Cambridge Audio DacMagic Owners Thread

no problm duffy. I got the meanin of your comment. By not having great expectations, I will be pleased with the results. I've found that to be true in other instances.

Will using the optical input be OK? that's all my CDp has.
 
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Got good news today. My Cambridge DacMagic was shipped today from Audio Advisor. Much sooner than June 1st.
 
Ok, so I'm not the best with technical stuff: I'm trying to hook my Magic up to my computer via S/PDIF and can't get sound out of this connection or even the "incoming sample rate" light to show. I hooked a S/PDIF coaxial cable from my computer's Digital Out into the Magic's 1 and 2 Digital Inputs (and it's output, I tried them all) and have gotten no result. I changed my systems sound settings all around and haven't gotten sound with any combo I tried.

So what's wrong? Some system sound setting wrong? My computer's digital out won't relay sound to the Magic's digital input? My computer is a HP 6620F and has both a digital in and out. I bet this is something blindingly simple that I am just overlooking, but I haven't found out the problem yet!

Thanks for any help, at least the USB hookup is working fine and sounding good, I just wanted to try this other hookup as I have read it sounds better.
 
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?
 
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.

Doh! That's what I get by posting at 1:30 a.m. after a couple brews, mis-reading your post! :eek:

Well let us know how you like it WHEN it comes! :thmbsp:

I have to ask why you're not into using your computer as a music server; as long as you rip your cd's to lossless files they will have the same quality as cd's and you can have infinite playlists! I have lots of playlists consisting of my personal "best of" groups that contain hours of great music. Just load one up, put it on random, and listen for hours. :music:

But if you have a good cdp I can understand why you'd want to use that, I don't have a high end one so that's not a factor for me.

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 should have mentioned that I hooked up my Thingee (which is a USB to S/PDIF converter as you may remember) to my computer via USB, and then used it's S/PDIF out to hook into the Magic, both digital inputs, and it worked fine (but didn't sound as good as the Magic does without the Thingee in the chain, it sounded thinner...that Thingee is crap! :no:). So the Magic's digital inputs work, there is just no sound coming out of my computer via the digital S/PDIF, only USB. :scratch2:

I have also consulted the Magic's manual, which is largely unhelpful. I'm sure this is something with my computer settings not being correct. One thing that is interesting is that the instructions say that the Magic can only read PCM, not surround sound. But that's how I've been using my computer, as 2 channel, it's not a surround sound receiver! But maybe there is a special PCM setting I have to switch too? :scratch2: From the manual:

"The DacMagic is fitted with two sets of digital inputs which enable the connection of source components. Each input has both S/PDIF and TOSLINK types fitted.
S/PDIF co-axial – to obtain best results, use a high quality 75 ohm digital RCA interconnect cable (not one designed for normal audio use).

Note: This unit only accepts two-channel LPCM digital audio (e.g. Dolby Digital 2.0). You cannot connect a Dolby Digital 5.1 or a DTS signal as they will not be recognised. If you wish to connect a DVD or similar device, please ensure that the sound output of your player is set to two-channel PCM."

I'm going to try to fool around with my comp settings more, I must be missing something, someway to output the sound to the digital out. Is anyone else here using the Magic straight from their comp's digital out to it's digital in?
 
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 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.
 
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'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you didn't know about using the PC as a server or the quality of music files that can be played through it. It's just that until recently I didn't know, and it has opened a whole new alternative for music listening to me over the standard cdp/amp/receiver setup. But it's not for everyone, and sounds like you have a good setup. :thmbsp:

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 haven't listened to streaming servers for awhile, but I didn't find their SQ to be very good when I did. Perhaps others who use them know more than I.

I do the same thing. Very convenient. I listen to Pandora and Rhapsody but they still do not compare to CD.

I wouldn't think they would. But ripping a cd to lossless (FLAC) does! I have inserted cds into my computer's disc drive and played songs off of them and then the same songs that I have ripped to my computer in lossless format and have found no difference, save the shorter load times of the music files directly on my computer compared to the disc drive that takes a bit to start spinning and to read the disc.
 
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.
 
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 understand about the TT's and TD's, but you could use a separate system for that.

