[thathertz]

Hi all

This is a continuation of the main DacMagic thread

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f7/cam...anyone-368563/

Original mega-thread started by McPanse (Cheers!)
http://www.head-fi.org/forums/members/mcpanse/

The previous thread will not accept more than 900 posts, hence
I'm restarting it here.

If El Doug is reading this, could you please amend your last post in the
thread and add a link to here for completeness? Thanks

Ok, off we go....

 

[El_Doug]

That was a month ago, but ok...



Quote:

Originally Posted by El_Doug /img/forum/go_quote.gif he's talking about the outputs @Endless: im afraid i've never used the rca-outs, sorry

Endless had mentioned that he experienced buzzing when using both the XLR-out and rca-out in combination

 

[apatN]

Oh.. That´s new. I was thinking of getting a dual XLR to female 3.5mm for my speaker amp. More people have this problem?

 

[Stitch]

I got my Dacmagik about 1.5 week ago and i simply love it.
Before i was simply using the analog out to my LD MKIII. It was ok, but the difference is huge

Now pared with my brand new LD CDP im in heaven.
Out of the box it was dull. I auditioned it on my own amp+cans 2 weeks ago living up. More detail, stronger bass.
Mainly its heavy/extreme metal and my rig kicks ass imo!

What filter do you guys use?
So far I'm the Minimum filter, best bass/detail levels. Linear lacks detail and it has some veil of some kind. Not much experience with the Steep one though, sounds a bit flat.

Now that i got my LD CDP(today actualy, 1.5h on it

) I will probably make a little review when i more hours on both.

off-topic: The LD MKII, LD CDP and silver dacmagic make a awesome stylish set-up(pics will follow)

 

[auee]

I agree with you about the filter settings; I prefer the sound with the minimum phase filter. The music simply sounds more like music or more natural to me with this filter. The DACMagic does require burn in. I think it took about 50 hours. For the price, Cambridge Audio hit it out of the ballpark with this component.

 

[ADD]

Yes, 50 continuous hours did it for mine too.

At first I felt the filters were a silly novelty. I felt the cost of implementing them might have been better spent elsewhere (such as having the 384 khz upsampling of the DAC in the high end Cambridge CD players).

Of course, the filters could have been dirt cheap to include for all I know. In any case, over three weeks of listening to this DAC, I have come to appreciate them (well, not minimum one - just the linear and steep ones).

The filters each do sound quite different and I have to agree with other people who have said it is better to live with one type for a while than to go switching through them trying to make immediate comparisons.

After listening to whole symphonies and such like, I tend to have found a preference for the steep filter. But I also think the preferred filter has as much to do with the quality of the original recording as it does the quality of the source component, the type and quality of digital interconnect used and the preferences of the listener.

There is definitely no right or wrong when it comes to the filters, and one person's observations can't be taken as a basis for anyone else's situation.

I still wish Cambridge had brought out an "SE" edition of this DAC. Given the already very good price, I would have been more than happy to pay an extra 50% to get the 840C DAC put into standalone DAC configuration but with the selectable filters.

 

[shuttleboi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitch /img/forum/go_quote.gif off-topic: The LD MKII, LD CDP and silver dacmagic make a awesome stylish set-up(pics will follow)

How do you like the Little Dot CD player? Can you post a review and pictures in another thread?

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitch /img/forum/go_quote.gif What filter do you guys use? So far I'm the Minimum filter, best bass/detail levels. Linear lacks detail and it has some veil of some kind. Not much experience with the Steep one though, sounds a bit flat.

I disagree. Linear is not veiled. Attacks and strings become a bit more airier in the minimum. What it actually changes, I'm not sure but the sounds gets eh, snappier. The steep filter is a mystery to me, I have no idea what it really changes. I find the different filters to be pretty meaningless anyway.
I keep mine at linear.

 

[.Sup]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif I disagree. Linear is not veiled. Attacks and strings become a bit more airier in the minimum. What it actually changes, I'm not sure but the sounds gets eh, snappier. The steep filter is a mystery to me, I have no idea what it really changes. I find the different filters to be pretty meaningless anyway. I keep mine at linear.

Yeah I like the linear the most

 

[auee]

I do not think that the sound using the linear filter is veiled, but I prefer the minimum phase filter because with its use the sound to me seems more musical. I do not like the steep filter.

 

[Stitch]

Whatever the difference is, its nice to have a choice as there is a slight difference alowing fine-tuning .

Im not sure whether its the DT880's or the dac but on some tracks there is showing a little sibilance. Its not much and on very few tracks and i can i live with it easily, but i couldn't help myself from noticing.

Also i love the source selector, easily switching between transport and pc.


Quote:

Originally Posted by shuttleboi /img/forum/go_quote.gif How do you like the Little Dot CD player? Can you post a review and pictures in another thread?

I will do that somewhere in the near future, im still getting used to it and letting the 'new gear feeling' run out

 

[endless402]

my opinions about the filters (all through speakers, not headphones):

Linear: crisp sound. good timing. reminds me of my cd player
Min: wider soundstage, little bit looser timing (not as crisp), slightly warmer
steep: mid range emphasis, less highs and lows. great for vocal only or simple 1-2 instrument songs.

i personally use linear most of the time but sometimes switch to min

 

[DoYouRight]

can anyone compare this dac to say a opus?

 

[thathertz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stitch /img/forum/go_quote.gif So far I'm the Minimum filter, best bass/detail levels. Linear lacks detail and it has some veil of some kind. Not much experience with the Steep one though, sounds a bit flat.

I've tried using the other filters but always settle for minimum.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ADD /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, 50 continuous hours did it for mine too. ......... snip ........... I still wish Cambridge had brought out an "SE" edition of this DAC. Given the already very good price, I would have been more than happy to pay an extra 50% to get the 840C DAC put into standalone DAC configuration but with the selectable filters.

Burn-in took me quite a lot longer until I felt the sound was no longer
changing - over 250 hours I think.

I would second the proposition of an SE or Signature version.
Maybe it's planned somewhere down the road.
It's probably due to be announced seeing as I've just paid the cost of the
DacMagic again in modifications (by Audiocom)

Hopefully I'll get it back this week and can start burning it in AGAIN

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Based on my experience, not sure if I stated the same thing earlier or something different, but right now I will say

Linear Filter - Classical, Jazz, Soft rock, Ambient, Mellow laid back music
Minimum - Metal, Hard Rock and everything else which is fast, quick and has snap.

What you lose with either

Linear - You gain soundstage and overall presence and warmth, you lose a bit of detail and snap
Minimum - Sounds more detailed, snappier, quicker and responsive, but soundstage isnt as wide and overall warmth is lacking

Steep - Meh, I couldnt quite get the point of this setting, I tried hard to figure out what its supposed to do, but to me I am not able to pin point any obvious differences. But one thing though, call me biased or whatever, I've never been able to stay on this setting for long, I always switch back to the other two.