-Known Member
congrates.:clapping:
How about replacing the usb with firewire as a custom mod on order basis?
How much more will it cost? the idea is to use the superior isochronous data transfer clocked by the DAC that firewire enables ...
Regards
audiodelic
Well-Known Member
now the debate would be to use the usb connection or use toslink from my creative xfi xtreme notebook .. ...... start with usb and buy a 3.5 to toslink cable soon im guessing
I use the X-FI card for critical listening from a PC. I find that USB is a bit lacking in PRaT (Pace, rhythm, and timing) through USB. It's OK for most music, but I like a kick in the bass to sound like a kick, and not like a push.
As for Firewire: I don't belive in its future for general audio application. Why go the betamax and HDDVD way?
As for Firewire: I don't belive in its future for general audio application. Why go the betamax and HDDVD way?
Stanley - since you have been using the X-Fi card for music, I am curious. How do you compare the X-Fi with the Caiman?
One of the questions I have really not been able to find an answer about is relative comparison between sound cards and external DACs. Yes, it is best to make it out yourself. Still, if you were to differentiate, how would you compare the two?
Also have you compared the Caiman to any other stereo music oriented sound cards?
One of the questions I have really not been able to find an answer about is relative comparison between sound cards and external DACs. Yes, it is best to make it out yourself. Still, if you were to differentiate, how would you compare the two?
Also have you compared the Caiman to any other stereo music oriented sound cards?
My X-FI optical output plugs into the Caiman optical input. I don't use the X-FI on its own so I can't comment on how they compare. But be realistic in your question. You are not going to get Caiman beating performance out of any other DAC for less than U$400. The market and numerous HIFI magazines review around the world have already established that.
I am not so sure that the matter is that simple, Stanley. But I misunderstood that you were using the X-Fi's analog outputs. So, I guess a comparison is out of the question.
Have you compared the Caiman to, say, the ASUS Xonar Essence sound card?
audiodelic
Well-Known Member
I can give you a comparison between the xfi notebook analogue out since i am presently using this ...... with a beresford caiman once i receive it.
As far as I am aware, there isn't a sound card on the market that can even match a decent DAC like the Caiman, Dacmagic, etc.
Now Stanley that is a claim I can directly refute. Or at least beg to disagree - seeing as I am rather inexperienced in these matters.
I have been comparing the Xonar D2X sound card with a DACMagic MKII extensively. I find the Xonar D2X to be a tad more open and revealing when it comes to details. The DacMagic appears to add a bit of warmth to the sound and this could well work in quite a few systems.
My uninformed but honest assessment is that the Xonar D2X's analogue outs are actually as good as if not better than the DacMagic MkII.
Considering that the Xonar Essence card is said to be far better than the Xonar D2X, I find it hard to believe that it will be left far behind by the DacMagic or the Caiman.
Look forward to hearing your thoughts on this subject.
John Atkinson of Stereophile has measured the Xonar Essence ST and STX versions. He has found the STX to deliver a SNR of 114dB (102dB for ST) and THD of 0.0003%. He also found the STX to have a World Clock jitter of 1.48 nanoseconds.
At a word length of 24 bits, the cards seem to deliver nearly perfect sine waves.
According to John, 'The ST (PCI) version of the Essence didn't measure quite as well as the STX (PCI Express) version, but both still offer very impressive sets of measurements for a product that is a) affordably priced and b) must be housed in the hostile RF environment of a personal computer.'
Please read the review at here.
Cheers
spirovious
Well-Known Member
As far as audio is concerned,xonar are finest cards & much better than creative.
soundcards tend to be a bit more airy and detailed.
i think this is what Bala has experinced
(P.S i have too)
However the preference for dac's comes in because they offer the wieght and smoothness in the music which SC's rarely do
some so called audiophiles call this "listenability"
i have found this to be the major difference between SC's and dacs when compared seperately
from my limited experince and budgets i havent heard either which offers both qualities
its a personal preference
depending upon your taste and the flavour your amp and speakers add ( if they do add any that is)
i think this is what Bala has experinced
(P.S i have too)
However the preference for dac's comes in because they offer the wieght and smoothness in the music which SC's rarely do
some so called audiophiles call this "listenability"
i have found this to be the major difference between SC's and dacs when compared seperately
from my limited experince and budgets i havent heard either which offers both qualities
its a personal preference
depending upon your taste and the flavour your amp and speakers add ( if they do add any that is)
In my setup I find that I could do without the extra warmth added by DacMagic. Also the weight and smoothness that you mention when applied to bass produces less than desirable results - at least for me in my setup.
However, there is not a huge difference really. I could, in theory, remain happy with the DacMagic as well. But I find that I may not choose it over the Xonar.
But would you consider a custom mod if I wanted it? How much will it cost extra? (Edit: PM me if you can) The other question is of drivers - are they required when using usb (or firewire) ? Or are they completely driverless Plug'n'Play even in Linux ?
Regards
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