Article: Cambridge Audio DacMagic Review

[RCduck7]

It's been a while i posted here, i had the DacMagic when it came out and almost immediatly upgraded it internally and there was little improvement to be found. I also had a much more expensive Xindak DAC-8 after that wich was a beautiful component that also looked more expensive for it's price under 1000 euro and sounded very beautiful, especially for the midrange blossem. Still it lacked bass fundament in my system and therefore i sold it and kept the DacMagic as good bass is very important to me. I have experimeted with DAC's in CD players and receivers after that, also a highly regarded chinese MHZS CD88G CD player wich in certain circles get much respect. I thought i couldn't do better in this price range but i was wrong. Yes for it's price for abour 800 to 900 euro's the MHZS is better then some more higher price range gear with it's top loading mechanism cd transport and great DAC but when i read the review and forums of the small but well made looking Metrum acoustics Quad NOS mini DAC from the Netherlands i decided to order it, it's only 345 euro (was 299 euro when it came out) and in the review, the reviewer couldn't decide between this and it's much more expensive and modified reference DAC.<br />

When i got the DAC, straight out of the box it sounded smooth and allready better then my DacMagic, and after some burn in it really sounded balanced and a sense of cohesion that i didn't witnessed before in my system. This DAC in Quad form (there is also a cheaper Duo DAC to choose from) uses 4 DAC's, 2 per channel and becausse of the succes of this review and more then expected sales of this DAC they are developing a new Octave DAC wich uses 8 DAC's and a seperate power supply with a price between 700 to 800 euro dependent of wich power supply you get. Metrum acoustics clearly won me over and i don't have the urge to upgrade anymore as i know more expensive isn't always better, when i start listening to music i just can't drag myself to bed and turn the thing off! Great DAC for the money and certainly one to consider!! But you will need to find a way to not use USB as it is Only coax and optical in. The Website... http://www.metrum-acoustics.nl/hoofdpagina_engels.html

[GeneZ]

RC...<br />

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You said...<br />

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>It's been a while i posted here, i had the DacMagic when it came out and almost immediatly upgraded it internally and there was little improvement to be found.<<br />

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Problem is, I found that the DacMagic requires a break in period that lasted me several months before it truly settled in. If you almost immediately upgraded? You have no way to know how the DacMagic is intended to sound. Some other companies may in fact burn in their units before shipping. I have no idea what you are hearing, because what you did, cut you off from first discovering what the Dacmagic is truly capable of.

[RCduck7]

It has been playing non stop for more then 2 weeks before AND after the upgrade, i normally woudn't do that i admit with a source but i did this becausse at the time my amp was new to. If it wouldn't sound as it should after in total 4 weeks or more in total without listening + the several hours listening to music i guess it never will. Sorry, should have metioned it. After a month or so in possesion of the DacMagic and then upgrade it isn't exactly immediatly.

[GeneZ]

Sorry,<br />

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Mine took months before it really smoothed out like it has. It sounded good when I first got it, but the high end was a bit odd to my ears. Now, it sounds very realistic with a good source. <br />

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Unlike you, I had no choice to flip between all the different units you seem able to. So, I had to stick with what I had. Read online that it can take a long time for break in. One person claimed 300 hours. So? Here I sit with a DacMagic that sounds to my ears pleasantly superior to when I first turned it on. At one month there was not all that much of a change if I recall correctly. Yet, it sounded better than anything that preceded it. <br />

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What can I say?

[RCduck7]

I still have the DacMagic in my posession, not sure i can be bothered playing it for so long. I do have a a few CD's to make burn in faster (or so they claim).

[GeneZ]

I can not say what your problem with the Dacmagic really is... It may be an incompatibility issue. <br />

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The following excerpt taken from Stereophile. <br />

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"Other than that, I've so far avoided the subject of how the DacMagic sounded. In a word, it sounded glorious—far better than you have any right to expect for 400 bucks. Especially in Linear Phase, I heard well-defined bass, exquisitely extended highs, and a natural midrange. The soundstage was admirably wide, and soloists and their instruments were precisely positioned. What more do you want?" <br />

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By Sam Tellig • Posted: May 29, 2009 • Published: Mar 1, 2009 <br />

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[RCduck7]

I don't have a problem with the DacMagic, it doesn't sound bad for sure becausse i sold my beautiful Xindak DAC-8 wich is regarded as high end stuff, i missed the bass from the DacMagic on this Xindak. It is just that in my system i found the Metrum NOS Quad DAC sounded better to my ears. At first it seemed the Quad was holding a bit back in the highs but highs are there when they need to be. The Metrum sounds in my system more balanced and together when i compared it to all the stuff that has a DAC inside like cd player, receiver,... i have in my house. My system consists of a passive EVA II Pre Amp, the power stage of a DUSSUN V8i and Hyperion HPS-938 speakers. Maybe it's a case of sytem matching, maybe one wouldn't like the Metrum DAC, who knows. But the dutch review is very convincing when he compares this low cost DAC to his reference DAC. It set a bit of fire in the Netherlands and personally i'm ok with that as i can relate to the reviewer.

