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Cambridge DACMagic, anyone? - Page 4  

post #46 of 920
10/11/08 at 7:52pm
$400 for a balanced DAC from a good company is just wow!

wonder how it compares to the usual suspects - DA10, DAC1, Mini-Dac, DA100.

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post #47 of 920
10/11/08 at 9:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict View Post
Wise Choice.
I'm not so sure. While I agree comparatively balanced almost alway wins, when considering budgets (including this level), you almost always gets greater bang-for-buck with single-ended rigs. Course this all depends on preferences (and balanced/SE is but only one of the choices and not even near the top IMO), but I have gone back to single-ended. And of course if you want to get involved with Singlepower (and especially the Square Wave) at this point ...

Good luck though Lil' Knight and hope you succeed. I do like the balanced sound (especially with Senns and Stax). Funny, I just sent a bunch of gear to a friend who lives in Hiram (old Golden Flash next door myself). Do we have much of a HF show there?

Will be curious of future DAC performance DACmagic reviews...
post #48 of 920
10/11/08 at 9:56pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by blessingx View Post
I'm not so sure. While I agree comparatively balanced almost alway wins, when considering budgets (including this level), you almost always gets greater bang-for-buck with single-ended rigs. Course this all depends on preferences (and balanced/SE is but only one of the choices and not even near the top IMO), but I have gone back to single-ended. And of course if you want to get involved with Singlepower (and especially the Square Wave) at this point ...

Good luck though Lil' Knight and hope you succeed. I do like the balanced sound (especially with Senns and Stax). Funny, I just sent a bunch of gear to a friend who lives in Hiram (old Golden Flash next door myself). Do we have much of a HF show there?

Will be curious of future DAC performance DACmagic reviews...
If you're looking for bang for the buck I agree - a Grahm Slee NOVO discrete SS amp for $400 + a Cambridge or Headroom DAC for $400 will give you 90% of the sound and save you $600-850 on the balanced amp, not to mention balanced cables.

But for me my balanced DAC/amp and HD600 with balanced APS V3 HD600 has been getting more ear-time at my home since July than my single ended RS-1 or Edition 9 or HE60 stats with Woo WA6 or Woo GES. Not that it's that much better, but the warm up time is negligible and the rig is ready to use right away at my whim and fancy and the transparency and space and separation are delicious.

Mikhail does have problems delivering things on time, but his improvements in the 2008 model of Square Wave XL with Blackgates make it sound just like Blutarsky's Melos SHA Gold or Zana Deux (or my WA6 maxed with PDPS and Sophia rectifier). He told me last month he was doing a big run of circuit boards for these amps, to have a 48 hour turn-around time (which maybe means 4 weeks in "Mikhail-speak"). I leave that up to the individual buyer to discuss and negotiate delivery with Single Power themselves.
post #49 of 920
10/11/08 at 11:46pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by blessingx View Post

Good luck though Lil' Knight and hope you succeed. I do like the balanced sound (especially with Senns and Stax). Funny, I just sent a bunch of gear to a friend who lives in Hiram (old Golden Flash next door myself). Do we have much of a HF show there?
I hope so
Well, I still don't know if there's any headfi-er in Hiram or not, let alone the HF shows lol.
post #50 of 920
10/13/08 at 1:31pm
Im going to pick one up hopefully tomorrow from a location in london and then compare it to my Stello DA100 Signature.
post #51 of 920
10/13/08 at 1:47pm
... and mine is due in on Wednesday, I'll be comparing it to my cheap but surprisingly cheerful Styleaudio Carat UD-1 before letting one of the units go.

One of the daft reasons I've talked myself into getting the DACMagic is that I'll no longer have to unplug things from my amp - just everything (PC, Xbox 360 and when I get back home, Sony XB-930 QS CD player) into the DACMagic, and that into my Little Dot MkIII with my Cobra 3 cables (picked up very reasonably :P)
post #52 of 920
10/13/08 at 1:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by anadin View Post
Im going to pick one up hopefully tomorrow from a location in london and then compare it to my Stello DA100 Signature.
wow good news!

Does they sell it already in the UK ?

Can't wait to see your impressions
post #53 of 920
10/13/08 at 2:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil' Knight View Post
wow good news!

Does they sell it already in the UK ?
It appears to be available on the internet from Richer Sounds (the exclusive UK retailer of Cambridge Audio stuff), and when I just called a local branch they told me they had 3 due in Wednesday (1 silver, 2 black) and they are putting a black one aside for me.
post #54 of 920
10/13/08 at 2:08pm
Awesome!
Still need some reviews before pulling the trigger.
post #55 of 920
10/13/08 at 3:30pm
Should have it by tomorrow theres a store very close to me that has them in stock, 199.95GBP for a DAC of this quality is a steal and its available in my country now.

http://www.richersounds.com/showprod...ACMAGIC-08-BLK
post #56 of 920
10/13/08 at 3:58pm
I've seen a brief set of comments by someone who's just got his DACmagic and has compared it to an 840c. His comment was that he preferred the 840c, implying that the DACmagic really is roughly on par with the 740c.
post #57 of 920
10/13/08 at 4:10pm
I heard that it only has two digital inputs, but the rear of the unit has a multitude of sockets. I wonder if that means that only two types of inputs can be utilized. i.e. one USB and one optical, or one coax and one optical. That would mean that a lot of the sockets would be redundant.
Can the first persons who get their hands on one test out the number of items that can be plugged in at any one time? Maybe the instructions might give a better guide as to what is possible. It's quite complicated to do a multiple input selector on a DAC, which is why those types tend to be a bit more expensive on the whole.
post #58 of 920
10/13/08 at 4:20pm
Looking forward to impressions. It seems like a really interesting piece of equipment.
post #59 of 920
10/13/08 at 10:43pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kane-DK View Post
Looking forward to impressions. It seems like a really interesting piece of equipment.
x2
post #60 of 920
10/14/08 at 3:02am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Sukebe View Post
I've seen a brief set of comments by someone who's just got his DACmagic and has compared it to an 840c. His comment was that he preferred the 840c, implying that the DACmagic really is roughly on par with the 740c.
Considering the 840c retails for £750 its no surprise really.

I'll be well happy if the DacMagic sounds on par with a 740c which retails at £500.
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