[TheGrumpyOldMan]

Tried to order it from AA. Seconds after being charged full price, received a backorder notice! They still list as if it was in stock on their site right now. Not too happy about these business practices.
 
Anyway I followed up on it and they claim that it is not actually a pre-order like it seems, but that they'll ship it in 10 days. So I'd count two weeks more or less, not holding my breath. Would be interested if anyone in the US has received his/hers (after all a backorder implies that some units were shipped

)
 
I think it'll still be a while before we find out more (and my own impressions...)

 

[DjAmTraX]

Quote:

Tried to order it from AA. Seconds after being charged full price, received a backorder notice! They still list as if it was in stock on their site right now. Not too happy about these business practices.
 
Anyway I followed up on it and they claim that it is not actually a pre-order like it seems, but that they'll ship it in 10 days. So I'd count two weeks more or less, not holding my breath. Would be interested if anyone in the US has received his/hers (after all a backorder implies that some units were shipped

)
 
I think it'll still be a while before we find out more (and my own impressions...)

 
Sorry to hear that.  I've purchased from AA in the past and have been happy.  I hope things will work out as promised.  Please keep us posted.
 
 
 

 

[TT600R]

Really looking forward for reviews.I am between the Schiit Bifrost and this one.
Price is almost the same here in Holland.

 

[tim3320070]

Quote:

Tried to order it from AA. Seconds after being charged full price, received a backorder notice! They still list as if it was in stock on their site right now. Not too happy about these business practices.
 
Anyway I followed up on it and they claim that it is not actually a pre-order like it seems, but that they'll ship it in 10 days. So I'd count two weeks more or less, not holding my breath. Would be interested if anyone in the US has received his/hers (after all a backorder implies that some units were shipped

)
 
I think it'll still be a while before we find out more (and my own impressions...)

AA is very reliable and a top notch seller, don't worry.
 
 

 

[sejarzo]

Thanks for including that picture of the rear of the unit, which shows it includes the ground lift switch for the USB input.
 
Noise on the USB ground out of my notebook PC feeding through to the analog outputs was the reason I sent my MF VDACii back to the vendor last month. Thoroughly unlistenable...so I might order one of these for evaluation, as AA also has liberal return policies.

 

[Slab]

I've been looking pick up my first DAC and was leaning towards the Bifrost but this does look promising. I'd love to hear from anyone who has heard one of these.

 

[preproman]

 
 
As soon as someone is able to purchase the DacMagic 100 off AA and it's shipped could they please post so we all can place orders?
 
Thanks..

 

[thrand1]

Does anyone know if 176.4kHz sampling rate is supported at all in the DacMagic 100? There obviously isn't an indicator for it, so wasn't sure if it is supported over USB or any of the other digital inputs. If it isn't supported, would you have to upsample at the PC before feeding it to the DacMagic? I am unfamiliar with how that would work/be accomplished...I have some Rolling Stones albums from HDTracks at 176.4kHz and am wondering if I could get playback through this DAC. Weighing my options for a desktop DAC...was thinking of maybe the Firestone Audio iLTW, this, or the Wyred4Sound uDAC-HD if it ever materializes.

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

Received notification that mine is shipping, and according to the tracking it's indeed on the way.
 
176.4kHz is a bit of an unusual sampling rate indeed. I guess you could upsample it to 192kHz to avoid losses but some audiophiles might consider that tampering with the sound quality... I wouldn't mind giving it a try once I get mine (via Mac, supporting up to the full 24/192 resolution) Unfortunately I don't have any files at that sampling rate, and I checked XLD, my converter/ripper of choice: Apple lossless is the only codec supporting different sampling rates and it doesn't support this particular one...
 
The Schiit Bifrost might be another option, but at a quick glance I couldn't find out about its support for this rate either, but you can ask/look around.

 

[tim3320070]

Does anyone honestly think they could hear a difference between 176.4 straight vs. upsampled to 192 on a $369 DAC (or even a $2000 one)?????

 

[maverickronin]

Quote:

Does anyone honestly think they could hear a difference between 176.4 straight vs. upsampled to 192 on a $369 DAC (or even a $2000 one)?????

If its a crappy enough upsampling algorithm you'll be able to hear it on anything that will take both sample rates.  I don't know how likely that would be but its usually best to avoid automatic SRC done by the OS or in the media player because you won't know what's going on, usually can't change it, and sometimes its awful.
 
If you go overkill with something like the SoX resampler plugin for foobar then no one's going to be able to hear the difference but if your favorite media player/OS/transport/streamer/whatever isn't known to have a good resampling algorithm, you can't add some sort of plugin, or just can't resample at all and you have stuff in 176.4 then looking for something that accepts it natively isn't a bad idea.  Basically it just depends on what your equipment can do.

 

[sejarzo]

Meh...I'd downsample 176.4 to 88.2 and listen to the music instead of trying to hear what's wrong with that...but that's just me.

 

[TheGrumpyOldMan]

So it arrived today, courtesy of the USPS' rather speedy delivery. It's surprisingly small in reality, I've added a couple of comparison shots. I'm using the matching id100 dock as well since I specifically wanted a compact solution.
 

 
From the side: (No other close-ups since the ones in the first post are plenty detailed.)
 

 
Not much else yet... It works as expected. I'm preferably using the optical IO with a glass TOSLINK cable (nothing too fancy) and everything sounds OK, it switches sampling rates quietly & quickly (with the iPod Classic, that pretty much means between 16/44.1 and 24/48 max., which frankly is plenty good for my ears with my gear...) I'll hook my Macbook later to try higher quality tracks (I have a couple of 192kHz ones and a few 96kHz ones) and if somebody can point me towards a free 176.4 sample track, I'll gladly give it go and see what happens, incl. running it through the TubeMagic D2 and/or the Bifrost.
 
If I find time this weekend I'll try to hook up my 4 RCA input switch to the Valhalla and finally satisfy my curiosity as to whether I can even hear the difference between DACs... if not it's OK, they'll still serve me well since once I finally get my other amp I'll have the two listening stations I was planning for. The D2 was a bit of an experiment as an affordable Tube DAC but I have to say I have grown quite fond of it.
 
And like the DacMagic 100 (and the id100 dock), it is switchable between 110v & 220v, a big plus for an expat moving back at some point (and a bit of a bummer regarding the Bifrost... but I guess it is more "pure" and more affordable to be only single voltage)
 
UPDATE: Speaking of plugs, adapters etc.: the instructions for anything are limited to a quickstart guide, and a reference to go to their website for the actual up-to-date user guide... but there isn't anything there for the DacMagic 100 other than the initial press release

 

[DjAmTraX]

Can't wait to hear more. Thanks for keeping us posted.

 

[Mauricio]

I am more keen on the dock than on the DAC, to tell you the truth, despite the dock's price.  I'd love to take the dock's AES/EBU output across the room to a pair digital active monitors.  Any comments on the dock?