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Praise for DacMagic

Just wanted to give some very positive feedback for the Cambridge Audio DacMagic DAC. It doesn't seem to get much attention around these forums, but I am enjoying it immensely. In my opion, terrific value for the money.

During the past few weeks, I have used it with great success both within a PC music server and 2-channel environments.

Who knows, I may end up switching it out for a better DAC in the future, but for now I am quite pleased.

As a side note, I was not impressed with it at first when used to enhance an NAD C541 CDP. On a whim, I switched out the NAD for a modest Sony DVD player that is around 5-7 years old. Then, everything came into place and the music was rich and detailed. The Sony DVD/DacMagic combination blew the doors off the NAD/DacMagic combination. Go figure...
headshrinker2
auronthas
79 posts
 
Edgejazz, thanks for reporting, how's the sound produced by DacMagic compared to CA 540V2? I prefer warmer and musical sound, my music preference towards vocal jazz, classical, new age and easy listening genres.

Thanks again.
edgejazz
46 posts
 
Auronthas, the sound is warm and musical, you will be pleased. We kinda listen to similar genres and I can tell you that jazz and vocal jazz are the two that semm to perform best in my set up. When you do get the DacMagic, give it some time to settle down. But even out of the box, from my experience at least, it improved the soundstage, imaging, detail, and tighter low end, but still maintaining the warm character of the system. Hope this helps.
auronthas
79 posts
 
Great and thanks for the feedback, i am looking forward to own this DAC.
auronthas
79 posts
 
Just received June 2009 Stereophile yesterday, there is a follow-up review by John Atkinson on DacMagic. Check it out
ladavid
79 posts
 
I have the DacMagic hooked up my pc and listen to itunes downloads, to streaming jazz, to Mariner baseball games. Its a great little dac. Fits nice on my desktop. I have it running side by side to a $6,000+ combo transport (Accustic Arts) and Dac (Audio Note). The difference is maybe 10% and some tunes there just is not much difference. I have an upgraded usb cable coming so imagine it might take another step forward. Amazing value from my point of view.
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