Cambridge Audio DacMagic Owners Thread
- Thread starter Duffinator
- Start date
Tmac83
Super Member
This is a good thread, I like Paul, have a 640c v2 and am interested to hear people's impressions of the DAC. I have been wondering lately if I should sell my 640c, pick up a DACmagic and stream music to my airport express. It's also interesting that it is backordered. I was on ebay earlier today and Wild West Electronics has some auctions for the dac magic and they are advertising it as something in limited quantities.
gelmhirst
What?
PART I - Day 4 notes on the Dac Magic. Four very solid days of listening and burn in on this dac. Maybe not enough time to make final judgments but enough time and satisfaction to motivate me to do this sooner than later.
Prior to hooking the dac up (Sat), I had the Wadia 170i already. For kicks and to hear for myself, I ran the Wadia direct to the CD inputs on my preamp. My expectations were based on the obvious knowledge the Wadia was designed as a digital transport device, that its performance is best through a dac (an analog connection may not be near the quality of digital results), and the many many user reviews online. One word that stuck in my mind to describe the results of an analog connection was 'garbage'.
I was dumbfounded when I hooked only the Wadia up and can only assume the rest of what I am using must have compensated in some way. It sounded extremely good to me, in fact it knocked my socks off. In the absence of an outboard dac I knew that I was essentially comparing the iPods dac to the dac within my 1998 Yamaha CDC675, as everything else in the food chain was constant. As a reference I was also remembering what my McIntosh mcd201 sounded like. It shocked me a bit, track after track. If I was moderately satisfied already how much happier would I be spending another 400.00 for an outboard dac? Another box, another cable, another power supply.
PART II - Dac Magic arrived early, picked it up, hooked it up and man was I disappointed, but only for a few minutes. Had to reminded myself it was fresh out of the box, the Yamaha was a veiled, muddy sound to begin with by comparison, and my speakers are not exactly forgiving when fed quality sources.
Four days later, what a night and day difference. In fact each day has been a major significant improvement. I spend most of my time with the filter set on the Minimum phase and not the more popular Linear phase. The other thing I have noticed, I go from spinning an album to using this dac throughout the day and the two are not that dramatically far apart. I doubt the day will ever come where I can't tell them apart, I would never suggest that but I am very surprised with how this dac is shaping up.
Sound - the previous harshness across the top, ride cymbals, someone like Lars sitting on a crash symbol for example has completely subsided. The crispy vocals have smoothed out, most noticeable on female jazz tracks. The cutting trumpet of Wynton Marsalis in the mids, all tamed by a much broader, fatter tone, a FAR more natural musical result. The bass is far more defined, but in a musical way, nothing punchy about it, the way it is supposed to sound from a kick drum. The separation from one instrument to another is remarkable. Those details are crystal clear. I can hear someone inhaling for example with a degree of clarity that is as close to live, or in the same room as me as I have ever experienced.
Scale of 1 -10 for shock and awe at the price point, an 8. Value and achieving what I set out to do with minimal expense, a 9. Really impressed with this dac, what a steal.
Prior to hooking the dac up (Sat), I had the Wadia 170i already. For kicks and to hear for myself, I ran the Wadia direct to the CD inputs on my preamp. My expectations were based on the obvious knowledge the Wadia was designed as a digital transport device, that its performance is best through a dac (an analog connection may not be near the quality of digital results), and the many many user reviews online. One word that stuck in my mind to describe the results of an analog connection was 'garbage'.
I was dumbfounded when I hooked only the Wadia up and can only assume the rest of what I am using must have compensated in some way. It sounded extremely good to me, in fact it knocked my socks off. In the absence of an outboard dac I knew that I was essentially comparing the iPods dac to the dac within my 1998 Yamaha CDC675, as everything else in the food chain was constant. As a reference I was also remembering what my McIntosh mcd201 sounded like. It shocked me a bit, track after track. If I was moderately satisfied already how much happier would I be spending another 400.00 for an outboard dac? Another box, another cable, another power supply.
PART II - Dac Magic arrived early, picked it up, hooked it up and man was I disappointed, but only for a few minutes. Had to reminded myself it was fresh out of the box, the Yamaha was a veiled, muddy sound to begin with by comparison, and my speakers are not exactly forgiving when fed quality sources.
