DacMagic VS same priced cd-player

[PJPro]

Octopo:RCduck7:
If you were using it to compareÿwith old cd player analogue then off coursse you hear difference, but between digital and dacmagic??

It would be more interesting if you could explain "digital" a little better? Equipment used to get "digital" sound?ÿ

Yes. My thoughts exactly. I'm not sure what is meant by digital.

I would have to agree with JD though. For me, the primary benefit of the DAC is the ability to bin the CDP and use an audiofile (deliberate spelling mistake) source. It's the combination of the HDD and DAC (with properly configured software of course) that makes the difference.

As the Guys at Chord pointed out to me, the Chordette Gem DAC is based on an off the shelf component and would provide no discernable benefit over even a modest CDP (I was surprised they said this BTW). I never did get round to writing up that encounter, did I. Too angry to be objective, I think.

 

[RCduck7]

Octopo:RCduck7:

If you were using it to compare with old cd player analogue then off coursse you hear difference, but between digital and dacmagic??

It would be more interesting if you could explain "digital" a little better? Equipment used to get "digital" sound?

I mean digital out by coax or optic fibre.

I tested it easely on a surround receiver to compare between analogue and coax/optical (is digital).

Then to test it on a stereo amp, there will be no digital connection on a stereo amp if it is a pure analogue one (mine is a new breed of class A 2x250W at 8ohm Mark Levinson 41 kg beast).

Ok, the CD player has 2 digital outs (optical and coaxial)

So with this i needed the surround receiver (becausse it accepts digital in) where my digital connection went into, then with the L+R preouts of the surround receiver to the stereo amp on the 2nd source and on the 1st source is the dacmagic digital in and analogue out.

I will be on a trip this weekend so i won't reply for a few days.

happy hollydays!!

 

[Anonymous]

So you are comparing a Yamahaÿ640 with a Mark Levinson amp. Happy hollydays!!

 

[PJPro]

OK. Well you might be right. It is likely the actual DAC in both components is the same. Clearly, the architecture within which they sit can have audible differences.....but I don't think it'll be much.

Let's be massively controversial (especially as I haven't heard the DAC Magic). Let's say that all bugdet DACs (less than £350) sound about the same. Let's also say that a budget DAC won't provide a significant improvement on a CDP.

If we accept this, you aren't going to hear a big difference in sound quality unless you use the DAC to allow the use of a different transport.

Hmmmm. Have I gone too far?

 

[Anonymous]

Yep. Dac Magic has made no improvement on my Onkyo 875 DACs regardless of source.

 

[RCduck7]

Octopo:So you are comparing a Yamaha 640 with a Mark Levinson amp. Happy hollydays!!

Eerrgghhh... NO! I'm bypassing the amp in the yamaha by using the preouts to go to the stereo amp you see.

A pure analogue stereo amp has no digital in!! How would it otherwise be done.

On another note, the other guy has a NAD T175 surround processor which very good for music for stereo use to, he could compare it straight digital in versus dacmagic,he hears no difference, as said before by PJPro, in this price category dac cd player versus digital propably no difference.

Merry Christmas!! cya

 

[Anonymous]

I'm not defending the DM here, I don't own one nor have I ever heard one - I'm just interested in what you were saying. I just wish you could be a little clearer on the set up you've been using, before it seemed your amplification was the Yamaha but now it's the Levinson!ÿ

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Octopo:I'm not defending the DM here, I don't own one nor have I ever heard one - I'm just interested in what you were saying. I just wish you could be a little clearer on the set up you've been using, before it seemed your amplification was the Yamaha but now it's the Levinson!

Exactly my view - I even stated earlier that an AV receiver will not show up the benefits of the DM. Let me set my view clear. I bought the £200 Dacmagic knowing that if it was no good, I could sell it for virtually the same price. I did not need to keep it. The idea was to replace my Arcam FMJ DV27A which was my dvd player and cd spinner with a bluray player - I was never going to play cds with that so I had to try something. The DM is brilliant. I don't use the BD player as transport now because a) Lossless files sound better and b) It's much easier having a juke box on my screen and a remote control instead of cases, eject buttons etc. The DM with lossless files is most definitely a step up from budget cd players up to and around the £500 mark. I would not bother saying this if it wasn't the case - I would have sold it and gone for a Benchmark or added another cd player instead. As I've stated also before, your amp, connections and speakers are also important to hear the benefits of the DM. If you have £200 speakers and a £200 amp, it might be that you won't hear the benefits - no different to if you matched weaker components to one that is better.

