My obervations using beresford Caiman...

[s_sachin]

Guys ,

I have been owning the beresford DAC for about 4 months now, just wanted to share some observations and get inputs from you. Like to mention that I have rookie ears for music listening and others may have a different opinion. So please bear/take my observations with a pinch of salt

Speakers : Wharfedale 91.
Amp : NAD 325

In order of listenening goodness
1. Onida DVD player -dig coaxial-DAC-AMP-SPK : Best
2. HTPC (Gibabyte785)(foobar/mediamonkey) - usb - DAC -AMP-SPK
3. WD TV (music stored on 2 TB NAS - both wired ) - dig toslink - DAC -AMP-SPK : Least best

I have been trying to play around with add-in's lately (WASAPI for foobar) etc. Need to hear for some more time to make a conlusion if that has improved sound.

Some inputs/feedback required (and apologies as i am sure this has been discussed before)
1. I also have digital out from HTC, trying that option as well. Will that work better than USB ?
2. I would really like to use WDTV for sheer convinience and the streaming radio options it gives. Any chance of improving the sound source from here ?
3. Should i invest in a dedicated CD player (with or without a DAC) ? I have loads of mp3/FLAC's so not really liking this option.

cheers !
Sachin

 

[spirovious]

Can you write in details?like what made you mention Onida DVDp option as Best?

 

[hydra]

Good to see your observations, @s_sachin.

I'd done a similar comparo just for fun about a week back. You can read about it here: http://www.hifivision.com/my-audio-video-setup/17554-making-baby-steps-into-hi-fi-3.html#post242351

My comparison was between:
WDTV > Optical > Caiman > Nad 326 > PSB Image B6, and
Philips DVDP > Coaxial > Caiman > Nad 326 > PSB Image B6.

I used a CD in the Philips DVDP and 5 FLACs in the WDTV (the same FLACs were used to burn the CD).

This is what I wrote in my post:

There actually wasn't too much difference between the music from the two transports, probably because I was using the same DAC. And both transports are nothing so great to write about either. But I consistently found that the WDTV had a slightly wider soundstage, an ever-so-slightly better center image and a slightly better resolution in the background instrumentation. 8 times out of 10, I was able to identify the WDTV over the DVDP, so I guess there was enough identifiable difference.

To me, the difference between the sources was very very little. I did the test blindfolded, with a friend swapping sources/tracks. However, (somehow) I did identify the WDTV 8 times out of 10. I did not know that the source was the WDTV while I was doing the test -- I simply identified it as "Source B" which was its identification when I was blindfolded.

I'll be getting a Music PC setup in about 2-3 weeks, so I will try the comparo again with the PC as a source too, when I get it finished.

 

[s_sachin]

Spirovious i was actually dreading that question And i dont know if i am licenced to use these terms , but i found a better/sider seperation of instruments and overall a little brither sound which is to my liking.

btw i have an 5 year old onida "dvr" 8637 which was 9 K at the time

Thanks Hydra .. I guess I missed the most important post and I am quite frequent in the forum I will surely be following your posts and waiting for your future tests.

btw i tried just 1 flac and rest were 320 kbps mp3's. should try more songs and blindfolded is great idea
Used original CD's - Delhi 6 (Arziyaa), striker (CHam CHam) Udaan(Kahani) Aerosmith (album O yeah)

 

[s_sachin]

ok one more observation .. i added the wasapi plugin for foobar and then connected to dac with optical out from the PC (earlier i was using USB). I could now select 24 bits in the output data format (with usb i was limited to selecting 16 bit)... its made a difference sounding much much better trhough the PC now. Need to the the blind test yet with dvd player & wdtv, will update my findings.

Hydra something for you to try out, i knwo you must be buiding your pc right now waiting for your comments ..

 

[spirovious]

btw i have an 5 year old onida "dvr" 8637 which was 9 K at the time

Perhaps pioneer DVDp can output better for further improvement.