Beresford: 7520 or 7510

[el_santo]

Hi All!

I'm new in this forum.

I have a modest equipment (Marantz PM-48 amplifier and Infinity EL-20 loudspeakers).

I want to purchase a DAC to listen music files through the computer s/pdif output.

I've read good reviews of the beresford 7510, and now there is a new model 7520.

I don't need the USB input, and i won't use headphones. All that I want is to listen music through loudspeakers.

Some people that have tried both says that 7520 sounds better than 7510, but I don't know if that improvement affects only the headphone output or also normal line output.

It seems strange to me that 7520 sounds (through line out) much better than the recently awarded 7510, which is supposed to have a very good quality.

Respecting line output: ¿does 7520 sounds better than 7510?

Perhaps by bottleneck is amplifier and loudspeaker and both DACs (7520 and 7510) will sound similar on my system....

¿what do you think?

Thank you and regards.

[Gazjam]

They are both great dacs.

Given that you dont need USB I'd go for the 7510 - buy some music with the difference in cost!

Dont feel your missing out getting the 7510 over the 7520, both are fantastic sounding - just aimed at different markets.
The 7520 DOES sound better - through both headphone AMD line output - its just whether given your system at the moment you would actually benefit from it.

I think the 7520 would be overkill in your system. I take it your playing Lossless files from your PC and not just MP3?
That'll make a bigger difference in your system than the 7520 vs 7510 I feel.

Also, something else to think about...
If you use USB rather than spdif from your PC, it will bypass the computer soundcard and the windows audio drivers, which can affect sound too.
Google a thing called ASIO4ALL, if you want to use spdif you will want your signal running into the dac to be "bit-perfect", which this software can achieve.



Hope this helps.

[el_santo]

Thank you for your responses.... I think I will decide in a few days...

I take it your playing Lossless files from your PC and not just MP3?
That'll make a bigger difference in your system than the 7520 vs 7510 I feel.

I used to have my collection as ogg and mp3, but nowadays i store music as flac files.

Also, something else to think about...
If you use USB rather than spdif from your PC, it will bypass the computer soundcard and the windows audio drivers, which can affect sound too.
Google a thing called ASIO4ALL, if you want to use spdif you will want your signal running into the dac to be "bit-perfect", which this software can achieve.

I have an integrated ac97 codec, which, as almost all integrated boards audio chip, only can output through s/pdif at 48KHz. Most of my records are 16/44.1 so it had to resample them on the fly.

To solve that I purchased a trust sc-5250, that has c-media 8738, a very cheap card (22€) that can output through s/pdif at native 44.1KHz,without resample.
I use linux where the alsa driver enable bit-perfect output with this card.
If someone else is interested there is a alternative windows driver for this card that can enable bit-perfect s/pdif at 44.1KHz among other features. The driver is at http://code.google.com/p/cmediadrivers/

Regards

[Gazjam]

As Doug says,

it ight be useful to get the 7520 anyway for futureproofing.

[roscoeiii]

Is it as easy to upgrade the opamps on the 7510 as it is on the 7520, or is the 7520 much preferable if one wants to implement some of the mods discussed on these forums?

[stratovious]

They are both great dacs.

Given that you dont need USB I'd go for the 7510 - buy some music with the difference in cost!

Dont feel your missing out getting the 7510 over the 7520, both are fantastic sounding - just aimed at different markets.
The 7520 DOES sound better - through both headphone AMD line output - its just whether given your system at the moment you would actually benefit from it.

I think the 7520 would be overkill in your system. I take it your playing Lossless files from your PC and not just MP3?
That'll make a bigger difference in your system than the 7520 vs 7510 I feel.

Also, something else to think about...
If you use USB rather than spdif from your PC, it will bypass the computer soundcard and the windows audio drivers, which can affect sound too.
Google a thing called ASIO4ALL, if you want to use spdif you will want your signal running into the dac to be "bit-perfect", which this software can achieve.



Hope this helps.

Sir,

Have you posted detailed review/comparison between 7510 & 7520?
If yes then can you provide me the link?

Thanks.

[maxrob200]

I went straight for the 7520 as the price difference is not great, plus after reading the posts on this forum about the easy upgrades of the op-amps in the 7520 felt it was a no-brainer decision. I have just upgraded the op-amps in my just run-in 7520 with LM4562NA and the sonic difference even from cold is pretty obvious. Given a running in period, I expect the entire sonic presentation to get richer and more spacious in soundstage. Plenty of PRaT and musicality

[Gazjam]

Sir,

Have you posted detailed review/comparison between 7510 & 7520?
If yes then can you provide me the link?

Thanks.

SIR????

Thanks Strat!

[stratovious]

Thanks for response,
I m new to forum ,so i shld call Sir to seniors...

So which stereo amp will do the justice to 7520,F1 combo?

[Gazjam]

You might get a better response Strat if you ask in the "Blank Canvas" section of the forum?

The Tannoys would benefit from an amp with good "grip" so I'd start there.

Gaz.