The rear panel of the DacMagic is almost as crowded as my shaving shelf. And there's a USB input for use with a computer or a networked music source. Two digital inputs allow a choice of connection via S/PDIF coaxial or TosLink optical. A child might be trained and pressed into service. It would be great to have this accessible from the remote control. The DacMagic also features a phase-inversion button. There's also a pair of RCA outs, for unbalanced types like me. You can run the DacMagic from its balanced XLR analog outputs into a balanced preamp and power amp for maximum noise cancellation. Two per channel operate in dual-differential mode for maximum noise reduction. The D/A chips are the same Wolfson WMB8740 24-bit DACs used in Cambridge Audio's Azur 740C and 840C CD players. (I love to razz JA about this upsampling business.) The DacMagic upsamples to 24 bits/192kHz any incoming sample rate at 16 or 24 bits of resolution and from 32 to 96kHz. They're not real, of courseexcept that they are. Upsampling creates additional digital data points out of thin air. ATF is built around a 32-bit Texas Instruments digital signal processor that "upsamples" the signal fed to it. The DacMagic features the Adaptive Time Filtering (ATF) process, which Cambridge licenses from Anagram Technologies of Switzerland. (I calculated that I could save more than $16,500 by buying every product in a recent Audio Advisor catalog. When you consider that, 20 years ago, one of the first DACs, the Musical Fidelity Digilog, sold for $995, this is a fantastic bargain. That allows Audio Advisor to sell it for $399 and "save" you $50. The DacMagic has a suggested selling price of $449. (Do turn it and the rest of your hi-fi off when you leave for a weekend or a vacation, and when electrical storms are forecast.) There's an On/Off switch, but the DacMagic sounds much better when left powered up most of the time. I can imagine some British entrepreneurs offering alternative power supplies for the DacMagic. I'd beware of power strips and conditioners, however, which, in my experience, are as likely to screw up as enhance the sound. IKEA carries some nice, small power strips, and there are other accessories for dealing with awkward wall warts. One reason it takes up so little space is that it comes with a humongous wall-wart power supply so big it could conceivably fall out of a loose socket. Squeeze it in next to your Slim Devices Squeezebox. Operation of the DacMagic is as intuitive and straightforward as can be.Įrgonomically, this little bugger is brilliant: 8.6" (215mm) high by 2" (52mm) wide by 7.6" (191mm) deep when you place it on end on its rubbery bed. I bet the manual scares away some customers it shouldn't. It's filled with things you don't need to know and that probably interest only John Atkinson. In fairness, this is because the manual is in three languages (but why not Russian?). That Bramble likes to ramble is proven by the 105-page instruction manual for the Cambridge Audio DacMagic. I visited the design headquarters of Cambridge Audio in London several years ago and met their technical director, Matthew Bramble, who used to work for another well-known British hi-fi manufacturer now Bramble is a thorn in their side. Andmy goodnesshe did it by offering value. Today, Cambridge Audio is based in London, and their stuff is made in China at factories owned or controlled by Cambridge Audio, which in turn is part of The Audio Partnership, controlled by Julian Richer, who got richer than Croesus with Richer Sounds, said to be the UK's single most successful audio retailer in terms of revenue per square foot. Once outboard DACs and upmarket CD players became available, modified players largely disappeared. It turned out that lavishing four or five hours of labor on a $149 frog to turn it into a $499 prince was not a sustainable business model. Many audiophiles chose Philips/Magnavox models that had been modified by boutique kludgemeisters. (There was even a DAC called the Dacula.) US companies got into the DAC race, tooat higher prices, of course.Īt the time, there were almost no high-end CD players. But the DAC race was on, led by the British. At about the same time, within a few weeks of each other, Arcam introduced their Delta Black Box and Musical Fidelity their Digilog. In 1989, Cambridge Audio, then run by Stan Curtiswho is still active in hi-fi introduced their DAC 1.
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