The DacMagic Is Back

<img src="http://www.computeraudiophile.com/files/09072008/dacmagic-thumb.jpg" style="padding: 1pt 10pt 7pt 0pt;" align="left">Cambridge Audio is getting a lot of press for its DacMagic DAC. Pictures of the DacMagic have been surfacing for some time now, but CEDIA seems to be the "official" launching pad for this DAC. The DAC will be about $400 and offer coax, toslink, and USB inputs. A cool feature that at least one major audio magazine has misreported, is the coax & Toslink digital output. The DacMagic offers two digital inputs and one digital output. Not only can this unit be used as a traditional DAC, but it can pass a digital signal through to your components that may not have a USB input. Cambridge is touting the Adapted Time Filtering (ATF™) upsampling technology that upsamples every input signal into 24/192. Purist audiophiles may shy away from upsampling, but I resommend giving it a listen before condeming all together. I can't imagine Cambridge implementing this feature if it produced inferior sound. Read more for the complete release including all the specs and photos.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]

Full Press Release:

Cambridge Audio takes the market by storm with DacMagic upsampling digital to analogue converter

Suggested retail price - £199 inc VAT/$399 ex sales tax

Available October 2008

With the advent of computer-based music systems, Cambridge Audio's DacMagic upsampling

digital to analogue converter is the most affordable and effective way to upgrade any PC, network

music device, games console or standard CD/DVD player to truly high end sound quality.

This incredible device dramatically improves sound quality to enable the digital music generation

and gaming fanatics to appreciate their collection immediately in a totally new light. Cambridge

Audio has a passion for faithfully reproducing music as those in the recording studio intended and

with the DacMagic, the company has once again set a new benchmark for audiophile excellence at

a more than affordable price. With most competitors' DACs costing around £1,000, at just

£199.95, the DacMagic is expected to take the market by storm.

The DacMagic has a variety of simple connections including S/PDIF, Toslink and USB inputs

which mean it can be used to improve a wide range of devices with digital outputs such as

soundcards, portable media player docks or networked music devices including sound bridges.

Twin Wolfson DACs provide outstanding stereo imaging while a choice of digital filters is available

for individual preference and flexibility. Key to its abilities is Adapted Time Filtering (ATF™)

upsampling technology developed in conjunction with Anagram Technologies of Switzerland which

converts 16-24 bit audio data to 24 bit/192kHz dramatically improving musical reproduction. A 32

bit Digital Signal Processor (DSP) eradicates jitter which is especially effective with hard disk

playback from PCs.

Key features:

• Two inputs with both S/PDIF & Toslink sockets allow a wide range of digital sources to be

connected such as network music devices, games consoles, CD/DVD players and other

digital music devices

• USB input connects direct to PC without drivers to act as a very high quality

DAC/soundcard providing genuine hi-fi quality playback from desktop or Windows Media

Center PCs

• Adapted Time Filtering (ATF™) asynchronous upsampling technology converts 16-24 bit

audio (at any standard sampling frequency between 32-96kHz) to 24 bit/192kHz

• 32 bit Texas Instruments Digital Signal Processor (DSP)

• Dual Differential Virtual Earth balanced filter topology – low order two pole linear-phased

Bessel filter takes advantage of high sampling rate achieved

• Twin Wolfson WM8740 high quality DACs in dual differential mode for excellent stereo

imaging

• Incoming sampling rate indicator 32 / 44.1 / 48 / 88.2 / 96kHz

• Choice of filters – linear phase, minimum phase and steep filter can all be selected to suit

an individual's listening preferences

• Phase select to invert or reinvert input, correcting possible recording problems

• Singled ended phono and XLR balanced audio outputs

• Digital output (S/PDIF and Toslink concurrently) passes through selected source for

recording purposes

• Substantial aluminium front panel plus an entirely new ultra rigid, acoustically dampened

chassis

• Can be used vertically (custom designed stand supplied) or horizontally

• Available in silver or black

Cambridge Audio introduced the original DacMagic in 1994 with the specific intention of upgrading

