Cambridge Dacmagic PSU conundrum

[Lawrence001]

I've had one a few weeks, I believe it comes with a 12v SMPS, it's a wall wart anyway. Strangely when I substitute it for a Maplin regulated PSU set to 12v, I get a lot of distortion when I play music. You can just recognise the tune underneath the noise but it's horrible. The PSU has worked nicely with other 12v dacs in the past.

Wondering if the polarity was the wrong way round, I first measured my PSU, 12v centre positive, then the SMPS. Nothing, a few mV randomly in either direction as the pins touched. Can you not measure the voltage across a SMPS with a standard multimeter? What could be going on here?

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[Stryder5]

The Cambridge Dacmagic is A/C is your Maplin D/C?

[Lawrence001]

The Cambridge Dacmagic is A/C is your Maplin D/C?

Ah I had assumed wall wart PSUs were DC, hadn't checked that, it would explain the noise then!

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[Stryder5]

swagman audio do a reportedly good power supply at 16v A/C about £100 ish.

You'll find them on eBay.

Gary

[Lawrence001]

swagman audio do a reportedly good power supply at 16v A/C about £100 ish.

You'll find them on eBay.

Gary

Thanks does it make a difference? The Maplin was £15 so it was a no brainer but £100 is a bit more of an investment.

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[Stryder5]

Thanks does it make a difference? The Maplin was £15 so it was a no brainer but £100 is a bit more of an investment.

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Which Dac Magic do you have exactly there seems to be loads of different versions. Maybe not a good investment to spend £100.

[Lawrence001]

The first modern version, I just stuck it in my headphone system, I've not compared to my best ones yet.

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