DacMagic head to head with Kandy Mk.3

[admin_exported]

My thoughts & experience after a day of ownership, for anyone who's interested.

Build quality is fine, if perhaps not quite as solid as the price-equivalent CD players that Cambridge make. Despite the label on the box warning that no cables are included, there is actually a USB cable packed, albeit so short as to be of no practical use in most set ups. Hooked it into my system (see sig. below) and attached it via USB to a netbook (Asus EEEPC1000H) feeding it FLAC files ripped in EAC and played back in Foobar.

First impressions were generally positive, the DAC presenting a well-organised soundstage, very transparent, perhaps a bit bass-shy and overly-polite. I went to bed thinking it was a good value piece of kit, if a bit gutless compared to my CD player.

So, tonight, with Tractorgirl out on the town, I rubbed my hands with glee at the thought of a bit of AB testing with the DacMagic and the Kandy Mk.3 running through adjacent inputs on my amp. And this is where it got more interesting. Playing the same tunes simultaneously through both sources, a bit of flicking between the inputs on the remote revealed very little difference. Depending on the music, it did seem to confirm my initial observations about the CD player having a bit more guts, but not to anything like the degree I was expecting. There is also the possibility that the difference is simply down to the DacMagic's phono output voltage being a bit weaker than the Kandy's (by the sounds of it - I haven't checked the figures), in which case it's simply a volume difference.

Actually, the thing that has surprised me most is not that the DacMagic is (nearly?) as good as the CD player - more that there is, to my ears, very little difference in the sonic signatures of the machines.

Oh, one last thing, the DacMagic makes Spotify and the like sound very pleasant indeed, albeit in a slightly airy, MP3-ish way.

All just my opinion of course. Other opinions welcomed, but please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

 

[PJPro]

tractorboy:
.....please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

I thought that war had been well and truly won ;-)

Before anyone else asks, is the rest of your system suppressing the "quality" of the Roksan?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

tractorboy:
My thoughts & experience after a day of ownership, for anyone who's interested.

Build quality is fine, if perhaps not quite as solid as the price-equivalent CD players that Cambridge make. Despite the label on the box warning that no cables are included, there is actually a USB cable packed, albeit so short as to be of no practical use in most set ups. Hooked it into my system (see sig. below) and attached it via USB to a netbook (Asus EEEPC1000H) feeding it FLAC files ripped in EAC and played back in Foobar.

First impressions were generally positive, the DAC presenting a well-organised soundstage, very transparent, perhaps a bit bass-shy and overly-polite. I went to bed thinking it was a good value piece of kit, if a bit gutless compared to my CD player.

So, tonight, with Tractorgirl out on the town, I rubbed my hands with glee at the thought of a bit of AB testing with the DacMagic and the Kandy Mk.3 running through adjacent inputs on my amp. And this is where it got more interesting. Playing the same tunes simultaneously through both sources, a bit of flicking between the inputs on the remote revealed very little difference. Depending on the music, it did seem to confirm my initial observations about the CD player having a bit more guts, but not to anything like the degree I was expecting. There is also the possibility that the difference is simply down to the DacMagic's phono output voltage being a bit weaker than the Kandy's (by the sounds of it - I haven't checked the figures), in which case it's simply a volume difference.

Actually, the thing that has surprised me most is not that the DacMagic is (nearly?) as good as the CD player - more that there is, to my ears, very little difference in the sonic signatures of the machines.

Oh, one last thing, the DacMagic makes Spotify and the like sound very pleasant indeed, albeit in a slightly airy, MP3-ish way.

All just my opinion of course. Other opinions welcomed, but please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

I reckon you will get to prefer the DM after a few days....

 

[PJPro]

PJPro:tractorboy:
.....please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

I thought that war had been well and truly won ;-)

Before anyone else asks, is the rest of your system suppressing the "quality" of the Roksan?
Hhhmm. I just noticed your signature. No suppression there then.

 

[Anonymous]

PJPro:PJPro:tractorboy:
.....please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

I thought that war had been well and truly won ;-)

Before anyone else asks, is the rest of your system suppressing the "quality" of the Roksan?
Hhhmm. I just noticed your signature. No suppression there then.

OK, fair question though...

I don't think so, at least not significantly. Arguably the weak link is the M5s, which were in a lower price bracket than the Kandy kit. Having said that, they are splendid little speakers, and are underpinned by a good quality sub. I have no plans to change them.

While I'm here again, I don't see what all the fuss has been about the DacMagic power adaptor (i.e. loads of people saying it's rubbish). It's a pretty weighty, solidly-constructed lump, which accounts for most of the packaged weight. Certainly the cable out of it is the usual flimsy wire, but all it's got to do is carry 12v for a distance of one metre. I don't think shelling out a ton on an "audiophile" replacement is going to be money well spent.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

tractorboy:PJPro:PJPro:tractorboy:
.....please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

I thought that war had been well and truly won ;-)

Before anyone else asks, is the rest of your system suppressing the "quality" of the Roksan?
Hhhmm. I just noticed your signature. No suppression there then.

OK, fair question though...

I don't think so, at least not significantly. Arguably the weak link is the M5s, which were in a lower price bracket than the Kandy kit. Having said that, they are splendid little speakers, and are underpinned by a good quality sub. I have no plans to change them.

