[breakfastchef]

Seems that no one has ever posted pics of the internals of a Beresford DAC, so I opened mine today. This thread is as much about what is inside and how the unit may be modded to further improve performance.

Overview

View From Front

View From Rear

Down The Alley

The DAC IC - Aren't there better DAC chips that could go here? If so, this would be a huge soldering challenge for me.

Unknown IC(a) - ST EZ09716

IC3 - ST HCF4052/E9FB531

IC4 - CS8414-CSZ/GFBAAXFB0729

Op Amps - I believe these are 'not so good'. I think it may be relatively easy to put in sockets for op amp rolling.

Unknown IC(b) - TC4013BP/SIA 0706WC

 

[Herandu]

Great pics breakfastchef. My picture taking skills are worse than my mod skills.
Have you though about trying the WM8716 instead? Better specs all round and goes up to 192KHz. I banged a 5532 in mine for the 4558, but I would advise you to use a surface mount IC. The yellow wires are additional mods I found useful if you use a WM8716.

.

 

[breakfastchef]

Thanks Herandu. PM me the details as I have no clue what your yellow wires are for and what they connect to. It looks like you introduced another capacitor, as well.

 

[d-cee]

cool, looks like they've stopped scratching off the markings from the ICs

 

[donthuang]

The Unknown IC(a) is LM324

 

[espressogeek]

Does anyone know what the MOD 21 is comprised of? I just purchased a "generic" TC-7510 and it looks identical to the one in this thread caps and all. I have some basic plans for it but I suppose the MOD 21 is the biggest bang for the buck from what I have read on another forum. I have posted some high quality pics of the latest generic version of this dac here. The Frugal Audiophile: TC-7510 has arrived, pictures and more

 

[LostOne.TR]

^ interesting. Where did you purchase the generic one from?

 

[Herandu]

The UK £ is now so weak against many other currency that it makes the Beresford an absolute bargain buy. I paid £100 about two years ago when the £ was worth nearly U$2.00 and €1.50. The Beresford is now £105 and U$ is U$1.50 with the € at 1.10 to the £. Even the TEC version I see on sale in Europe is now more expensive than the modded Beresford. An Italian site list theirs at €148 and a German site has theirs at €160.

 

[krmathis]

Looks nice! Thanks for sharing..

 

[Listens2tubes]

K Works is modding these currently. Igor attended the NYC meet yesterday and a bunch of Headfiers got a listen. Modded it's is a great headamp and even better DAC.

 

[espressogeek]

Who is K Works? I bought mine from ebay. I would love to find out about that "mod21" and anything else out of the ordinary. I personally think it sounds OK as a DAC and a bit less than OK as a head amp in stock form. I am comparing it to my Music Hall 25.2's DAC and perhaps the TC-7510 doesn't like being fed via the MH's optical output.

 

[paulllaser]

K Works is an audio design and modification company run by Igor Kuznetsoff. They do modifications on turntables and various electronic components. K Works also has designed a series of interconnects called Clearhearts. They have bested a number of high end ICs at various meetings of the NJ Audio Society. A new line of superb digital cables, mods to the Beresford Dac and Trends converter are recent additions to K Works lineup. Igor demonstrated his items at the NY meet yesterday and I had 2 cans he recabled with his Clearheart cables, a 650 and 701, both balanced. Igor also recabled a Grado SR 60 with his Clearheart Cable and all 3 were quite different than the typical recabled sound.

You can contact him via email gorkuz@yahoo.com or phone 973-340-2908 after 3 PM.

Maybe he could use someone to do his advertising? Perhaps I'll contact him....

See erikzen's pictures of the NYC meet 12.13.08 of K Works modified Beresford. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f45/ne...53/index6.html

 

[espressogeek]

Thanks , Ill drop Igor a line or two. If anyone with a Beresford TC-7510 MK6/4 would share pics of their unit I would appreciate it.

 

[espressogeek]

I have spoken to Igor and he was not aware of the specifics of the mod21. Also I didn't see any pics of his Beresford with the lid off! I'm still hunting pics of the MOD21 if anyone has them or a MK6/4.
Thanks

 

[Herandu]

I haven't got a 6/4 so I can't help you. But the MK6 I got has been heavily modified by now. Seems that a lot of people are mentioning What HIFI articles on a couple of DACs at the mo. The Beresford also got reviewed there I see from Beresford TC-7510 review – whathifi.com and I read on another site that it is again in another mag called HIFI Choice next month.
There is a link to the MOD21 when you do a search in Google. I got it listed as http://www.*************/Downloads/Mod21.pdf if that helps. I got a NE5532 in place of the 4558 so there ain't much space for me to try the mod. But I'll dig out the soldering iron and see how it sounds with the 5532.

HM