Beresford Caiman SEG Review (Stereo DAC)

[NiagaraPete]

Why do you say that? @amirm tested the unit using a 12VDC supply. The label on the unit and the manufacturer specs say:

What can I tell you. When I bought the unit it came with a 15v power supply, the Dorado alo outputs 15V. I was advised if I want to get a linear psu to but a 15v one. I was also told that there should have been a sticker on the back plate to 15v.

Like I said in my original post I suspected it would be rubbish. All I'm saying is what I was told.

 

[NiagaraPete]

Why do you say that? @amirm tested the unit using a 12VDC supply. The label on the unit and the manufacturer specs say:

Read the review it was tested at 12v

 

[sarumbear]

Read the review it was tested at 12v

And I said something different???

 

[laudio]

I'd be a little worried if that unit was ever powered in it's lifetime with the 5v adapter. Undervoltage can damage electronics. Just saying.

 

[musicforcities]

The front panel and enclosure is neither exciting, nor bad:

That’s what my wife said about me when we first met

 

[musicforcities]

The Dorado should have also been fully charged before use and it takes a few minutes.

id rather charge a Dorito for a few minutes. Seriously, if that thing is needed to make this work properly it must be designed by the dudes that did the electrical systems on 1970s British cars.

Topping, Khadas, SMSL, Schiit etc can produce much better DACs for much less without silly power supply dingle Berries.

 

[laudio]

Before you fellas jump all over this thing, and as much as I like to read headless panthers reviews , I have to believe this unit isn't right.

Specs and performance look horrible yet...

"The owner also sent me the "Dorado 3" DC to DC regulator which you are supposed to put between the power supply and the DAC:
Well, I tried that but could not get it to work. The AC adapter did output 15 volt as it indicates. The Dorado MKIII however, put out a variable 4.5 to 5 volt which barely lit its own red LED. The barrel connector going to it and coming out were both quite loose but I don't think that was the problem"

So it was being powered at 4.5 to 5 volts at some point I guess.

"Windows complained with a very odd USB controller error and the DAC kept going in and out of USB mode."

Seems odd. Would be nice to see another sample measured, this one has too many issues to draw conclusions from.

 

[musicforcities]

There was supposed to be a sticker. 15v is correct.

Wait…the company can’t manage to label the power input properly either printed on the case or at worst with a permanent label? That’s just inexcusable.

 

[laudio]

Wait…the company can’t manage to label the power input properly either printed on the case or at worst with a permanent label? That’s just inexcusable.

The DC/DC converter measured bad (after use). Was that a design flaw or just a failed converter? Who knows. Or what happened before the owner sent it in. Who knows. It's just the absolute review (on a suspect unit based on power to begin with) that everyone is so eager to jump on that bugs me.


The review concludes with "This DAC seems to have been designed in a different era where performance didn't matter."

Seriously?

 

[musicforcities]

The DC/DC converter measured bad (after use). Was that a design flaw or just a failed converter? Who knows. Or what happened before the owner sent it in. Who knows.

Does not change the fact that the power input and manual states 12v and now we hear it should have a missing sticker that states 15v. And Amir’s test power supply is at least as clean as anything that silly dingle berry dc-dc thing puts out and which is pointless so long as the dac was designed correctly.

Give me a break. I can buy a tiny Khadas tone board card for $80, plug it directly into usb and get far superior performance. Or plug a Topping dac into whatever AC/DC brick I have laying around that is the correct voltage and wattage, which is screen printed on the DAC case, and get effectively fkawless performance.

So no excuses even if the power brick and dongle berry dc-dc thing were broken.

 

[laudio]

Does not change the fact that the power input and manual states 12v and now we hear it should have a missing sticker that states 15v. And Amir’s test power supply is at least as clean as anything that silly dingle berry dc-dc thing puts out and which is pointless so long as the dac was designed correctly.

Not talking about how clean the test supply was. Am talking about what happened before the test even started

 

[musicforcities]

Not talking about how clean the test supply was. Am talking about what happened before the test even started

If the power supply was faulty one should be able to use another equivalent supply as listed on the machine and manual. If the dac itself was damaged then ok. But Amir has more interesting and current things to spend his time testing. DAC performance has reached a performance and price threshold in the past few years that this thing is obsolete. And not even cool to look at.

