Hey gang,
Well, it's official. I replaced a Cambridge Audio Azur 640C v1 with the TC-7510 Mk6.
At first, the Beresford was harsh and brittle, and I was really freaked; it literally took about 100 hours for it to develop its proper sound, which was a vast improvement. If I doubted break-in before, I don't now.
The Beresford is definitely significantly more detailed than the 640C, in resolution and transients. On some pieces, it's hard to tell, and on others, it stands out like a nun at a Tool concert. As for tonal balance, I find the two to be somewhat opposites: The CA seems a smidge rolled off at the very top, and whereas I think the Beresford extends further. In the lower highs, the CA is either neutral or a bit prominent, and I think the TC-7510 is even a bit more out there. There's a certain brightness and liveliness coming from some frequencies that probably isn't neutral. The midrange on both is quite balanced, and hard to find differences in. In the bass, I think the TC-7510 is a bit more extended and prominent, but it's possibly not quite as tight as the Cambridge; I'm still evaluating this and trying to express it. These differences ARE quite subtle, mind you.
In concrete terms, these differences amount to things like strings and piano, for example, being much more full-bodied, detailed, and having their harmonics in the right proportions on the Beresford.
I also believe the TC-7510 has a slightly larger and more separated soundstage, but this is a minimal difference, and hard to discern on my headphones, on which I do most of my listening.
Because of the extra highs and extra detail, I find the TC-7510 to be a lively unit, whereas the 640C lands on the side of mellow and soothing, but a bit frustrating due to its veil which becomes apparent when you compare it to a more detailed unit like the TC-7510, and its extreme end rolloffs. Depending on the album, the 640C is often a smidge more musical, despite its flaws, but on the right lively kind of material, the TC-7510 really rocks out.
My comparison was mostly done through my Beyerdynamic DT 250/250 headphones, using the headphone jack on my NAD T742 receiver. This isn't a perfect headphone solution, as I get hiss through the NAD, but it's suprisingly good for a receiver, actually. I do prefer to use the headphone jack on my TC-7510 though, which is tad better (probably due to the obviously more direct and unpolluted signal path), but even it has some hiss driving my high impedance 'phones.
In all, I decided the TC-7510 MK6 was a keeper and the CA 640C was a goner, as I had to choose one and couldn't keep both (would've if I could've). I broke even on the swap, improved my CD performance, added high-quality sound to my computer, and even unexpectedly found out that the Beresford DAC/headphone combination blows away the DAC/headphone combo on my Digidesign Mbox 2. I now have a more accurate monitoring environment for my budding audio engineering pursuits.
The TC-7510 MK6 is a great value and a very good DAC. I've compared it to exactly 2 sources, a Cambridge 640C v1 CD player ($450 CDN 2 years ago) and a Digidesign Mbox 2 ($500, includes Pro Tools). On my Beyerdynamic DT 250/250 headphones ($280), the Beresford is mostly better than the Cambridge (I've opted to keep the Beresford and sell the Cambridge), and miles better than the MBox. So, there ya go.
Keep the comparisons coming!
Oh yeah...I'm considering doing the MK6 -> MK6/3 mods pretty soon just to see if these can take away my few nits with this DAC. Anyone have experience and details that they can share with me about the sonic improvements??