Four days later, what a night and day difference. In fact each day has been a major significant improvement. I spend most of my time with the filter set on the Minimum phase and not the more popular Linear phase. The other thing I have noticed, I go from spinning an album to using this dac throughout the day and the two are not that dramatically far apart. I doubt the day will ever come where I can't tell them apart, I would never suggest that but I am very surprised with how this dac is shaping up.
Sound - the previous harshness across the top, ride cymbals, someone like Lars sitting on a crash symbol for example has completely subsided. The crispy vocals have smoothed out, most noticeable on female jazz tracks. The cutting trumpet of Wynton Marsalis in the mids, all tamed by a much broader, fatter tone, a FAR more natural musical result. The bass is far more defined, but in a musical way, nothing punchy about it, the way it is supposed to sound from a kick drum. The separation from one instrument to another is remarkable. Those details are crystal clear. I can hear someone inhaling for example with a degree of clarity that is as close to live, or in the same room as me as I have ever experienced.
Scale of 1 -10 for shock and awe at the price point, an 8. Value and achieving what I set out to do with minimal expense, a 9. Really impressed with this dac, what a steal.
Duffinator
Spin The Black Circle
Thanks for the review. I'm hoping mine is going to be shipped today or tomorrow so I should have it early next week at the latest. 
In anticipation of the DM arrival I've been comparing CD's from my Denon DVD-2900 player to lossless audio via the DAC in my Denon DAP-2500. No surprise the much newer 2900 sounds better across the board. When the DM arrives I'm going to compare it with lossless to my CD player and also the CD player using it's internal DAC to the DM. Stay tuned.
In anticipation of the DM arrival I've been comparing CD's from my Denon DVD-2900 player to lossless audio via the DAC in my Denon DAP-2500. No surprise the much newer 2900 sounds better across the board. When the DM arrives I'm going to compare it with lossless to my CD player and also the CD player using it's internal DAC to the DM. Stay tuned.
gelmhirst
What?
Duffinator, hey no problem. I will stay tuned for your results, it's interesting stuff.
I also think this particular thread is good to promote our findings for this dac, it's at a very practical and somewhat reasonable price point that those 'on the fence' are able to try it out and see for themselves whether outboarding a dac is really for them or not.
I also think this particular thread is good to promote our findings for this dac, it's at a very practical and somewhat reasonable price point that those 'on the fence' are able to try it out and see for themselves whether outboarding a dac is really for them or not.
wanderfowl
Resident Phonetician
It's here!
I'm going into town to pick up my very own Cambridge DACMagic on Friday. I'm quite excited, especially given all the reviews here. Two questions, though:
1) Can I use a plain RCA cable as a coax digital connection from my Sonos, or will I have to use digital coax cable?
2) If I hook up my DVD player to the DACMagic (to use it as a transport), will it work for movies where there's a surround soundtrack as well? I'm just using two channels, and don't use a receiver that decodes surround, but I'm wondering whether the DACMagic would choke on the multichannel signal.
I'm going into town to pick up my very own Cambridge DACMagic on Friday. I'm quite excited, especially given all the reviews here. Two questions, though:
1) Can I use a plain RCA cable as a coax digital connection from my Sonos, or will I have to use digital coax cable?
2) If I hook up my DVD player to the DACMagic (to use it as a transport), will it work for movies where there's a surround soundtrack as well? I'm just using two channels, and don't use a receiver that decodes surround, but I'm wondering whether the DACMagic would choke on the multichannel signal.
Duffinator
Spin The Black Circle
1. A better choice would be a shielded component video cable (typically coax) which will have a much higher bandwidth.
2. It will only work with two channel inputs. I'm not sure what will happen with a 5.1 or 7.1 input. If it will work at all it will only play the L and R channels.
wanderfowl
Resident Phonetician
That's fine. I'm just hoping I don't have to disconnect the DACMagic when watching movies.
Also, thanks. I'll probably invest in better cabling at some point, but I didn't want to be stuck on Friday without a working cable.
bottlerocket
New Member
wanderfowl: I use a Blue ray with the DACMagic and found settings on the Blue Ray to set it to 2 channel PCM output. Maybe your DVD player has similar menu settings. The DAC magic operating instructions state this: "Being a stereo device, this unit does not decode 5.1 Dolby Digital or DTS bitstreams from a DVD player etc. When receiving a multi-channel digital input, the analog audio outputs are muted, However a 5.1 DD or DTS bitstream will pass through to the digital outputs." Hope this helps.
