Cambridge - Dac Magic - Digital to Analog Converter-Audio Advisor

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Overall Best "Product of the Year" 2008 - Hi-Fi Choice Magazine

"Five Stars" - What Hi-Fi? Magazine

"Best of the Bunch" Upsampling DAC

With the advent of computer-based music systems, Cambridge Audio's DacMagic upsampling digital-to-analog converter is the most affordable and effective way to upgrade any PC, network music device, games console, or standard CD/DVD player to truly high-end sound quality.

"Full-bodied Yet Subtle and Driving Presentation"

"It gives some well-respected DACs at higher prices a good run for their money," reports Richard Black in the Awards 2008 issue of England's Hi-Fi Choice magazine, which honored the DacMagic as Overall Best "Product of the Year" for 2008. "The performance of the DacMagic is so good, it's almost embarrassing."

"Full-bodied Yet Subtle and Driving Presentation"

Awarding the DacMagic its top rating of Five Stars, the November 2008 issue of England's What Hi-Fi? Sound & Vision magazine praises its "powerful, full-bodied yet subtle and driving presentation; one that caters for all types of music equally well... this Cambridge Audio DAC is the best of the bunch."

A New Benchmark for Audiophile Excellence

The DacMagic dramatically improves sound quality, putting digital music and gaming audio in a totally new light. Cambridge Audio has a passion for faithfully reproducing music as those in the recording studio intended, and with the DacMagic, the company has once again set a new benchmark for audiophile excellence at a more than affordable price.

The DacMagic has a variety of simple connections including S/PDIF, Toslink, and USB inputs. That means it can be used to improve a wide range of devices with digital outputs, such as soundcards, portable media player docks, or networked music devices. Twin Wolfson DACs provide outstanding stereo imaging, while a choice of digital filters is available for individual preference and flexibility.

The USB input connects direct to PC without drivers to act as very high quality DAC/soundcard, providing genuine hi-fi quality playback from desktop or media PC.

Adaptive Time Filtering (ATF) Upsampling

Key to its abilities is Adaptive Time Filtering (ATF) upsampling technology developed in conjunction with Anagram Technologies of Switzerland. This technology converts 16-24 bit audio data to 24 bit / 192kHz dramatically improving musical reproduction. A 32 bit Digital Signal Processor (DSP) eradicates jitter which is especially effective with hard disk playback from PCs.

The Dual Differential Virtual Earth balanced filter topology via low order two pole linear-phased Bessel filter takes advantage of the high sampling rate achieved for sonic excellence.

The DacMagic provides a choice of filters that let you fine-tune the results. Linear phase, minimum phase and steep filter can all be selected to suit your listening preferences. Phase select to invert or reinvert input allows you to correct for possible recording problems.

Owner’s Manual (1mb PDF)

Click here to write a review

Review Average:

Number of Reviews: 5

	Dminero89
This is a must have, no brainer of a product!!!! Let me first explain why I bought the Cambridge DAC Magic. For about two years Ive been streaming music via a wireless router and an Apple Airport Express. Although incredibly convenient, the sound quality was always somewhat lacking. Basically, it served as background music for when I was entertaining. Whenever I wanted to do some critical listening, I always went to my Sony ES CD player. A few weeks back I visited my local Hi-Fi shop and listened to a beautiful system comprised of a an Ayre Acoustics preamp, Ayre Amp, Ayre DAC and Wilson Audio speakers. All great stuff no doubt. But I was amazed to see the set up included no CD player, but rather, an Apple laptop being fed via a USB cable into the Ayre DAC. The sound was stunning. I wanted to try this approach at home. Unfortunately, in these economic times, I didnt have $2,500 to drop on a DAC. So I turned to the Cambridge. Fit and Finish: I ordered the piece from Audio Advisor and received it in about three days. This piece of equipment is ridiculously well made and jam packed with features for the money. It essentially offers you three digital inputs. And here is the beauty... Digital input 1 and digital input 2 each include a toslink AND a coax input. I havent seen any other DAC at four times the price offer that. PLUS, there is a USB input separate from digital input 1 and 2. Thus giving you three digital inputs. Now, if youre using an Apple Airport Express, its important to note that the optical digital out is a mini-toslink. You can buy an adapter to convert the mini output to standard toslink out. But I found a cable that needed no adapter.... a mini out to a standard toslink. The first track I queued up was the adagio from Bruckners 7th. music streaming via the Apple Airport Express I couldnt believe how warm and lush it sounded. The soundstage was big. The separation, excellent. The imaging, superb. I was sold within three minutes of hearing it. Another important note. It took about three or four days of burn in for the unit to sound its best. The sound only got warmer with time. I now wanted to see what this thing sounded like with some rock music. I dialed up, using my i-pod touch as a remote, the Eagles Hotel California off of When Hell Freezes over. I am not usually a fan of live recordings, but the engineers got this one incredibly right. I heard something that I had never heard before while streaming music via my computer - that is deep rich bass. The entire musical spectrum was being represented through the Cambridge. I couldnt believe how much of the musical spectrum I was missing before adding the DAC Magic. My next experiment was to run my 15 year old Sony ES CD player through the Cambridge. I went to the same two tracks... the Bruckner and then the Eagles. I was able to switch back and forth as I was running both analog cables from my CD player into my preamp and an optical digital out to the Cambridge. The improvement was nothing short of stunning. The sound was warmer, richer and more engaging through the external DAC. I couldnt believe what an improvement it made to a rather good CD player. The conclusion is this: If you are either streaming your music via an Apple Airport Express or if you are using a laptop as a digital music server, the Cambridge DAC Magic is one of the most significant upgrades you can make to your system. In addition, if you are running an older CD player and are considering an upgrade, it is worth it to try the Cambridge first. For me it was more significant than when I purchased my new speakers. It opened up a whole new world of digital audio. Associated Equipment: Preamp: McIntosh C15 Amplifier: McIntosh MC252 Speakers: B&W 704s CD Player: Sony XA1 ES Cables: All cables by Audioquest
- David M, NJ

