Beresford TC-7520 DAC amplifier review - Introduction

Beresford TC-7520 24/96 KHz DAC

• Beresford TC-7520 DAC - $279
• Audio Quest VDM-Xi S/Pdif Cable - $35

There are many ways to get high quality audio playback while using a computer system as the source.  There are just as many user types that run different hardware configurations, everything from internal soundcards to fully external gear to combinations of both ideas.  From time to time in the Guru3D Audio Lab we will be taking a look at some examples of external equipment for people interested in these areas of PC based audio.

There is an entire market of high end external components that can be used with a PC, devices such as external speaker amps, headphone amps, DAC’s and high end S/Pdif sources.

As many of you may know, S/Pdif digital output is found on almost every new motherboard and a myriad of other gear from soundcards to music servers. These digital outputs allow the user to connect up a host of other audio equipment meant for various tasks.

When using the S/Pdif output on your motherboard or soundcard you are transferring the digital conversion tasks to another device.  Today we will be looking at an external DAC, which simply is just a Digital to Analog Converter module.

These devices can be very simple and have one function or they can have many such as conversion, amplification, switching and routing.  Today a new package arrived here at the G3D Audio Lab.  Inside this package is a brand new Beresford TC-7520 24/96 Digital to Analog Converter unit partnered up with an AudioQuest VDM-Xi S/Pdif cable.