 

[Anonymous]

I wonder how this compares to upgrading the sound card and just connecting directly between an amp and the pc.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

hi fi newbie:

I wonder how this compares to upgrading the sound card and just connecting directly between an amp and the pc.

I reckon you would need to spend more than £200 on a soundcard to better a decent external DAC.

 

[PJPro]

Gerrardasnails:Octopo:I'm not defending the DM here, I don't own one nor have I ever heard one - I'm just interested in what you were saying. I just wish you could be a little clearer on the set up you've been using, before it seemed your amplification was the Yamaha but now it's the Levinson!

Exactly my view - I even stated earlier that an AV receiver will not show up the benefits of the DM. Let me set my view clear. I bought the £200 Dacmagic knowing that if it was no good, I could sell it for virtually the same price. I did not need to keep it. The idea was to replace my Arcam FMJ DV27A which was my dvd player and cd spinner with a bluray player - I was never going to play cds with that so I had to try something. The DM is brilliant. I don't use the BD player as transport now because a) Lossless files sound better and b) It's much easier having a juke box on my screen and a remote control instead of cases, eject buttons etc. The DM with lossless files is most definitely a step up from budget cd players up to and around the £500 mark. I would not bother saying this if it wasn't the case - I would have sold it and gone for a Benchmark or added another cd player instead. As I've stated also before, your amp, connections and speakers are also important to hear the benefits of the DM. If you have £200 speakers and a £200 amp, it might be that you won't hear the benefits - no different to if you matched weaker components to one that is better.

I think we are getting somewhere here. Here are my conclusions.

1) If you have a half good CDP, then the DAC Magic isn't going to improve things by much if you continue to use the CDP transport.

2) If you have a DVD player (a device not dedicated to CD playback) you are likely to hear a bigger improvement but the overall end result is unlikely to be an improvement on 1).

3) If you combine the DAC with an improved transport, eg HDD, and lossless rips, eg FLAC, you will hear the most improvement.

Anyone disagree with those statements? Happy to be wrong.

The next issue, of course, is whether the DAC that you buy will make a significant difference eg is the sound quality from the DAC Magic appreciably better than the Beresford? I suspect there will be differences.....but I wouldn't expect them to be massive. If I didn't have the Beresford, I think my choice would be based on factors other than sound quality. Again, happy to be wrong.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Gerrard, bearing in mind the distance issue i have between pc and hi fi and no laptop, is airport express the only solution

and also how does the beresford compare?

 

[PJPro]

Gerrardasnails:hi fi newbie:

I wonder how this compares to upgrading the sound card and just connecting directly between an amp and the pc.

I reckon you would need to spend more than £200 on a soundcard to better a decent external DAC.
There are two problems with sound cards.

1) They tend to have funny/clever software that does things that you might prefer it didn't. Sometimes you can configure the software to do the minimum. Sometimes you can't. Why does the soundcard do funny things? Cos the manufacturer is trying to cater to a multitude of possible uses. And most software assumes the user is entirely ignorant/stupid....and just wants it to work.

2) The inside of a PC is a noisy place. Better to get the audio signal out of the PC as quickly as possible to do the processing.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

hi fi newbie:

Hi Gerrard, bearing in mind the distance issue i have between pc and hi fi and no laptop, is airport express the only solution

and also how does the beresford compare?

I don't use Airport Express, I use a Linksys Media Center extender. It connects to my screen via hdmi and has optical, coaxial and RCA audio outs. I connect it to my DacMagic with coaxial. I get a streamed version of my pc's media center (see picture here http://www.flickr.com/photos/23064703@N05/2977530509/) and the remote navigates through all my media. I can also view films and photos stored on my pc's hard drive and if I wanted to I could watch and record tv through it also.

I've not listened to the Beresford. I bought my DM just as it came out and before any reviews. Since then it's won product of the year with this mag and Hifi Choice. It beat the Beresford in the review from this mag but it's up to you and probably your system whether it would be worth the extra £80 or whatever it is.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi gerrardsnails i see youve got the linksys media center funny as i was lookin at one today in maplins! Silly question although it didnt say on the box does it play wma loseless ok

 

[Gerrardasnails]

garethwd:Hi gerrardsnails i see youve got the linksys media center funny as i was lookin at one today in maplins! Silly question although it didnt say on the box does it play wma loseless ok

I only use WMA Lossless - so yes it does.

 

[Rookwood16]

For those with exprence of the dac magic, which connection would you recommencd with the cambridge audio 840a v1?

Use the xlr capability? or just stick with a phono connection?

I'm only going to be using one meter or less cables.