Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 - Digital to Analogue Converter with Toslink, S/PDIF, and USB Inputs Featuring 24-bit Wolfson DAC - Silver

Product Information

This provides valuable information about the quality of the audio being processed, allowing you to ensure the DAC is handling the audio at the correct sample rate.

We experienced a real, original chain of notes in the musical version of the two young people’s tragic love story. They very limit the stage, close it in a small area, are grainy, unpleasantly sharpen the top of the range and play quite dark. Connecting the new power supply made the sound more analytical, the stage gained a lot of space (mainly in depth) and a clearer height dimension appeared. Specialists from creating power supplies would probably point out a few design mistakes and thought that the power supply is overvalued, but my basic assumption was to create a 12V 3A device, which DacMagic 100 will not use, but my second DAC ASUS Xonar STU DAC already yes, that’s why I created two twin constructions.

I was curious about the changes introduced by the ELNA SILMIC II capacitors, because I never used them before. El Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 is a digital to analog converter (DAC) that, thanks to its 24-bit Wolfson chip, a USB Audio 1. Either DAC will probably bear out their manufacturer’s claim of improving virtually any (budget) digital source. Compared to the Marantz it was slightly, very slightly, cooler in tone and maybe a little more open, allowing fractionally more air around the performers but at the expense of being more recessed. With three different digital connectivity options and the ability to connect four devices concurrently, DacMagic 100 is a true digital music enhancement hub.

It proved necessary to reinstall the driver to get the 100 working again, making it impossible to carry out any A/B tests using the USB inputs.Of course, this flexibility has its limits, but it is large enough to give even a little joy to listen to each of such extremely different genres of music as reggae or rock. With three different types of digital connections and the possibility of connecting up to four devices at the same time, the Cambridge DacMagic 100 is a device that truly enhances all your digital music.

I'm a senior who needed help to install it and Cheltenham Richer Sounds couldn't have been more patient on the phone, even sending me hard copy PDF instructions by post on how to disable APD. The use of the jumpers is unfortunately associated with the risk of appearance a DC component on the DAC output in the event of a failure. I must admit, that the sockets used in the DacMagic 100 are of decent quality and this type of sockets also occurs in much more expensive constructions. The power supply has passed short-circuit and load tests and I also checked if it not generates interference.Operational amplifiers are in the SO-8 enclosure, what making it a bit difficult to swap opamps, which is why I chose two favorites for testing, these are MUSES8820 and MUSES8920. It must be admitted that Cambridge Audio has contributed to the task in this matter and decoupling capacitors can be found in many places on the device. Short circuit of the relay positively influenced the sound, the changes were audible at once, it was a clear step towards more analog sound. Like the rest of the products Cambridge Audio, the DacMagic 100 was custom developed from scratch by the design team at the central London premises. Far from being obstructed by the considerably larger and costlier DACs in this month's group evaluation, the DacMagic 100 produced a wonderful performance in the listening tests.

I'm not a big Zeppelin fan, but I couldn't help but notice how much more articulate the bottom end sounded without sacrificing any of the whomp. In principle, from a technical point of view, it was obvious from the beginning, but as we know, what “on paper” does not always reflect what we are actually able to hear. If someone likes the energy and the attack served by this DAC, he should try MUSE ES, these capacitors perfectly match the character of DacMagic 100. Simply plug the DacMagic 100 digital-to-analog converter in between your source's digital audio output and your receiver, amp, or powered speakers. Perhaps my favorite feature, the DacMagic 100 includes a display or LED indicator that shows the incoming sample rate of the audio signal.

This modification once again showed me that it is worth taking a look inside the device and not treating it like a black box. It also has 24 bit / 96 kHz USB audio, 1 digital Toslink and 2 digital coaxial and Phono inputs and RCA analog outputs.