Dac's? anyone tried the new Cambridge Dacmagic-B

It's a very nice piece for the price for sure. The Cambridge 840c player sounds a touch better, but you can't beat the value. Build quality is fine in my opinion and even better than you'd expect for $399. Music Hall has one comming out too though that should be pretty sweet at $595. It will have a tube output stage, and a built in headphone amp. You can't beat the value there! It's definately time though that somebody made a good DAC for under a grand!

I recently ordered one and was told it's on backorder.

A package from Audio Adviser arrived yesterday. Birthday in T minus 6 days....

Audiobroke,
Did you use the 840c as a seperate dac. If so can you highlight some of the differences between the magic and 840c as DAC's?
Beerad

My wife couldn't bear to make me wait. I've received my unit in black and am breaking it in now.

Details:

Speakers: B&W DM 610s
Amplifier: Musical Fidelity B1
Sound files: .flac
Software: JRiver Media Player / ASIO4All

Upon opening the box, I had three thoughts:

1) The unit seems reasonably well built. The case and controls feel solid
2) It comes with a wall wart--I wonder if this results in less interference by having the power supply away from the unit or if that was a cost-cutting measure
3) I don't believe that I've ever seen such a cheap USB cable in my life.

So, I connected the unit with a better USB cable, and played the Dead Can Dance Ubiquitous Mr. Lovegrove. I was floored by the imaging and sound stage. The latter exceeded the dimensions of my listening room. Next, I played the Chemical Brothers Setting Sun. With both of these excerpts, I was very impressed with tight controlled bass.

Before listening to more demanding music, I created a play list of very eclectic music and let the DAC run for about 36 hours. I played a number of excerpts (William Grant Still's Afro-American Symphony, Messiaen's Quartet for the End of Time, CPE Bach's Symphonia, & etc.) and was disappointed in the somewhat harsh nature of the highs. The bass continued to be extraordinarily well behaved, and the mids were quite warm.

I let the unit play for another 30 hours or so, and while the highs still seem a touch harsh, they seem to be mellowing somewhat. I am hoping that trend will continue.

I'll keep you posted,