Preamble:
Before I got into depth, I'd like to point out specifically
@audio123 and
@mvvRAZ for their review and impressions on the DMagic respectively. Both provided accurate descriptions of it and I feel that mine will walk a similar line between the two, since there's a question of preference.
Initially when starting the hobby, I was unaware of established Chinese audio brands and tended to avoid them, instead leaning on the side of American brands. My first touch with them was through Cayin & Fiio (Lotoo and others, came way later), which was a hit and miss (Former referring to Cayin, latter is...you know) so when I heard of QDC it was the VX making it's rounds in the community. Seeing the price tag was a bit of a shock as well as the prospect of Chifi Hifi and I had no plans to get one, and left it as an ambigious: might be gud. About a year ago, fellow Canuck
@Titienne was kind enough to have one and let it go at a reasonable price. I eventually passed that on to try a Andromeda S and recoup some funds. but that firmly established QDC in my head for not just technical acumen and their fit, but the fact that Chinese audio brands existed and were very very good. I skipped the next couple releases they did mostly for the reason that they weren't in the bracket I was in. Cue the DMagic getting dropped but with minimal fanfare. I first saw it being listed on Hifigo (No longer there for some reason), then Musicteck. Of course skipping forward, brewing interest in a triple DD iem (Plus those wooden shells are gorgeous!) and a stock cable with interchangeable terminations eventually ended out with me talking to Andrew who gave me a small discount (I eventually ended up getting the MEST as well).
It was interesting with how minimal packaging on the MEST and DMagic was, both fit in a relatively general sized box you get from an Amazon Prime order. I'm not going to focus too much on packaging, but I did really like how they changed it up compared to the VX. Shells were gorgeous and I still take them out to looks at every couple days. As usual the semi custom shape they use was perfect and fit is snug as a bug with the S stock tips. I think that QDC just had Dunu make the terminations for them but with QDC engraved on the plug. I've always been pleased with the QDC stock cable so adding this really eliminates the need for adapters or even cable rolling. To date I haven't tried any other cable on the DMagic and have not felt the urge to. Anyways, listening done on the 1A with 55 or at 9'oclock on low gain off the 789.
Bass:
Starting with the subbass, the DMagic has good extension though it lacks in the quantity department (As
@audio123 puts it: moderate quantity). This doesn't bother me too much, since I don't need LX levels of subbass. The mid bass has good slam and impact with a good quantity, no bleed at all and not overly fatiguing for my years. Over all, the bass is smooth and fast, resembling an all BA bass configuration (per
@mvvRAZ description) but retaining DD texture. It's a good balance but might not be for those expecting full on DD bass.
Mids:
The Mids are clean and clear, they're not masked by other frequencies and are not masking the other frequencies in turn. They're place slighly forward but not too much to become overly prominent. There's a clear bias towards the upper mids area, but the lower mids are no slouch. In overall listening it ends up being a slight difference where the upper mids have the edge, but not so where the lower mids just fall flat in comparison. This is more for North American music though, interesting things happen when you run asian music through, you could say it's.....Magic
Treble:
Treble has good extension and I have no sibliance. The upper mid/lower treble peak causes no issues that I can discern, and I suspected that fit will be a huge factor in how that works out for you. The tuning makes for a very lively treble that has a good amount of sparkle and air. While I was afraid that the tuning would be too asian specific, to my surprise it seems to benefit asian music but without being a drawback to non asian music. Again, more discussion of the Magic later.
Conclusion:
Overall, the DMagic has a smooth balanced sound, and that really doesn't deviate regardless of the genre that you put through them. I could easily seem them being mistaken for an all BA setup (
@mvvRAZ said this as well) rather than a triple DD setup. The bass benefits the most from this and you don't have the coherency issues that you would see with the traditional hybrid setup. The soundstage is a good size, and what
@audio123 describe as "natural expansion" to me seems like something I've only heard in the DMagic: The soundstage seems to change in size depending of the performance space in question for the track and the sound takes advantage of that without ever feeling that there is too much space between notes.
So bonus round! That D"Magic" as I've hinted in prior paragraphs and teased in earlier posts. It really didn't occur to me to specifically try asian tracks with them, and at the time I got them, I didn't have a decent archive to test off of. Only when I was writing the Viento review did it occur to me: Why try asia fi with asian music, hence the hold up while I archived and rebuilt my previous collection with better sources.Bear with my choices since they're not BTS or Blackpink or Twice
KPop: Taeyeon, Jaejoong, Junsu, JYJ
JPop: Utada Hikaru, Ayumi Hamasaki
CPop: Jay Chou
The DMagic is no slouch,but listening to non asian music it's more of a "this is not my final form!" form. It doesn't offend but doesn't excel spectacularly in anything. I would call it an all rounder, but there are other iems out there that would carry the moniker better. Needless to say, I still like it enough to use as a late night listen in this regard. How, with asian music could then be described as "cower as you witness my final form!" moment. The DMagic comes alive when that happens, it's still smooth and BA like in a way, but the musicality and emotion are dialed up to 12 (Imagine Gohan with glass then suddenly going Super Saiyan and you're Mr. Satan standing there pooping his pants). It's hard to put into words and you have to really here it for yourself. The DMagic also pulls a similarly lesser version of this with accoustic and live tracks. Solid A+ for me as an all rounder, but jumps to S when the genre becomes asian music.