 

[laudio]

If the power supply was faulty one should be able to use another equivalent supply as listed on the machine and manual. If the dac itself was damaged then ok. But Amir has more interesting and current things to spend his time testing. DAC performance has reached a performance and price threshold in the past few years that this thing is obsolete. And not even cool to look at.

Now you are getting it. "If the dac itself was damaged then ok". Which is a distinct possibility, due to undervoltage. Would be best to stop the review there IMO. Looks are purely subjective.

 

[laudio]

And my last statement on this. If I am a new reader of this forum, this is what I see at top (2 similar DAC/headphone amps measured), and a couple of panthers.

"This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping DX3 Pro+ DAC and headphone amplifier. It is a replacement for one of my most favorite combo products, the DX3 Pro. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $199"

"This is a review and detailed measurements of the Beresford Caiman SEG TC-7535 stereo DAC and headphone amp. It was kindly sent to me by a member (editorial comment: failed to mention with a broken DC/DC converter and loose power connector) and costs £199.99 or about US $272."

Not apples to apples Amir, sorry.

 

[musicforcities]

The date only matters when a historical (vintage) device reaches SOTA.

For DACs, vintage might mean five years ago. My Topping d30 even looks a tad long in the tooth relative to the best measuring $100-209 dacs Amir has recently tested.

 

[amirm]

Now you are getting it. "If the dac itself was damaged then ok". Which is a distinct possibility, due to undervoltage.

What the heck you talking about? The DAC fully functions and chances of damaging an audio device with undervoltage is one in a trillion. Electronic devices are routinely subjected to voltage sags during power failures and such. If they fail, they fail hard and they hardly ever do in this regard.

A broken device never just raises distortion and noise. It stops functioning. So please don't grasp at these straws. Ask me if you don't know the topic and I will explain.

 

[amirm]

Not apples to apples Amir, sorry.

You can be sorry for yourself, not me. An electronic device with no moving part doesn't age this way in a few years of use. If it does, then that is damning enough.

 

[laudio]

What the heck you talking about? The DAC fully functions and chances of damaging an audio device with undervoltage is one in a trillion. Electronic devices are routinely subjected to voltage sags during power failures and such. If they fail, they fail hard and they hardly ever do in this regard.

A broken device never just raises distortion and noise. It stops functioning. So please don't grasp at these straws. Ask me if you don't know the topic and I will explain.

It didn't fully function, the USB input didn't even work. And if you are going to tell me you can't damage a MOSFET or discrete transistor in the amp section due to lower voltage (over time maybe not during power up), disagree. Depends on the internal design.

"A broken device never just raises distortion and noise. It stops functioning. "

Seriously? Worked with analog much?

Would be nice to see a different unit testing, those measurements were really bad.

 

[musicforcities]

And my last statement on this. If I am a new reader of this forum, this is what I see at top (2 similar DAC/headphone amps measured), and a couple of panthers.

"This is a review and detailed measurements of the Topping DX3 Pro+ DAC and headphone amplifier. It is a replacement for one of my most favorite combo products, the DX3 Pro. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $199"

"This is a review and detailed measurements of the Beresford Caiman SEG TC-7535 stereo DAC and headphone amp. It was kindly sent to me by a member (editorial comment: failed to mention with a broken DC/DC converter and loose power connector) and costs £199.99 or about US $272."

Not apples to apples Amir, sorry.

You protest too much me thinks. And you are unfairly mis representing the two reviews as a head to head comparison—which they simply are not. Give me a break!

When a device measures poorly on this forum it seems inevitable that a couple “maybe it’s broken” ensues or maybe there is something wrong or mismatched with Amir’s power or equipment.

I don’t care that the plugs seemed loose. They shouldn’t be but I trust Amir figured out if they were making proper contact. I don’t care power supply was broken. The dac should run on another one fine. The dac should also have adequate under voltage and over voltage detection and protection, which don’t usually manifest as many of the issues we see here. And have it’s power requirements properly labeled. I’m sorry but if they can’t get that right why bother?

it’s very possible that this is just how this thing performs.

 

[amirm]

Seriously? Worked with analog much?

Yes, during my entire life. I put myself through college repairing hundreds of pieces of electronics/audio gear. From your writing, I trust you have no knowledge of the field.