Mini-Review of the Beresford TC-7520 DAC


Category: Digital

Looking for a feature-rich DAC with good sound and that won't break the bank? I recently stumbled upon a rather interesting find in this category. The Beresford brand has been popular Britain for the past few years, and there's a new US distributor that now sells their products direct online; a classified ad in Audiogon led me to their website called beresford-dac (along with a dot and a com in there somewhere). The TC-7520 is a 96/24 DAC with (1) USB, (1) Toslink and (2) SPDIF digital inputs (no analog inputs), a Class-A preamp with both fixed and variable outputs, and a headphone amp. Simple but elegant, the housing is a solid and compact black metal box with shiny gold metal soft-touch selector buttons (each with its own blue LED indicator), and incorporates a "dual" power supply (a combination internal and external components which is said to yield overall lower noise).

This unit has been installed as part of a home office system comprised of two-way TAD monitors (sporting built-in EL84 tube amplification) and an older Sony 5-CD changer with a variable line output which had been providing the services of both source and preamp. In comparison, driving the 7520 via the player's digital output offers a clearly audible improvement over the previous configuration; it serves up tight & tuneful bass control, more dynamic presence in the midrange, and a subtle smoothing of the treble. The headphone output's sonic traits are very similar. And as a bonus, a USB cable from my PC to the 7520 allows for a noticeable enhancement in music file playback. Bottom line, a very musical device; for $249, (shipping included), I think this one's tough to beat. (One note; Beresford USA does not offer a money-back satisfaction guarantee on these units, but once you see and hear it, you'll find it's an easy $249 to part with.)

Attention tweakers: The stock dual opamps are socketed, and I'd read on a couple of forums that these may be changed out with compatible devices that can offer further sonic improvement - But, be warned; according to Beresford USA, the unit's one-year warranty will be voided if ya mess with its internals in this fashion - So, best enjoy the TC-7520 in stock form first off, and then after 12 months have fun swapping in new opamps if you find yourself hankerin' for an upgrade.
ggeers222
I'd like to modify the opamps in my Beresford 7520, but I've never done this before. Is it difficult? Where do I buy the improved parts?
Question: if I would to connect the Rega Apollo to the Beresford TC-7520 (stock), how does it deliver better sound or musicality when the apollo has a newer and better dac chip WM8740 Sigma Delta 24bit?

I understand that if this dac is used with computer lossless source, I am sure it would make a world of different.

Also, as this dac does not have analogue inputs, I would be unable to link a Thorens TD-165 to this dac. As I do not have a head phones amp, I was really hoping that there might be a work around to allow me to listen to my analogue set up with this headphone out. Any suggestions? Should i be consider a phono stage with headphones out? Any recommendation?

My amp is the integrated Primare A10, which does not have phono or headphones out.