[cespy]

I also noticed it took a little time for my DacMagic to settle down. I've had it for over a year now and I feed it music files from a PC via a Juli@ card playing high resolution FLAC files. It sounds wonderful. And, I know that high resolution digital music is the future, not only because of its ease of distribution but especially because of the very high quality of sound reproduction it provides.<br />

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I expect that I will upgrade at some point, but I feel no urgency to do that at the moment. Maybe I'll upgrade when Cambridge Audio introduces a DAC that directly converts files at 192k.<br />

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Michigan Man

[GeneZ]

The other day I was looking over the Cambridge Audio page to find out a spec on my DacMagic. Realized something for the first time, and it explained why I enjoy listening so much in the Minimum Phase mode. Here is what they say on the site. Note the last sentence. <br />

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"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. <b>Minimum phase implementation eliminates this and is a technology only seen previously in some extremely highend CD playback systems."</b><br />

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http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/content.php?PID=320&COID=128&Title=Filters<br />

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[RCduck7]

That is what the Metrum DAC is very good at, eliminate pre-ringing. If you would have read the link... <br />

http://www.metrum-acoustics.nl/hoofdpagina_engels.html<br />

I'm glad you like your DacMagic that much, you should stick with it.

[RCduck7]

A more appropiate link...<br />

http://www.nosminidac.nl/NOS_mini_DAC_English.html

[GeneZ]

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New aspect... Addendum.<br />

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I have seen a change in my thinking since making my comment about preferring the Minimum Phase setting of the Dacmagic. I have a new new pair speakers used for nearfield. Audioengine P4's. Much to my surprise, now the Linear Phase setting sounds the best and most natural. Its possible that the other speakers I had been listening to had some ringing by the tweeters (one was a plastic, the other aluminum) that the Minimum Phase setting countered. Now in the Linear Phase setting I hear a very natural and open high end that I was not getting before with the other speakers. Looks like the engineers had that in mind, as well. <br />

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[Xtian]

nice review, <br />

and for all the mac fans:<br />

the dacmagic is'nt meant be used as volume control.<br />

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my dacmagic is connected to a windows based PC and if i change the volume in VLC player, i have the same problems, almost all or nothing...<br />

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99% of cd players and blu ray players come without volume control...<br />

normal use with the dacmagic would be if you change the volume with the remote of your integrated or pre amp...<br />

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if you want to go straight to your power amp without pre amp, you'll need to implement a 10K potmeter in the cable between dac and amp and that will act as your volume control (you'll need a high grade potmeter!)

[Mark Powell]

Chris' review of the Dagmagic was in 2008. some time later it was totally revised. Most of the circuitry is different. Now there is a Dacmagic Plus, but that is a different animal altogether.<br />

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I have found very recently that the current model (post 2010, but not the Plus), coupled with a Musical Fidelity V-Link II can give very good performance.<br />

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Taken a stage further, with the power lead (red) in the USB cable cut near the DAC end, a 4-cell NiMh rechargeable battery connected between that and the ground (black), so that the V-Link is powered from the battery, rather than the maybe noisy computer USB power you can get even better. I also cut the red wire near the computer too so it could not act as an 'aerial' within the cable but that is being fanatical. If you do this, Do NOT charge the battery with it connected to the cable, you may destroy the V-Link.<br />

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Provided you are happy with its 96K limit you will find that it then gives a truly 'high end' performance. If price and performance is related, I would say at least a 5000 dollar performance.

[RCduck7]

I just tought about this forum today. Well, time goes bye. In the meantime the metrum dac's, the quad, Octave and now the Hex are getting rave reviews. It seems my gut feeling was right about it. It is easy to negelect advice from someone you don't know over the internet. Don't excuse yourself to be judging so early. But those negelecting my advive won't propably remeber me and moved on. Then again on the audiocircle they did take notice, so did the people at 6moons that read my posts before getting in contact with Metrum. No, i did not get paid for letting it out in the open if anyone would ask. I just tend to get something in the open once i'm on to something that's worth anyones attention. I am not a dealer, just a hobby.