CD players. It was received to great acclaim and spawned several incarnations. The digital music

revolution means the CD is just one format as people listen to their collection in a totally different

way. Therefore, the time is right for a renaissance. The spiritual successor to the original

DacMagic allows a range of applications such as PCs, Media Center PCs, network music devices

and sound bridges to benefit from a DAC's ability to bring downloaded and compressed content to

life. By connecting to games consoles including PlayStations (PS2 and PS3)™ Xbox and Xbox

360s™, a new dimension can be given to gaming via dramatically improved soundtracks and

special effects. Similarly, many consumers with an interest in home cinema use a DVD player for

both movies and music but may find CD playback to be lacking somewhat. In this respect the

DacMagic is the ideal way to improve a DVD player's sonic performance. All these products can be

connected concurrently via USB, S/PDIF and Toslink. Once upsampled, the DacMagic offers both

unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR outputs for the best quality analogue transfer.

For those that wish to read about the key technologies involved, the next section continues

with greater technical detail.

Adapted Time Filtering (ATF), developed in conjunction with Anagram Technologies, Switzerland,

intelligently interpolates standard definition 16 bit CD or USB audio to 24 bit/192kHz via a new 32

bit Texas Instruments Digital Signal Processor (DSP) to reveal unparalled levels of detail. Unlike

other products based on standard sample rate converters which effectively just draw a straight line

'between the dots', the DacMagic employs a process that involves a proprietary polynomial curve

fitting algorithm which ensures that the interpolated data smoothly fits between the original data

points. A time domain model adaptively generates the new data in the temporal domain

dramatically reducing digital jitter; even that present in the input audio. This is especially effective

when used with PCs or network music players where audio jitter introduced by hard-disk playback,

USB links or Ethernet can be radically reduced.

Each high quality Wolfson WM8740 DAC handles just one channel for excellent stereo imaging,

operating fully in differential mode for exceptionally low distortion and noise. Fully differential anti-

aliasing filters based on a Bessel linear phase topology, which feature flat group delay

characteristics, provide amazing timing.

The DacMagic's 32 bit DSP runs Cambridge Audio's own proprietary digital filter algorithms with

three different filter options available: Linear Phase, Minimum Phase and Steep. Controlled from

one switch on the front panel, they are extremely clever audiophile topologies specifically

developed for audio playback and all offer excellent sound quality but differ slightly to appeal to a

wide range of listening tastes.

Linear phase is the same as used in the flagship Azur 840C upsampling CD player. It uniquely

features 'constant group delay' which delays all audio signals at all frequencies by the same

amount meaning all audio is fully time-coherent at the output.

Minimum phase meanwhile does not feature constant group delay but rather the co-efficients have

been optimized without feed-forward so that the impulse response exhibits no pre-ringing in the

time domain. Some commentators have argued that the pre-ringing as seen in nearly all digital

filter designs may affect the transient attack of percussive instruments. Minimum phase

implementation eliminates this and is a technology only seen previously in some extremely high-

end CD playback systems.

Lastly, the steep filter removes close in aliasing artefacts by re-calibrating the co-efficients for a

very slight roll off at 20kHz but an ultra steep drop to the stop-band just after 20kHz.

These three filters are all of the highest quality but offer subtle differences for the user to enjoy.

The type of filter chosen is remembered for each input individually so that it is possible to use one

for PC playback via USB and another for CD playback via SPDIF.

As with all Cambridge Audio products, the foundation of the DacMagic's

performance is a bespoke chassis. This comprises a thick 5mm front panel and

extruded side panels, both fashioned from aluminium, which combine with a

2mm formed steel base plate and specially designed vibration absorbing feet.

The result is an ultra rigid, low resonance, acoustically dampened platform for

the electronics to sit in which enable it be positioned vertically (using the supplied

stand) or horizontally.

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