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Post by derekrumble on Jul 1, 2010 10:10:11 GMT
Back in the "New Cambridge Audio Universal Player 650BD" thread I mentioned that I may buy the DacMagic. On return from my hols overseas last week I had some spending money left over so yesterday drove up to Richer Sounds at Chester and picked up a pretty little DacMagic in silver.
It's good; nicely made (apart from the wall-wart PSU which is uninspiring) and now, along with my existing X-DACv3 / Pinkie, I have enough digital inputs for all my sources..... CD/DVD-A, Philips Streamer, Humax satellite PVR plus my laptop via USB or optical SPDIF.
Straight out of the box the DacMagic has a refined, high quality sound. Solid bass, finely detailed top end and expansive sound-stage. At this point I still marginally prefer my X-DAC but my ear/brain system is used to that sound plus the DacMagic hasn't bedded in yet.
Playing with DacMagic's three filters is fun - I 'think' I prefer the 'minimum phase' setting and 'steep' is my least favourite. It's good to have an indication of the incoming sampling rate as well - now I can see what my laptop is sending out - seems stuck on converting everything to 96kHz at present..... puzzled. I can see also that my Denon DVD1930 universal player ignores the copy flag on DVD-As and passes full-fat 96kHz data to the DacMagic. In fact the DacMagic decodes DVD-A beautifully.
My X-DACv3 has never managed to lock on the my Humax's digital output - the DacMagic has no such problem. Have been playing back my recording of the Stevie Wonder set from this year's Glastonbury. Simply breathtaking. Muse is a fantastic sound too - but having said that the SQ from the Humax analogue-outs is pretty good anyway.
The DacMagic is plenty good enough to 'fit and forget'. It has a high end sound, guaranteed.
Regards,
Derek
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XTRProf
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Post by XTRProf on Jul 1, 2010 13:25:01 GMT
Just curious. How much did you pick up the DacMagic? If the price is good, then in terms of VFM, the X-Dac V3 is poor. Good to know you like it!  |
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Post by derekrumble on Jul 1, 2010 14:47:53 GMT
Just curious. How much did you pick up the DacMagic? If the price is good, then in terms of VFM, the X-Dac V3 is poor. Good to know you like it! I paid 230 GBP for the DacMagic. The X-DACv3 was, if I remember correctly, something like 399 GBP (I paid 350). The X-DAC is better at the subtle sounds. The pat of a hand on a tom tom. The zing of fingernails on a harp string. Let's see how the DacMagic settles down. But with products like the X-DAC and the DacMagic - they are of sufficient quality that we need not necessarilly have to debate which is better - I expect any 'real' hi-fi product to do a job well. I'm getting too old and tired (bored?) to fret unduly over which is the absolute best. The major influences on sound quality are still pickups (if you have one), loudspeakers (of course) and sometimes amplifiers. With amps, nothing over, say, 500 GBP should in any way be incompetent. Any 200+ GBP CD player should be good enough. With an external DAC then (almost) any low jitter source sh/be good enough leaving the DAC's analogue circuitry 'colouring' the sound to the greatest extent? Derek |
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FauDrei
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Post by FauDrei on Jul 2, 2010 7:41:06 GMT
Well, let's see... Get a Pinkie for X-Can V2, feed the music through good SPDIF coax transport, and use XLR to RCA adapters for listening... Those are the easiest DacMagic tweaks... but if you open it up eventually - there are some more.  |
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XTRProf
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Pssst ! Got any spare capacitors ?
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Post by XTRProf on Jul 2, 2010 12:06:03 GMT
Just curious. How much did you pick up the DacMagic? If the price is good, then in terms of VFM, the X-Dac V3 is poor. Good to know you like it! I paid 230 GBP for the DacMagic. The X-DACv3 was, if I remember correctly, something like 399 GBP (I paid 350). The X-DAC is better at the subtle sounds. The pat of a hand on a tom tom. The zing of fingernails on a harp string. Let's see how the DacMagic settles down. But with products like the X-DAC and the DacMagic - they are of sufficient quality that we need not necessarilly have to debate which is better - I expect any 'real' hi-fi product to do a job well. I'm getting too old and tired (bored?) to fret unduly over which is the absolute best. The major influences on sound quality are still pickups (if you have one), loudspeakers (of course) and sometimes amplifiers. With amps, nothing over, say, 500 GBP should in any way be incompetent. Any 200+ GBP CD player should be good enough. With an external DAC then (almost) any low jitter source sh/be good enough leaving the DAC's analogue circuitry 'colouring' the sound to the greatest extent? Derek Totally valid points with what you had written there. There is a diminishing return coming into play here. Many a time, we are paying much for subtle improvement like about 5 to 10% and forgotten that the remainder 90 to 95% is already a very good grade in a real exam situation. However, audiophiles being audiophiles are nuts for that 5 to 10% improvements. Me included  . Cannot lose to the Jones mentality!  We just want 100% when 90% already gives us an A, same as the 100%. Yeah, American school std, btw, and not British school std. Sorry, all Limeys .......... In fact, component and equipment matching is more important and produce a more satisfying result. This means we cannot condemn outright an implementation or equipment is bad as what is bad in our system can be stellar into another system.  Just like technical cannot fully explain why such and such a system sounds so good and bad. That's why I'm ZenTech. More Zen than Tech ......... Some members are beginning to accept more of that into their philosophy as evident thru their posting.   |
