Aeolus magiDAC: New $300 DAC

[blessingx]

Came across this on another forum and thought some of you may be interested too. Through July 1st there is an intro price on the Aeolus magiDAC - $255. I've ordered one (with clock upgrade), but it's unlikely it will be received and impressions posted before the sale is off. Course there's that 30 return policy. Has USB, SPDIF, and AES/EBU inputs. Asked them about measurements as they're not posted. Though I forget them now, it was about a .25" off the width of the Squeezebox 3/Classic. Seems like it would make a good combo there.

[NoPants]

interesting design choices...looking forward to your impressions!

[yepyep_]

Originally Posted by NoPants

...looking forward to your impressions!

x2

[blessingx]

BTW, they've had a few faceplate issues so shipping has been delayed a couple days, but Audio Magus was nice enough to offer to send their prototype for the San Mateo meet this weekend. So we should have a few impressions soon. Hopefully a couple before sale ends.

[Ricey20]

I bought my Trends UD 10.1 from them and they seem like a pretty decent company. They aren't really mentioned much around here though so I was a bit nervous when i bought from them at first. Would like some impressions as it seems it could be very good. The UD 10.1 is very good but only when u use the battery pack. Kind of a pain to keep charging and replugging it.

[tfarney]

An interestind design. The simplicity of it really appeals to me. I'll be very interested in your impressions. What do you have to compare it to?

Ricey - what do you hear different with the battery pack? I researched the UD-10 before I bought mine and ran into a whole bunch of buyers who couldn't hear any difference. For $18 though, it just seemed like a no-brainer.

Tim

[Hadden]

The usb receiver chip (CM108) they use on the Magidac is supposed to be very jittery. Gordon Rankin made a post on this recently, can't remember where -- Audioasylum I think.

[blessingx]

Well unfortunately the MagiDAC prototype didn't have a USB or AES/EBU inputs so it knocked out most of the setups I was planning on testing with it this weekend. I'm now out of town till Wednesday, but wanted to post my very very brief impression before the sale went off. Unfortunately with my gear the only way I could hear the DAC was through the Squeezebox. I was demoing electrostatics mostly this weekend at the NoCal meet and I would normally test with dynamics (which although I prefer STAX I don't feel is often best to test DACs). Anyway, first this is really a nice DAC for the price. It easily covers that ($255 through tomorrow). It's pretty smooth and although lacking a bit of detail compared to the Pico and DA10 and punch compared to the Pico, provides a pretty nice analog sound as claimed. Overall it's quite pleasant to listen to and I would easily recommend it to those looking in this range. Trouble is I also think the Squeezebox Classic/3 is underrated and also provides great bang for buck and briefly comparing the two side-by-side (which the 007t allows), they were very close with a seeming slight advantage in extension and dynamic range with the Squeezebox. Again they were close and often not likely to be considered for the same duty - Squeezebox is to get away from the computer, MagiDAC is to be near its 'transport' a USB, coaxial or AES/EBU. Trouble is I was planning to use the MagiDAC attached to the Squeezebox. I'm still keeping my order in as I certainly want more time to truly compare (not to mention differences between the prototype and production models). I'll report back after more time, but wanted to speak up now before the sale stopped.

Please don't consider any of the above definitive though. With the meet this weekend I simply haven't had enough time to really judge this.