	DACMagic and Squeezebox offer outstanding performance
I have suspected that music servers would most likely become the future of high-end music reproduction. The advantages seemed obvious. But it wasnt yet clear to me what platform, configuration or companies might provide that solution. My epiphany came when I found a 2006 article by John Atkinson on Stereophiles website. He reviewed a Squeezebox Classic, comparing its output with an Ayre C-5xe $5,995 universal player. Both were connected to a Mark Levinson No.30.6 Reference D/A processor $16,950. Comparing the original CD on the Ayre C-5xe disc player, its digital output driving the Levinson DAC via a 1m DH Labs AES/EBU link, with SlimServer feeding an Apple Lossless-encoded file to the Squeezebox with its digital output feeding the Levinson via the AudioQuest OptiLink-5, I was hard-pressed to hear much of a difference. He couldnt hear a difference! Well, if this Stereophile reviewer admitted that he couldnt hear a difference between a $6,000 CD player and a $249 Squeezebox using a high-end DAC, I figured that I had found my solution. I just needed something more `affordable than the $17,000 Mark Levinson DAC. I began searching reviews of various DACs at all prices. I liked what people said about Music Fidelitys V-DAC, but I wanted to use XLR connections. DACMagic had them. The V-DAC did not. The professional reviews had all been good for the DACMagic, but I was most influenced by Lars Tackmanns comments on Amazon. So I decided to give it a trial in combo with a Squeezebox Duet. I connected the Duet using RCA interconnects and the DACMagic using XLRs to my Krell integrated amp. My speakers are MartinLogan electrostatics. I had expected a volume difference between these interconnects but it was far too great to compensate; it measured close to 15 db. I reconfigured everything using just RCA interconnects. Afterward, the comparison still sounded like I had a large imbalance. To my ears, the DACMagic sounded at least 6 db louder, or so I thought. I ran a 1-khz test tone through both outputs and measured the volume with an SPL meter. I was shocked. There was only 1 db difference. When I realized there was no significant difference, I listened again and decided what I was hearing were actually improved micro-dynamics within of the music. The DACMagic made the system sound more like live music. I listened to a vocal performance by Josh Groben accompanied with an acoustic guitar, about as simple and clear as it gets. The most obvious difference the DACMagic made was in the detail, decay and reverberation of the performers. There was much less of this from the Duet alone. The sound was a bit more like I had thrown a blanket over the speakers. Ive now listened for dozens of hours rediscovering my library. And yet, I continue to be impressed by the sound quality; a precision I never remember hearing from CDs or even SACDs on my Sony or Denon players of the past. The combination offer outstanding performance and value for the price.
- Russell J, TX

	A must for cost
I was visiting a audiophile store last weekend, and the owner recommended this item as an alternative to buying a high dollar CD player. He was right, it opened up a cheap player and made it come to life. I did returned today to buy the Cambridge Audio 340 CD player. And it is like day and night. I highly recommended it to anyone looking to improve their CD entry level CD player that is on a budget.
- Bill S, WA

	Update on DacMagic
I understand AA not allowing my previous comments on the DacMagic. They could have hurt their sales of this item. Well good news! I discovered that the DacMagic USB connection is not just PC to DAC, as it works for PS3 to DAC too. CA doesnt tell you that anywhere in the twenty-seven page English section of the little square instruction booklet. One day in the distant future A/V manufacturers might spend more time creating clear, concise manuals for their products - until that shining day we must delve into the often murky and non concise product manuals. So, how does the DacMagic perform? Ill give it some time to break-in before deciding, but as of now lets say Im not doing back flips. Will AA allow this post? Im skeptical, but well see.
- Bob G, AZ

	A Definite Must-Have Upgrade!!
Ive been researching D/A converters for sometime now and after reading the Stereophile March 09 review I was sold. So I purchased one from Audio Advisor and Im so pleased with this little D/As performance. My current CD deck is a very solid 1991 Harman/Kardon HD7600 which at the time had a great 1-bit processor but technology continually moves on, so here I am. The rest of my system consists of a Nakamichi CA-5 preamp, a Krell KSA-200S amp wired with Monster Cable M2.4 bi-wires to a pair of Klipsch RF-7s. Except for the Krell, all components get power from a Monster Cable HTS5100MKII conditioner. Interconnects are Monster Cable Z Series. I love my system and I think it sounds great!! Thanks Audio Advisor!!
- CRAIG AHRENS, UT