[roker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by advan031 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I got my dacmagic today and I've been listening to it for a couple hours and so far the difference is not that obvious to me...

No way . . . Did you come from another Dac?

Anyway, I think I'll take it over to my buddy's house tomorrow and throw it on his A5s.

did you do some A and B tests? The sound of the DacMagic is nuetral and clean, perhaps that doesn't appeal to your musical tastes.

Either way, I'll take it over there tomorrow and write my findings by Monday hopefully (those A5s have been properly broken in by now as has my DacMagic).

 

[advan031]

I don't really believe in burning in either but i left it running all night and it does sound a bit better today and I'm enjoying it more

This is my first dac ever and I did no dac and dacmagic comparison yesterday and I had a hard time discerning the difference. I'll give it a week or so to pass judgement.

 

[roker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by advan031 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't really believe in burning in either but i left it running all night and it does sound a bit better today and I'm enjoying it more This is my first dac ever and I did no dac and dacmagic comparison yesterday and I had a hard time discerning the difference. I'll give it a week or so to pass judgement.

are you using the optical out by any chance?

 

[advan031]

Yes sir, I am using optical out but I must admit my music varies from 192 to 256 to Apple lossless. I haven't had the chance to re-rip my cds.

 

[roker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by advan031 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes sir, I am using optical out but I must admit my music varies from 192 to 256 to Apple lossless. I haven't had the chance to re-rip my cds.

that might be the problem, then again, some of my favorite songs are only at 256 (can't find the CDs or FLACs online either) and they sound great.

Anyway, I'm going to test it tomorrow on my friend's A5. I'll report my findings Sunday or Monday.

 

[thathertz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roker /img/forum/go_quote.gif that might be the problem, then again, some of my favorite songs are only at 256 (can't find the CDs or FLACs online either) and they sound great. Anyway, I'm going to test it tomorrow on my friend's A5. I'll report my findings Sunday or Monday.

There's a good possibility it is the problem.
I have one of my all time favourite albums in mp3 format (320kbps)
and you would swear it was FLAC format. I also have the same album
at 192kbps. The difference is huge.

If you're going to invest in the Dacmagic, your source music must be
of reasonably high quality. You can't get blood out of a stone.

High quality here means 320kbps MP3's as a minimum spec.

IMHO you will get a significant increase in fidelity when using
320kbps MP3's but the Dacmagic really starts to shine when you
use lossless media.

 

[Drubbing]

There's also the extra difficulty of hearing what it can do when hooking it up to speakers. Headphones are always going to be more revealing; at least until you start spending phone numbers on speakers, then the DACmagic is pretty much out of it's league anyway.

 

[roker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drubbing /img/forum/go_quote.gif There's also the extra difficulty of hearing what it can do when hooking it up to speakers. Headphones are always going to be more revealing; at least until you start spending phone numbers on speakers, then the DACmagic is pretty much out of it's league anyway.

I use it with my NHT M-00s and they benefit from it tremendously.

I could tell the difference right away vs the other dacs I heard with these speakers. The way my budget is going lately (unemployment, bills, and start-up self-employment costs), it'll probably be a while until I can buy a proper headphone amp (and maybe a new set of cans to go with it).

 

[LFC_SL]

So the Edirol is out. I am running the Dacmagic via usb but hope to pick up an optical lead out some point. Then RCA into Cambridge Audio 540A V2 amp and Cambridge Audio S30 speakers. In a couple of days I aim to do a comparison with my HD600 out of 540A and RCA output to the Tomahawk

...

To be fair sometimes a difference is not discernible. I had the Graham Slee Novo on loan. It is liked by some on this forum but compared to the T115 it was very underwhelming. At least now I have a benchmark and when I can afford a full sized headphone amp it needs to be bigger and better :-|

 

[Drubbing]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFC_SL /img/forum/go_quote.gif So the Edirol is out. I am running the Dacmagic via usb but hope to pick up an optical lead out some point.

I just swapped from USB to optical, but there's no difference in sound/performance. I mainly wanted to free up a USB port anyhow.

 

[roker]

The comparison is not going to happen this week. I didn't end up getting a chance. Maybe next week.

 

[koven]

is the dacmagic is noticeable upgrade vs the Pico or Compass or D10?

 

[LFC_SL]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drubbing /img/forum/go_quote.gif I just swapped from USB to optical, but there's no difference in sound/performance. I mainly wanted to free up a USB port anyhow.

Yeah some say they notice a difference, others do not. I just want to free up a usb port on my iMac. I have a hub but even then...

 

[roker]

U2 - Sunday Bloody Sunday (lossless)

Anyone who can listen to the that song and say the DacMagic is not a quality DAC has issues.

 

[roker]

Big Time Bummer Update:

I may have to send mine back as I'm having some weird static issues . . .