Cambridge Audio DacMagic-S Christmas Deals!
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Cambridge Audio DacMagic-S Christmas Deals!.
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I recently purchased a Logitech Squeezebox to stream my music collection to my HIFI and have been pleasing glad with it. The sound quality from the Squeezebox's DAC did however not stamp me, compared to my weak rather cheepish Denon CD player, it was tiresome, lacked attack and was generally uninspiring. So when I discovered that Cambridge Audio had made this limited (and cheap) gem I immediately bought it.
So how advantageous is it? - In my view its the cheapest thing I have ever bought that made so obvious a difference; the music is now warm, organic, detailed and fat of attack. It is sturdy make and has a very wintry and professional recognize. The arrangement itself has a ton of nice features (such as being able to remember different settings based on input channels) yet is detached very easy to employ. It comes with three different high quality filters: "linear", "minimum" and "steep" which can alter the audio experience to your personal taste. Of these I have found the "minimum" filter to provide the best audiophile experience.
To sum up, if you have a Squeezebox or a similar diagram, but feel that its analog output is somewhat lacking, then procure this shining dinky diagram.
I have suspected that music servers would most likely become the future of high-end music reproduction. The advantages seemed sure. But it wasn't yet sure to me what platform, configuration or companies might provide that solution.
My epiphany came when I found a 2006 article by John Atkinson on Stereophile's website. He reviewed a Squeezebox Classic, comparing its output with an Ayre C-5xe ($5,995 universal player) . Both were connected to a Designate Levinson No.30.6 Reference D/A processor ($16,950) .
"Comparing the unusual 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 great of a dissimilarity."
He couldn't hear a incompatibility!
Well, if this Stereophile reviewer admitted that he couldn't hear a dissimilarity between a $6,000 CD player and a $249 Squeezebox using a high-end DAC, I figured that I had found my solution. I honest needed something more `affordable" than the $17,000 Label Levinson DAC.
I began searching reviews of various DACs at all prices. I liked what people said about Music Fidelity's V-DAC, but I wanted to spend XLR connections. DACMagic had them. The V-DAC did not.
The professional reviews had all been trustworthy for the DACMagic, but I was most influenced by Lars Tackmann's comments here 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 inequity between these interconnects but it was far too grand to compensate; it measured terminate to 15 db. I reconfigured everything using fair RCA interconnects.
Afterward, the comparison serene sounded like I had a immense imbalance. To my ears, the DACMagic sounded at least 6 db louder, or so I plan. I ran a 1-khz test tone through both outputs and measured the volume with an SPL meter. I was worried. There was only 1 db contrast.
When I realized there was no essential incompatibility, 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 obvious as it gets. The most certain inequity the DACMagic made was in the detail, decay and reverberation of the performers. There was mighty less of this from the Duet alone. The sound was a bit more like I had thrown a blanket over the speakers.
I've 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 effect.
