Beresford Caiman Review

[hydra]

Caiman in da house! :yahoo:

I picked up the parcel from the Speed Post Center today evening. The good news is the parcel looks in good shape. The bad news I had to pay Rs.567.00 towards duty. But then since I got the parcel quickly enough and without any other issues, I don't really mind.


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Sorry for the blurry mobile pics.

I had to drop the parcel off at home and go straight back to office. Could not open it I'm heading back home in about 30 minutes and the first thing I'm gonna do is open the package and hook up the Caiman

 

[spirovious]

We are waiting for Happy Listening...

 

[hydra]

Beresford Caiman:

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The Caiman and the Senn HD555s having some intimate moments together:


Cables that I ordered with the Caiman:


Sorry for the really bad mobile phone pics. I've been putting off buying a Digicam for ever.

After I unboxed the Caiman (ripped the packaging to shreds as soon as I got home) I hooked up the Coaxial (2) input of the Caiman to my (mass-market Philips DVD Player) and the Optical input of the Caiman to my WDTV (1st Gen). The fixed outs were connected to the RCA input of my Audioengine A2s.

I fired up the DVD player and Caiman, selected Coaxial 2, and popped in a CD.

No sound. Whoops!

I then swapped the interconnects to the Caiman's variable output. Tried playing music again. Still no dice. Gulp!

Now I started sweating and images of having to return the unit all the way to Stanley loomed up in my mind. I then started checking the A2s, making sure the power switch was on and the RCAs were connected. After a few seconds, I saw that the light on the power adapter of the A2s was not glowing.

Yep, the A2s' power adapter decided to kick the bucket right on the day I got a new component to play with. Sigh!

After thanking my stars the issue was not with the Caiman, I hooked up the Caiman's variable outs and fixed outs in turn to my cMoy amp (and the Senn HD555s to the cMoy amp) and there it was. Music! The relief of it and that first-listen thrill made me smile.

I immediately tried the Headphone out of the Caiman with my Senn HD555s and smiled again.

My initial impressions are positive. I feel there has been a substantial improvement in the highs -- they are more airy and open. Bass response and the midrange (vocals) are a bit recessed. Though the bass response is a bit less, overall, the bass seems smoother. I hope the mids will open up more with about 100 or so hours of usage. I'm not too good with describing nuances of music, so I'll leave that for the time being: Maybe when I look at the improvement in music after the burn in period.

In any case there is a clear and marked improvement in the DVD Player --> Coaxial --> Caiman HP amp --> HD555 path over the DVD Player --> Eagle EP to RCA --> cMoy --> HD555 path.

I immediately tried the Caiman and the HD555s with the WDTV (via Optical in). I've never listened to music from the WDTV over the Senn HD555s before, so I can't really do a before-after comparison. But this setup also sounds similar to the music from the Philips DVD-P. I say "similar", as I felt the volume level from the WDTV was just a bit higher than the volume level from the DVD-P.

Also, in some unexplainable way, I liked the music from the WDTV over the music from the DVD-P. I played Chantal Chamberland's "Hot Night in Baton Rouge", a favourite of mine, (many times) through both -- as CD over the DVD-P and as FLAC over the WDTV. The track on the CD was mastered from the same FLAC file. I clearly like the WDTV input's music more.

After this I quit the critical-listening mode and just spent the rest of the night listening to my favourites. After all, it is all about the music. And already I like it the way the Caiman makes it sound. I'm especially happy, because I ordered the Caiman blind, not having listened to it before, going by just reviews and Stanley's posts in various forums.

I've left the HD555s and the Caiman wrapped in embrace, making music back home. I will burn them in for at least 100 hours at the earliest. (The Senns are also pretty new, with just 25 or so hours of use under their belt). I'll need to break in the fixed and variable outputs separately in addition later. I'll wait till the A2s are back up for that.

The ordering process was quite smooth, with Stanley keeping in touch at every stage. The Caiman and the cables were shipped the very next day after I placed the order and I got delivery fast enough, without any hassles.

