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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
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
Soundbit - RE: same outlet - there is not problem with this - actually it would be preferable to prevent the dreaded earth loops

There is a taylor made ps from Pangea that is built for this type of upgrade - I would recommend their solution over the DIY one - since they are the pro's

see
http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGP100

Even at $100 it will make you Dacmagic sing!

Happy listening
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
UPDATE: another AG member is using a ready made power supply

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PGP100

It's a bit moe expensive, but professionally made by a reputable power company

If I had found out about this I would have gone this route simply because of the hassle soldering the silly little DC connector

I like the look of this unit very much because they have tackled all of the problems and then some including noise filtering - something my solution does not

I would advise going this route

enjoy
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
It may be that the P100 noise filtering in both directions is a major deal. The "faqs" section for the P100 at Audio Advisor has the best description yet of what the P100 is all about (conversation with the designer), and I just ordered another one for my 640P phono preamp. Hot running "wall wart" power supplies annoy me, but the P100 runs cool and is seemingly a bargain for what it does.
soundbit
62 posts
 
Great information, thanks. For those of you who use a Squeezebox Touch were you able to hear the difference of the Touch DAC vs. routing through the DAC Magic before the PS upgrade? How did the upgrade effect the sound?
wolf_garcia
6,695 posts
 
The Squeezebox Touch has it's own sound...sort of sweet and "lower middy", but altogether not bad. In my compulsive quest for the cheapest possible upgrades I discovered that used DACMagics are around $300, and meet my needs for balanced outs and multiple ins (for Squeezebox and CD digital coax outs). Happily it made a LARGE improvement over the 'Touch alone (more coherant, sweeter, more accurate seemingly), makes my old but well designed Marantz CD player (a sturdy "changer" actually...NOBODY talks about those) sing, and added 3 blue lights! Might have something to do with the "re-clocking jitter reduction", upsampling, and better dacs/filters. The 'Touch lands the fish and the DACMagic cleans it. The P100 is sort of a calming presence except for the blindingly bright LED. FYI, the DACMagic "plus" comes to the US later this month, and looks way cool.
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