Duffinator
Spin The Black Circle
My DM was shipped and on it's way. It shows delivery on Saturday. :scratch2: We'll see.
One of these is definitely on the "wish list."
thedelihaus
Nocturnal transmissions
That's fine. I'm just hoping I don't have to disconnect the DACMagic when watching movies.
Also, thanks. I'll probably invest in better cabling at some point, but I didn't want to be stuck on Friday without a working cable.
The regular RCA cable will fit, and will work, but is incorrect with impedance- your sound may have an audible suffering to it's end result.
As stated, a spare video cable will work. But even a budget digital cable can be had on the cheap.
I picked up 10 6' Philips digital coax cables today for $2 each at a thrift...and one 6' optical for the same price. Look like new. It pays to shop cheap.
Handlebar
Well-Known Member
on my wish list too..the more I think about it the more I tell myself " I gotta get one of these"..have a stereophile magazine that had a review of the DacMagic. Great thread..!! :thmbsp:..thx
Hbar
Duffinator
Spin The Black Circle
Would you mind posting their recommended settings and any other useful info or comments from the review. Thanks. :thmbsp:
Handlebar
Well-Known Member
The DacMagic features the Adaptive Time Filtering (ATF) process, which Cambridge licenses from Anagram Technoligies of Switzerland.ATF is built around a 32 bit Texas Instruments digital signal processor the upsamples the signal fed it. The DacMagic upsamples to 24 bits/192kHz any incoming sample rate at 16 or 24 bits of resolution and from 32 to 96kHz. The D/A chips are the same Wolfson WMB8740 24-bit DACs used in Cambridge Audio's Azur 740c CD player. These operate in dual-differential mode, one per channel, for maximum noise reduction and channel seperation. You can run the Dacmagic from its balanced XLR analog outputs into a balanced pre-amp and power amp for maximum noise cancellation. There's also a pair of RCA outs.
The DacMagic also features a phase-inversion button. there is no remote.
there are three different analog filter modes: Linear Phase, Minimum Phase and Steep Phase.
the reviewer talks about the three and prefers Linear. selecting the filters is simple: just tap the Phase button quickly(if you hold it down, the DacMagic reverses phase). Front LEDs indicate the filter type selected.
The reviewer had one word for the DacMagics sound. "Glorious" especially in Linear Phase. he said he's keeping the Cambridge Audio DacMagic..
this review is in the March, 2009 Stereophile magazine.. Hbar
The DacMagic also features a phase-inversion button. there is no remote.
there are three different analog filter modes: Linear Phase, Minimum Phase and Steep Phase.
the reviewer talks about the three and prefers Linear. selecting the filters is simple: just tap the Phase button quickly(if you hold it down, the DacMagic reverses phase). Front LEDs indicate the filter type selected.
The reviewer had one word for the DacMagics sound. "Glorious" especially in Linear Phase. he said he's keeping the Cambridge Audio DacMagic..
this review is in the March, 2009 Stereophile magazine.. Hbar
Duffinator
Spin The Black Circle
Great, thanks. Looks like my DM won't be here until next Tuesday. :tears:
Also, was there any mention for a preference for optical or coax?
Also, was there any mention for a preference for optical or coax?
Handlebar
Well-Known Member
no mention of a preference. said Two digital inputs allow a choice of connection via S/PDIF coaxial or TosLink optical and there's a USB input for use with a computer or a networked music source..
I think you're going to like this :yes:..
Hbar
gelmhirst
What?
Frustrating waiting like that, it will be worth it :thmbsp: Not magazine related but I have heard from others that they can hear little difference between Toslink and Coax. I have not experimented myself..
An update, maybe its the dac breaking in, I am using both the Linear and the Minimum Phase settings equally now...I would be interested in what setting others are using more often.
wanderfowl
Resident Phonetician
I'm not sure I'm having a problem here, but I figured I'd ask two quick questions:
1) Does your DACMagic run hot? Mine's definitely running pretty hot
2) Has anybody had any success running it via USB into a Mac? Mine isn't recognized by the mac, and when I leave it plugged in, seems to turn on and off.
That said, definitely sounds great connected via Coax or Optical .
1) Does your DACMagic run hot? Mine's definitely running pretty hot
2) Has anybody had any success running it via USB into a Mac? Mine isn't recognized by the mac, and when I leave it plugged in, seems to turn on and off.
That said, definitely sounds great connected via Coax or Optical .