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pjc68
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Post by pjc68 on Jul 4, 2010 23:41:54 GMT
Hi derek rumble I am thinking of getting a ca dac magic, i have an 10 year old arcam alpha 7se i bought from new, even though it was a great cd player in it,s day i get the feeling i would get better SQ through one of these plus i have a spare kimber 0.5m v21 coaxial interconnect to fit in between them. I would recomend you leave it turned on all the time to burn it in for 3 weeks, i have left my hifi turned on 24/7 since i bought it new and it,s still going strong. paddy  |
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Post by derekrumble on Jul 5, 2010 11:28:52 GMT
Hi derek rumble I am thinking of getting a ca dac magic....leave it turned on all the time to burn it in for 3 weeks, i have left my hifi turned on 24/7 since i bought it new and it,s still going strong. paddy Hi Paddy - I agree and I have had the DacMagic active since I bought it; it is receiving the digital output from my satellite receiver which is swithed on all day, every day. As, indeed, my whole system is. I only switch my system off (sorry.. 'power it down') if I am away from home for more than a night. I am not prone to seeking out very minor omprovements to sound qaulity but I am a bit 'anal' about having my kit in a warm state. My A3.2cr power amp seems happy like this - apart from a weeks or so while on holidays, it been running for c. 4-5 yrs. X-DACv3 too - it's on all the time. Regards, Derek |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 5, 2010 11:36:03 GMT
Derek I hope you have a good surge suppressor in line. Alex
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Post by derekrumble on Jul 5, 2010 15:05:05 GMT
Derek I hope you have a good surge suppressor in line. Alex No............... ! It would RUIN the sound... can't have any surge suppressors messing about with things |
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XTRProf
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Pssst ! Got any spare capacitors ?
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Post by XTRProf on Jul 6, 2010 1:33:45 GMT
Derek I hope you have a good surge suppressor in line. Alex No............... ! It would RUIN the sound... can't have any surge suppressors messing about with things Yes, agreed to some extent. However, if heavy thunder storm, better disconnect the system. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2010 2:29:46 GMT
Derek I hope you have a good surge suppressor in line. Alex No............... ! It would RUIN the sound... can't have any surge suppressors messing about with things Derek A good surge suppressor does NOT ruin the sound. Properly designed equipment should not be noticeably affected by typical mains rubbish. I would never use a typical IEC encapsulated mains filter though, as the filters should use very heavy gauge wire to avoid voltage drops. A good mains filter should be transparent as far as SQ is concerned, and will often improve SQ with cheaper commercial equipment. I use a home brew mains filter with heavy gauge enamelled copper wire wound on circular ferrite rods , as originally used in Transistor radio loopstick aerials, and a couple of 275VAC varistors. I do not however, use the typical capacitors from Active to earth, as this can sometimes lead to premature tripping of Earth Leakage Breakers. Alex |
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Post by PinkFloyd on Jul 6, 2010 9:45:46 GMT
Derek, I do a Pinkie for the DacMagic and have had very good feedback from DacMagic owners worldwide, I'd be happy to send you one for audition.
Mike.
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Post by derekrumble on Jul 6, 2010 11:47:03 GMT
Derek, I do a Pinkie for the DacMagic and have had very good feedback from DacMagic owners worldwide, I'd be happy to send you one for audition. Mike. Mike, thank you for the offer. I am certain the Pinkie would be an improvement but I don't plan to make any purchases for while now. By the way I am still using and enjoying the Pinkie which drives my X-DACv3. It's doing a grand job there. Thanks again, Derek |
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Post by derekrumble on Aug 3, 2010 10:47:59 GMT
So my wife has Golden Ears.....
Listening to a recording of a TV-broadcast prom the other afternoon. It was the Beethoven piano concerto No. 1 played by Paul Lewis (who is totally brilliant by the way).
The system was: optical out from my Humax PVR to the DacMagic followed by my main system of MF A3.2cr and LS3/5As.....
I had the DacMagic set on the Minimum filter - explained quickly to my wife that there were always* filters needed in a digital playback system, and that the DacMagic allowed you to choose between three different ones. I switched from 'Min' to 'Steep'.
"Richer, fuller... makes the paino sound different...." she said.
Just like that. Nice to know I haven't wasted my money. She has a good ear for 'speakers too. Hates Hi-Fi shows but can pick out the good stuff with no bother.
Derek
* before the pedants rush in, IIRC, I believe you can actually do wthout filters but I didn't feel the need to go into things that deeply.
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. Cannot lose to the Jones mentality! 
We just want 100% when 90% already gives us an A, same as the 100%. Yeah, American school std, btw, and not British school std. Sorry, all Limeys ..........
Just like technical cannot fully explain why such and such a system sounds so good and bad. That's why I'm ZenTech. More Zen than Tech ......... 
