Duffinator
Spin The Black Circle
I was just kidding. I think you'll hear a noticable improvement. :yes:
Got good news today. My Cambridge DacMagic was shipped today from Audio Advisor. Much sooner than June 1st.
Hey PW, sorry can't help with your hookup trubs. Someone who has one and done that should chime in. Mine was just shipped, not received yet. I just ordered a optical cable to hook my CD player to my dacmagic. Will report here how I like it.
I'm running sans PC, just CD player and integrated amp. Not into the computer music aspect.
PW, it sounds like an issue with your PC but I'm no help. Do you have a CD or DVD player that you can double check the DM with just to eliminate that possibility?
I have been using the MDAC for about a month feeding it with either a CDP (toslink), or my netbook through USB. MY netbook acts as an internet tuner, I listen mostly through Pandora, sometimes, streaming from my local FM stations.
Feeding my MDAC to McIntosh MA6600 integrated amp to my B&W matrix 804.
Wonder if anybodyelse likes streaming musich from either Pandora or other internet music stations. I believe the sound from my CDP to MDAC is better than streaming. Is the quality of the signals from streaming adequate?
I just simply enjoy the convenience of the setup (USB from my netbook to MDAC).
mP
Well PW, the reason why I don't use my PC is because I use/have 2 Pioneer 100 disc carosel CD players in my livingroom away from my PC use space(kitchen). The CDs are hooked into 2 separate systems based on Kenwood and Sansui integrated amps. More than adequate for my needs. The DacMagic goes into one system. But if I decide to get another one then............
I have been using the MDAC for about a month feeding it with either a CDP (toslink), or my netbook through USB. MY netbook acts as an internet tuner, I listen mostly through Pandora, sometimes, streaming from my local FM stations.
Feeding my MDAC to McIntosh MA6600 integrated amp to my B&W matrix 804.
Wonder if anybodyelse likes streaming musich from either Pandora or other internet music stations. I believe the sound from my CDP to MDAC is better than streaming. Is the quality of the signals from streaming adequate?
I just simply enjoy the convenience of the setup (USB from my netbook to MDAC).
mP
I do the same thing. Very convenient. I listen to Pandora and Rhapsody but they still do not compare to CD.
I was going to spend a lot of money on a new to me CD player. But after reading about issues with lasers and transports I started doing some research on moving my digital music to a computer based system. I didn't want to spend that much money on a player only to have it depreciate over the years and then break and become worthless. A computer based system seemed to be a better return on my investment in the long run. Check post #54 for a link to what I did.PW, if I was a todays kinda guy I probably would be going the PC music server route. But don't have the need and I like the oldfashioned hardware kinda stuff, amps, TTs , tape decks and the like. Nutin wrong withdigital but the need for a dacmagic says something about the meduim. My CD players sound pretty good to me but I'm aware of their faults and if a piece of gear can make it them sound better Im for than. The thing used to be noise reduction in all it's glorius forms, dolby, dbx, and the like. My choice was ther Phase Linear autocorrelator NR system and it wor5ked grate. When CDs came along with no noise it appeared to be a blessing, but then came all the sampling rate issues and harshness and compression, just screwing it all up. Not CDs fault but the recording engineers and music industry IMO.
Champing at the bit for my dacmagic.
PW, if I was a todays kinda guy I probably would be going the PC music server route. But don't have the need and I like the oldfashioned hardware kinda stuff, amps, TTs , tape decks and the like. Nutin wrong withdigital but the need for a dacmagic says something about the meduim. My CD players sound pretty good to me but I'm aware of their faults and if a piece of gear can make it them sound better Im for than. The thing used to be noise reduction in all it's glorius forms, dolby, dbx, and the like. My choice was ther Phase Linear autocorrelator NR system and it wor5ked grate. When CDs came along with no noise it appeared to be a blessing, but then came all the sampling rate issues and harshness and compression, just screwing it all up. Not CDs fault but the recording engineers and music industry IMO.
Champing at the bit for my dacmagic.
I was going to spend a lot of money on a new to me CD player. But after reading about issues with lasers and transports I started doing some research on moving my digital music to a computer based system. I didn't want to spend that much money on a player only to have it depreciate over the years and then break and become worthless. A computer based system seemed to be a better return on my investment in the long run. Check post #54 for a link to what I did.
Long term update, puzzling. Yesterday I did a direct back and forth a/b comparision between the DAC and my turntable. Played the same tune from the same album/cd and no contest, DAC won hands down. I'm almost disappointed. My vinyl has always rivaled my digital playback, even my McIntosh mcd201 when I was using that....
I can only see spending more money on turntable upgrades or enhancements to be totally satisfied with the sound now that I have compared it to the dacmagic. I am not planning to do that right now, just interesting is all....
btw, I have tried several albums, across the board, dac won.
I had been streaming lossy audio to my HT for years, first with a Hauppauge Media MVP, then with an AppleTV. I had never thought of using the ATV, or anything else for that matter, for streaming high quality lossless audio. Since I already had an ATV it was easy to move it into my stereo system and test it. Needless to say it worked great and I found a used ATV on craiglist for $100 with all of it's original packaging. While I still use my SACD/CD player for SACD's and the occasional CD there's no going back for me.I'm glad I was open minded enough to discover using computers as servers and the importance of external DACs, a whole new world of music has been revealed to me as a result.
I had been streaming lossy audio to my HT for years, first with a Hauppauge Media MVP, then with an AppleTV. I had never thought of using the ATV, or anything else for that matter, for streaming high quality lossless audio. Since I already had an ATV it was easy to move it into my stereo system and test it. Needless to say it worked great and I found a used ATV on craiglist for $100 with all of it's original packaging. While I still use my SACD/CD player for SACD's and the occasional CD there's no going back for me.
After reading all the reviews, this thread and having owned both a Cambridge 540c and 640c, I decided to get myself a DACmagic.
Ordered mine today from Amazon, estimated delivery date, 5/22/09- 5/27/09, just in time for my birthday...