Cambridge Audio DacMagic 1, Any Good?

Gareth82

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Mar 13, 2011
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Hi everyone, the chance to get a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 1 cheap has come up and wonderd if it was any good. I was thinking of using it with my main Sony system to improve the sound of my Sony cd players. I know it is an older version of the DacMagic that is currently out and would be greatfull with any opinions/views on what it performs like and if it would be a worthy edition. Thanks.
 

Mr Morph

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Can't comment on the Dacmagic 1, but it's a similar design to the '2' as I understand it. However, the '1' is limited to BNC inputs only, and without any optical. So if your Sony just has an optical out (as many of them do) it kind of solves your problem right there! I did hear a couple of comments about the first version, and they weren't very flattering.
 

Rethep

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To me the current Dacmagic (is there a "one" version ?) sounded not too much different from the Apple Airport Express-Dac. Also a comparison to a Meridian 206B CD-player did not make a big difference. I do not know what kind of sound you want to improve to.
 

Gareth82

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Hi, thanks for the quick replys. My two current Sony cd players only have got Optical out puts but the person selling the DacMagic says they have got a adapter that i can use. I was hoping the Dac would produce a better sound than the built in Dac's of the CD Players. I know you can get BNC to Coax leads from Amazon as i was thinking of getting a new I-Pod dock in the future and connecting it to the Dac. I was thinking of a Onkyo ND S1 Dock and connecting that via Coax to the DacMagic, and then connecting the usb port of the Onkyo to my Laptop as well so i can get a better quality of music from my I-pod Dock and from my laptop as i understand it would accept the Onkyo as an external soundcard.
 

Mr Morph

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Additional info!!!

The Dacmagic 1 is nothing to do with the current DacMagic, it comes from 1995. And now that I've had a dig around in my hi-fi clippings.... here's what 'What Hi-Fi' had to say about it in there listings in 1996.

'Joke price, knockout sound, you get lots of performance for not much money, BNC inputs/outputs only, but if your CDP is suitable, buy this!' Sound: 5 stars - facilities: 4 stars - build: 4 stars

Hope that ansers all...?
 

Gareth82

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Thank you very much Mr Morph. That has helped me alot. Been digging around for ages trying to find a review of it online but couldn't find any. I was thinking that one way round the optical problem would maybe be to get a small Optical to Coax convertor and connect that to the CD Player and then to the DacMagic with a BNC to Coax cable, hopefully in theory the CD player would be outputting through the DacMagic then.
 

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