Cambridge audio DAC Magic Plus

[admin_exported]

Hi folks,

I recently purchased the CA DAC Magic Plus to my exisiting system: Arcam 8R amp, B&W 601 S2 speakers, Apple Airport Express.

I understand that the max. sample rate the AE takes is 44.1khz but I thought that the DAC Magic plus upsamples this?

All my music is on iTunes and I also have an Arcam 7se CD player as well.

One thing I have noticed is that on the Arcam Amp. there is a "processor" button on the back when switched from "Normal" to "processor" the sound is louder/fuller I'm just wondering do any of you know why this is?

I understand my amp and speakers are 13 years old but the sound is still great!

 

[Crocodile]

The processor mode is for using the amp to power the front pair in a surround sound setup. When fed from the pre-outs of an AV amp/processor it provides a fixed gain, so that the levels can be matched just using the AV amp/processor.

 

[Anonymous]

I thought that alright!

Does it matter which input I have the interconnects going to on the amp from the DAC Magic? At the moment it's connected to the "AV/DVD" input.

Also, if the Airport Express sample rate if 44.1khz max. does teh DAC Magic not upscale this?

 

[Anonymous]

I thought that alright!

Does it matter which input I have the interconnects going to on the amp from the DAC Magic? At the moment it's connected to the "AV/DVD" input.

Also, if the Airport Express sample rate if 44.1khz max. does teh DAC Magic not upscale this?

 

[The_Lhc]

Also, if the Airport Express sample rate if 44.1khz max. does teh DAC Magic not upscale this?

Probably but does it matter? It won't allow the AE to play higher rate audio files, if that was what you were thinking.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah it's the "incoming sample rate" will always be 44.1khz on the DAC Magic even if the original sample rate is 48khz or whatever if using the Airport Express.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah it's the "incoming sample rate" will always be 44.1khz on the DAC Magic even if the original sample rate is 48khz or whatever if using the Airport Express.

 

[Anonymous]

Has anyone who had just the AE connected to their system via the 3.5mm mini plug noticed a significant difference in sound quality when they added in the DAC Magic/Plus?

 

[Anonymous]

Both Arcam 8R and 7SE are still great audio gears. What let your system down is your loudspeakers. They aren't really that good ...

The Magic Plus DAC sounds more detailed and and vivid (better macrodynamics) than your Arcam 7SE. But I love the warmth and sweetness of the latter.

As regards the processor button, there's no reason to your amp sound different. This feature is intended to be used with an external equalizer or A/V processor.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that - which bookshelf speakers would you recommend for that system?

When I switch on the processor button it does sound louder - maybe that's to do with a fixed line level for the volume?

Also, if the airport express is connected optically to the DAC Magic is the DAC on the airport express bypassed the reason I ask is that when I'm playing a 48khz track from iTunes via the Airport Express the incoming sample rate is still 44.1Khz on the DAC?

 

[John Duncan]

Airport Express is limited to 16/44 - anything above that is downsampled to 44.