Mods to DACmagic

SteveR750

Well-known member
As in modifications, not an instruction to Mr Everad et al.

There are a few sites offering to upgrade the DACmagic, that appears to be filled with cheapo components. I don't mind parting with £200 if it gets me more of an improvement than selling it, and buying something like a Rega. Anything more than that is a bonus of course, but I'm wary of lots of snake oil sellers out there.

Does anyone have any experience / recommendations?
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
Well as you know I rate the DM very highly, and whilst I haven't heard the DM+, I think it may make waves. Whether you think it sounds better than a Rega or ARcam will be down to personal preference though, I think. Might be worth checking with Richers to see if they're still doing a 30 day trial?

One thing I would say though, is that my Sony Vaio is horrendously noisy when plugged into its power supply and plugged directly into the amp, and this was not *entirely* alleviated when plugged into the DACMagic (there was still a little background noise if you held your ear to the speaker). Are you running your Vaio on battery or mains? If the latter, might be worth trying to isolate it completely by using an Airport Express/Squeezebox/etc...
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
I'm going to call into RS today in Cardiff see if they have any. It would solve my headphone dilemma with the M2 not having a phones amp. I'm a big fan of the DM too - I didn't feel that te chord peach was that much of an improvement (the QBD was altogether soemthing else though).

I'm using my viao on mains, haven't noticed any noise through the system, though the i7 processors seem to run warm, and the fan is on continually which is a pain when listeining at very low levels (luckily rare thing in my house). I just checked, turned the vol down with the PC running spotify, and can hear a faint clicking and hum noise if i put my ear next to the tweeter. Changing source doesn't get rid of it, and it's amp volume dependent, which leads me to suspect it's the amp (which is a bit worrying, as silent its not - glad its a demo amp and not the one I have bought).

EDIT - just tried turning PC off, and the ripple noise disappears. There is still some audible hiss, but I'm sure all of the amps I have owned did that if you listened close enough. The central heating t/stat causes a click too, but we are talking very small, almost inaudible levels (the sound of the central heating, the PC fan etc all drown it out unless you are right up aganst the speaker). I've got the amp plugged straight into the wall, wonder if connecting it to he mains conditioner might help, but then that might restrict current flow into the amp..... I guess it desont help with all of the cables in a spaghetti mess behind the units.
 

atkins4725

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Having owned the original DACmagic for over a year and buying the new plus just yesterday the changed in SQ are apparent from the off, much much better. RS's offer a 14 day money back guarantee if your not happy. Not sure if it applys only to stores without a demo room though.

Overall, a definite upgrade from the original where sound/build are concerned.

IMO of cause :-D
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
Well, I have to agree, out of te box it's a noticeable improvement over the old version, a lot smoother at the top end, is the obvious change, but it's just better balance tonally and more detailed. I always had the filter set to linear, it now sounds very impressive in my system. Am rather pleased, am getting close to a level I am happy with.

One Q though - the volume control is affecting the output vol into my amp, the manual states this is if it is set to digital pre-amp mode. I'm not sure I want extra signal processing, so how do you switch it to non digi preamp? The manual doesnt say how to do this, and clearly you can, because the default statement is that the vol control only works with headphones, and not with the line outs. Mind you its a useful attenuator to "rebalance" the volume pot calibration,I noticed that the M2 is a lot louder sooner than the K2.
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
John Duncan said:
Well as you know I rate the DM very highly, and whilst I haven't heard the DM+, I think it may make waves. Whether you think it sounds better than a Rega or ARcam will be down to personal preference though, I think. Might be worth checking with Richers to see if they're still doing a 30 day trial?

One thing I would say though, is that my Sony Vaio is horrendously noisy when plugged into its power supply and plugged directly into the amp, and this was not *entirely* alleviated when plugged into the DACMagic (there was still a little background noise if you held your ear to the speaker). Are you running your Vaio on battery or mains? If the latter, might be worth trying to isolate it completely by using an Airport Express/Squeezebox/etc...

There is a HUGE difference in noise levels between "battery charging" and "battery full" when the PS is connected to the Viao. With a 100% charged battery, I could only disntinguish between connected and disconnected if I put my ear next to the tweeter with no music playing. When the battery is charging, I could hear it during the quieter parts of The Final Cut. It was enough to get the razor blades out....maybe I should have got a macbook after all, but then..itunes :/
 
A

Anonymous

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The worst Magic's stage is its PSU. The stock external voltage adaptor is quite bad.

I auditioned a Magic DAC with a new external PSU. It adopts a massive toroidal transformer and huge bank of filtering capacitors, followed by dedicated PSUs for digital and analogue stages. These modifications are not cheap but bring excellent results.

There're other easier MODs, like swapping of stock op-amps (NE5532). Some bad quality electrolitic capacitors are also used in the signal path and can be replaced by MKT or MKP ones.
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
It seems it's not battery charging status, though this does worsen things. The noise with the PC plugged into the mains using USB is unacceptbaly high, the only solutions are to play from battery, or disconnect the USB cable and play via the optical link. It's not the PSU from the dac that's the problem, it's the PC.
 

atkins4725

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One Q though - the volume control is affecting the output vol into my amp, the manual states this is if it is set to digital pre-amp mode.

Had a fiddle and if you press and hold the volume button in whilst turning on the unit the volume button ceases.
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
atkins4725 said:
I've no idea, I'm having the same issue. Gunna give RS a call when they open.

What issue?

If it's *noise* from the PC, then it's no fault of the DAC, it's the PC that's the source of the interference.

I haven't found an obvious cure.....(other than playing using the optical toslink connection)
 

kevinJ

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I wouldn't mod the dacmagic. Though it may seem great value for money, at least if there is a real gain in sound quality, it's still "just" a dacmagic. It will always look the same, and I doubt people would pay extra if you told them the dac was modded. (actually, I would pay less).

It would be nice if you could demo a modded dacmagic.
 

atkins4725

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What issue?

If it's *noise* from the PC, then it's no fault of the DAC, it's the PC that's the source of the interference.

I haven't found an obvious cure.....(other than playing using the optical toslink connection)

Sorry, I was replying to the comment about the new DACmgic plus and the ability to turn off the volume control.
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
atkins4725 said:
What issue?

If it's *noise* from the PC, then it's no fault of the DAC, it's the PC that's the source of the interference.

I haven't found an obvious cure.....(other than playing using the optical toslink connection)

Sorry, I was replying to the comment about the new DACmgic plus and the ability to turn off the volume control.

To switch off the digi preamp mode, you need to switch the unit off, then hold down the source button and switch back on. Rotate the vol control either clock or anticlock (cant remember which way but doesnt matter) so that the LEDs flash upwards, then release the inpuit button and press the vol button to set and restart the dac. This disables the volume control. I couldn't find this in the manual that came with the unit, but it was on the pdf version off the CA site. Maybe it's just an age thing...
 

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