While I'm here again, I don't see what all the fuss has been about the DacMagic power adaptor (i.e. loads of people saying it's rubbish). It's a pretty weighty, solidly-constructed lump, which accounts for most of the packaged weight. Certainly the cable out of it is the usual flimsy wire, but all it's got to do is carry 12v for a distance of one metre. I don't think shelling out a ton on an "audiophile" replacement is going to be money well spent.

Couldn't agree more about the power supply.

 

[Craig M.]

interesting, when i had the dacmagic it sounded very different to the kandy cdp. i'm wondering now if the dm was broken in some way.

 

[chebby]

tractorboy:Playing the same tunes simultaneously through both sources, a bit of flicking between the inputs on the remote revealed very little difference. Depending on the music, it did seem to confirm my initial observations about the CD player having a bit more guts, but not to anything like the degree I was expecting. There is also the possibility that the difference is simply down to the DacMagic's phono output voltage being a bit weaker than the Kandy's (by the sounds of it - I haven't checked the figures), in which case it's simply a volume difference.
Actually, the thing that has surprised me most is not that the DacMagic is (nearly?) as good as the CD player - more that there is, to my ears, very little difference in the sonic signatures of the machines.....

.....All just my opinion of course. Other opinions welcomed, but please let's not have another PC source / CD source war.

Your own findings are what I have come to expect.

I still had the Arcam Solo-Mini when I got the Beresford TC-7520 and it was plainly obvious (connected like your DM with USB) that the sound of lossless CD rips was superior the the CD player in the Arcam (itself based on the CD73 clock and WM8740 DAC).

The gap became even more pronounced with a change of opamp in the Beresford. It left the Solo-Mini CD embarassingly far behind.

With the upgrade to the Nait 5i/CD5i the balance was restored and CD now has the edge. (Although Freeview BBC radio fed via optical through the DAC comes very close at times, I can safely say the CD5i is superior on CD replay.)

I am no longer systematically ripping all my most played CDs to iTunes in lossless but using the DAC for radio (Freeview and internet radio), DVD sound, iTunes downloads and BBC iPlayer, last.fm etc. The CDs are back on the shelves and can I treat both sources as roughly equals in their different tasks.

It is a testament to the TC-7520 that it needed (in my case) a CD player that now retails for almost £900 to best it! (Luckily it did not cost me quite that much.)

 

[PJPro]

Gerrardasnails:tractorboy:[snip]...While I'm here again, I don't see what all the fuss has been about the DacMagic power adaptor (i.e. loads of people saying it's rubbish). It's a pretty weighty, solidly-constructed lump, which accounts for most of the packaged weight. Certainly the cable out of it is the usual flimsy wire, but all it's got to do is carry 12v for a distance of one metre. I don't think shelling out a ton on an "audiophile" replacement is going to be money well spent.

Couldn't agree more about the power supply.
I'd hate to turn this into a cable debate but....

People spend a lot of money on power cables believing that they reduce noise/interference resulting in a better sounding product e.g. CDP, amp, etc. I'm not sure that I believe this myself. However, once the power gets into the circuitry of the product, I think that the argument becomes stronger.

You can regard an external power supply as part of the circuitry. Ordinarily, the function performed by the adaptor would be performed by components within the product. A length of flimsy wire carrying low voltages (24V AC in the case of the DAC Magic, I think) over the distance of a metre of more is more likely to be susceptible to inference/noise than a bog standard kettle lead carrying 230V AC. I would assume that the DAC Magic takes steps internally to reduce noise but it's job would be made easier if it received a cleaner supply in the first place.

Also, I suspect that the power adaptor on the DAC Magic is a switched mode unit which is inherently noisy. Regulated linear power supplies are much less noisy and tend to be the choice for audio upgrades. Assuming some effort is taken to protect the power produced while it travels from the adaptor to the product it's powering, I would expect a better performance (sound) to be produced.

I can't verify the above from personal experience as yet. But I am going to build a regulated linear supply to try it out (they're very hard to buy in the UK as a wallwart for some reason).

Perhaps Chebby can shed some light on this. I believe he upgraded his fubar dac by using a dedicated power supply.

 

[chebby]

Yes, back when I was using the Fubar II USB DAC I invested in the matching Firestone Audio 'Supplier' power supply and a 'TM3 Connections' screened Fig-8 mains lead and I also upgraded the opamp to an OPA2107AP.

The dedicated power supply made a clear difference to the bass and dynamic peaks in the music.

(I must get the Fubar kit onto e-bay one day. Thanks for reminding me.)

 

[PJPro]

If you can find an upgraded power supply for the DAC Magic, I reckon it'd be worth a punt. Alternatively, if you're willing to pick up a soldering iron....

 

[John Duncan]

Yes but the 100+ quid that RA want for it is just silly.....

 

[Anonymous]

PJPro:

Also, I suspect that the power adaptor on the DAC Magic is a switched mode unit which is inherently noisy. Regulated linear power supplies are much less noisy and tend to be the choice for audio upgrades.

Unlikely...its supplying AC not DC as you have already noted. Most likely just a 20:1 transformer and not much else.

 

[PJPro]

raym87:
Unlikely...its supplying AC not DC as you have already noted. Most likely just a 20:1 transformer and not much else.

Accepted. My comments relate to DC. I am unfamiliar with AC supplies.