The need for a DAC says nothing about the quality of any server, it is simply what is needed to convert digital to analogue. That's why any cdp has one, and so do computers via their on board sound card; a digital source must be converted to analogue. A computer or cdp is just the hardware that relays the info a cd or music file contains to a DAC for conversion to audible sound. :music:

I could just as easily say that your perceived need for the DAC Magic says something about your cdp's quality. But it doesn't, at least of their hardware, just like the desire for an external DAC hooked to a computer says nothing about its hardware that plays media files. What it does say is that the average, at best, DAC's that come with inexpensive cdp's and computers need an upgrade. The source is still the same: cd or digital sound, so if you don't like that over records or tapes, then it matters not whether you play a physical cd disk in a conventional cdp or lossless (NOT lossy!) files through a computer. The source, the digital info, is the same, only the hardware getting the sound to your system is different.

I'll bet you'll like the Magic when it comes and you should hook it up to your computer and then to your system and play a lossless file (or even put a cd into your computer's disc drive) and see how it sounds. All you'll be hearing is the Magic, so there's no reason it should sound worse than when you use a cdp to spin the disc and the Magic hooked into it to translate the info on the cd into sound.


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.

This is a reason to go with a comp for a server as well: you already (probably) own a computer, might as well hook a DAC to it and use it as a server instead of buying a separate and expensive cdp that can and will eventually breakdown (yes computers will too, but you'll buy another one regardless of whether you use it as a server for other reasons, like posting on AK :D). When you buy an expensive cdp you are paying mostly for the kind of DAC it has, so why not just buy a good external DAC and hook it up to your computer (or old cdp)? DAC's should last a long time (no moving parts) and using a computer you have access to literally tens of thousands of songs (depending on your disk space). Then there's the debate that since there is no moving parts in a, say, FLAC>MEDIA PLAYER>DAC>AMP chain there is also less jitter than one gets with a cdp because of it's spinning drive.

A computer is a very convenient and useful piece of gear to enjoy music on it turns out. :music:

Btw, about 5 years ago, and even as little as 2 or 3, I never would have said any of this, because I was ignorant of DAC's and music media files. The only music I had heard through a computer at that time was from lossy mp3 files via the crappy on board sound card that I hooked up to my receiver through my computer's headphone out using a Y splitter. OF COURSE that sounded bad (but as I didn't listen to music much through the computer back then it sufficed), complete with the internal computer noise humming in the background (the DAC Magic has a totally black background btw). I was convinced that "digital music" (so are cd's!) was crap, and didn't realize all I needed was lossless music files and a decent DAC hooked into my computer and then to my amp. I eventually found out about this technology and now use my computer for my main listening system. I now use my Yamaha C-750 CD/DVD/SACD/DVD-A player (which sounds pretty good, it has a Burr-Brown DAC at least) which was my main server, for movies and concert dvd's. I know if I hooked up the Magic to it that it would sound better, but I'd still be reduced to 5 cd's at a time instead of thousands of music files at my fingertips that I can make all sorts of playlists out of. So it stays downstairs hooked up to my inferior quality system for movies, dvd's, and an occasional SACD.

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. :music:
 
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.

What is your TT? What was better? And it sounds better than your MCD201?
 
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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. :music:
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. :no:
 
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. :no:

Yea, using a computer as a server is just so convenient! :yes: All your music (well as much as your computer can hold) right at hand! :thmbsp:

I started, as I think I mentioned, with using a 1/8 Y adapter that split into RCA cables from my computer's headphone jack out into my receiver's AUX inputs.

So with this set up I was using the computer's internal sound card and heard a constant background hum as well as just totally average audio quality from the stock card. But I used this for years because I didn't really know about the lossless format or external DAC's.

I finally read up on how to use your computer as a server this last winter and bought (unfortunately) the Thingy DAC in Jan. or Feb. (forgot). While it did sound better than my old setup (no background whine or hum for instance) I knew it was lacking. So I decided to throw some $$$ at the situation and buy what everyone was raving about: the DAC Magic.

Now my computer system has gone from barely listenable to the best SQ I have! :yes: Add to this the convenience of having all the music I want to listen to in one server with near infinite playlist possibilities and my Yamaha multi-format player is now collecting dust. :D There's no going back for me either! :music:
 
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...:banana:
 
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...:banana:

Congrats dude, I can almost guarantee you'll like/love it. :yes: It doesn't have any major faults; even my criticism of the treble seems somewhat unfounded the more I listen to it. One thing I keep noticing in particular is how articulate the bass is, great for bass guitar! :guitar:

Let us know how you like it! :thmbsp:
 
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