Question about Dac Magic for AAC

[Gerrardasnails]

hi fi newbie:Has the soundstage been the biggest improvement you have noticed?

For me, it sounds liquid smooth, very tight accurate bass and yes the soundstage can be explained by my other half walking up to the centre speaker in my set up, not believing there was nothing coming from it.

 

[Anonymous]

I presume though you are listening solely with lossless and not with AAC?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

hi fi newbie:I presume though you are listening solely with lossless and not with AAC?

Yes, I have all my albums ripped WMA Lossless.

 

[Anonymous]

Okay thanks, overall though I am thinking it's probably easier to attach an external hd to the ps3 and hook up a usb cable going from ps3 to the dac magic, are you able to do this?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

hi fi newbie:

Okay thanks, overall though I am thinking it's probably easier to attach an external hd to the ps3 and hook up a usb cable going from ps3 to the dac magic, are you able to do this?

I know nothing about PS3s I'm afraid - not my bag at all.

 

[professorhat]

hi fi newbie:Okay thanks, overall though I am thinking it's probably easier to attach an external hd to the ps3 and hook up a usb cable going from ps3 to the dac magic, are you able to do this?

I don't think you're going to be able to get sound out from the PS3 via the USB cable, I'm 99.9% positive you would have to go optical into the DAC. Also, remember my point about playlists and the like with an external hard drive connected to the PS3.

 

[Anonymous]

Ah okay but I could attach an external hdd with wav files and then attach an optical cable to the dac, thanks

 

[professorhat]

Yup, that should work. I can try it out for you when I get home if you like.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah thanks appreciate that

 

[professorhat]

Just checked, took an external HDD and imported a few songs into WAVs and then copied them on to it and attached with USB to PS3. PS3 is hooked into AV amp (yours would obviously go into your external DAC via optical) and then go and play a tune and it all comes through fine.

With the external HDD, you can group your songs into different folders on the drive and in this way get playlists.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that, I have played some .wav files on the ps3 and it does sound quite good albeit the notes and in particular the bass is leaner. I hope the Dac magic lives up to the hype

 

[Anonymous]

hi fi newbie:
I hope the Dac magic lives up to the hype

Don't...Don't, Don't......Don't....Don't, Don't, Don't Believe the hype....(now here's what I want you all to do with the DAC).....

Nah, just kiddin'. It's a really good bit of kit!

 

[Andrew Everard]

Is there anything you haven't tested/don't know about/didn't decide at the age of six you had to have?

 

[manicm]

Andrew Everard:Is there anything you haven't tested/don't know about/didn't decide at the age of six you had to have?

And someone should really tell him London Calling is an overrated piece of tosh (except for the brilliant title track).

Ok Hughes, Andrew took a dig at you and I couldn't help myself either, the coward that I am

And I'm just teasing you Hughes, as for you Andrew...

 

[professorhat]

hi fi newbie:Thanks for that, I have played some .wav files on the ps3 and it does sound quite good albeit the notes and in particular the bass is leaner. I hope the Dac magic lives up to the hype

You've already done it? So why am I testing it for you?!

 

[Anonymous]

i did so after you confirmed it

 

[professorhat]

Ah well, that explains everything...

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:Let us know how you get on...

Well a week later, it's all rigged up and I have also received a new I/C (vdh). The XLRs are on their way too hopefully.

There is a (BiiiiG) problem though... I can't seem to hear ANY difference between with/without DAC.

In the shop, the difference was highly noticeable. At home zilch. Nada.

I've connected the amp to the DacMagic with the new vdh I/C, then coax from DM to blu-ray player.

I've also got another I/C running directly from BDP to my amp.

When I switch sources on the amp. It all sounds JUST THE SAME.

Have I done something wrong?

Do I need to change a setting somewhere?

Please help if you can. I will later be checking out some digital files via USB (as my lappie doesn't have digital out apparently). I don't want more disappointment.

 

[Anonymous]

JD? Gerrard? Any bawdy pls?

 

[Gerrardasnails]

momo72:
JD? Gerrard? Any bawdy pls?

Did you test the same bluray player with your amp and DacMagic in the shop?? I can't see what you are doing wrong. For me the difference was clear and with lossless files, night and day.

 

[John Duncan]

momo72:
JD? Gerrard? Any bawdy pls?

Sorry, up to ears, will put down some thoughts later. Though in short, I think you're getting the correct results.......

 

[Anonymous]

Gerrardasnails:Did you test the same bluray player with your amp and DacMagic in the shop?? I can't see what you are doing wrong. For me the difference was clear and with lossless files, night and day.

In the shop, the audition was on CA CDP and Amp (540 or 640) as it was already pre-connected "on the shelves" (demo room not available). The difference with quite obvious.

At home with my Blu-ray player, I just can't hear any difference at all. I'm gonna try it again tonight though. I need to test properly with lossless files as I didn't have time last night.

Thanks John, no worries.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

momo72:
Gerrardasnails:Did you test the same bluray player with your amp and DacMagic in the shop?? I can't see what you are doing wrong. For me the difference was clear and with lossless files, night and day.

In the shop, the audition was on CA CDP and Amp (540 or 640) as it was already pre-connected "on the shelves" (demo room not available). The difference with quite obvious.

At home with my Blu-ray player, I just can't hear any difference at all. I'm gonna try it again tonight though. I need to test properly with lossless files as I didn't have time last night.

Thanks John, no worries.

The 840 should make even more difference then! Seriously, if you can't hear a difference with lossless files, I will be shocked. I'm shocked enough that you can't hear a difference with the BD player. I know what John will say in that cd player and DAC on his system were the same but his cd player is a good one and not a BD player. The BD player should not sound that great.

 

[John Duncan]

Right, yes I will say that a half decent DAC in a CD player will sound pretty much the same as a DACMagic, so it may be that the BD player actually has a half-decent DAC. But, aside from it obviously improving my 50 quid Pioneer DVD player, I've shied away from recommending it as a cure-all for lesser disc players, since I'm not convinced the benefits will be any more than marginal.

Whilst it might do no more than perk up a bog-standard disc player - which may be limited more by its disc mechanism than its DAC - what the DACMagic (and any other DAC, obviously) does do, however, is allow you to feed lossless files to it from a computer. This is where the 'Magic' comes in, to my mind, and is the best reason for having one (apart from additionally giving you balanced option for your 840, if I read and recall that correctly).

 

[Anonymous]

I've now plugged in my XLR i/c, and connected my vdh i/c from BDP to amp. Further testing and listening last night suggested a minor improvement through the DM box. Not nothing as noticeable as what I could hear in the shop. Which is really frustrating me I gotta say. The one possible weak link in my current setup could be the cheapo digital coax (Cambridge something), but I'm not convinced.

One question though: What filter effect do you have on? Is it possible to turn them off completely? I thought I had read in the manual that one can press and hold the Filter/Phase button for 2 seconds then it goes off. I tried that but to no avail. Still showing as Lin(ear), etc.