I will give my impressions after listening to the Caiman + HD555 combo after at least 100 hours of break-in.

Sorry for the long post. I'm still excited and that makes me write more

 

[audiodelic]

good first impressions

Can anyone with some modding skills in Delhi side help me with op amp rolling on my beresford caiman ?

I want to swap out the LM4562NA and try both the THS4032 and the OPA2132PA.

 

[spirovious]

Thats good,after a week,the review can be interesting...

 

[StanleyB]

I want to swap out the LM4562NA and try both the THS4032 and the OPA2132PA.

The THS4032 are surface mount chips, so they would need to be put on a SOIC to DIL adapter PCB. Not an easy job.
The OPA2132 is inferior to the LM4562 fitted in the Caiman. You would be going down market with them.
Try the HA826 instead. Cheaper than the THS4032, but better sounding according to my listening tests.

Stan

 

[ukjeyaraj]

Thats a nice review by hydra on his beresford caiman

 

[techgadgets4379]

I have an issue with my Caiman optical port. i am not getting the sound output from my optical, it was working till yesterday, i believe the optical port is slightly bent. Do you guys know where i can get it checked here in Bangalore . I have mailed Stan about the issue as well.

 

[Santy]

Finally got the Gatorized Caiman in hands. Had a problem with customs, had to go personally to the EMS post office and convince them to waive off the adjucation fee Rs. 5500 slapped for importing goods more than Rs.2000 value. God knows what policies they follow.

Back at home, it took less than 3 min to set it up this way:

WDTV Live => Optical => Receiver => Coax => DAC => AMP => Speakers
another connection to do an A/B comparison
WDTV Live => Optical => Receiver => RCA => AMP => Speakers

I played Mariah Carey's We belong together and quickly did a A/B comparo. Note that I am not comparing the external DAC with the one in WDTV which sucks big time. The one in the receiver is pretty decent IMO.

Initially since the receiver sounded a bit louder, it gave me an impression that DAC made no big difference. Over the next few minutes, by critically listening to various music, I realised the DAC gave a far, far superior sound quality. I listened to Jack Johnson's upside down, Feel good & Everything from Michael Bubble and Katty perry's Teenage Dream, followed by some bollywood and kollywood songs.

Firstly there was absolutely no congestion. With the previous setup, it was like all instruments were played inside a big box, each one of them colliding with the other. Now it appeared that they have all come out of the box. Being always restricted below 10 o clock in the amp previously, now I am glad that the sound does not hurt the ears even at 2 o clock position. The clarity and spacing was superb making music so enjoyable that I forgot to do the comparison.

I was very impressed with the bass, it was totally separated from other frequencies and it appeared to me that a powered sub is placed somewhere. It was so tightly controlled that when the bass stops in music, it instantly stops from the speakers too (no fading or echoing). Infact the bass was so detailed that I heard new bass notes never heard before (Chand Sifarish from Fanaa).

The highs were corrosive earlier and now appears to be smoothened by a file. The vocals were slightly recessed back though, which I think could be the effect of the Gator mod. The site mentions that it gives a 3D effect which probably makes the certain frequencies pronounce much higher. This was to my taste as I tend to become uncomfortable when voice touches very high pitch which is not a problem now with slightly laidback vocals. However other mid frequencies were not affected as far as I listened. "Stole my heart" bit from Singham (Tamil) with nice mids proved it.

I am waiting for it to burn in and I am sure it will improve. Overall, this little thing gives more bang for the buck and it has got all the stuff inside to thoroughly impress any starters like me.

Now for the pics:

 

[srinisundar]

Hi Hydra / Santy,

Have you posted your impressions anywhere after burn-in?

Regards

 

[Santy]

Hi Hydra / Santy,

Have you posted your impressions anywhere after burn-in?

Regards

Srini
After about 70 hrs, I felt the music sounded a little more airy and had a slightly improved sound stage. Mild difference though.

Many fellow members of Pune and Mumbai meet have heard it and everybody loved the fully opened up music. Our supermod too heard it and commented that its pretty fast and impressive...

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