Opinions on Cambridge Audio DacMagic

[sburrell]

Hi,

Thinking of getting one of these as there're a few on eBay for a reasonable price. How does it compare to a fully-upgraded 7510 (except for the passive mod)?

Thanks.

[wee tee cee]

Great wee DAC.I have had one for couple of years,my son uses it now.I bought a russ andrews PSU for it which improved things noticeably,dare say the maplin Psu would do the same for less.Cant compare it with the 7510 but it does 95% of what my MF M1 does.

[Themis]

When you say "fully upgraded 7510" you mean a Caiman ?

If it's the case, then a Dac Magic is no better. Slightly different, certainly.

[sburrell]

Themis, I think I recall reading that you couldn't upgrade the 7510 as far as a Caiman (or possibly even the 7520) because of insurmountable internal differences.
I came across a What HiFi? comparison that claimed the DacMagic was better than a 7520, so that along with your endorsement Tony encourages me to give bidding a punt.

Thanks

[Themis]

If it's "just" an upgraded 7510 then DacMagic is better, if I recall properly.
Better jitter rejection and better upsampling. Less "raw", imho.

There are better options (like Tubemagic) but it's a fairly neutral dac. Does the job well.

[DSJR]

Stan is such an obliging chap and the Caiman is so tweakable, I'd still be inclined to look there instead, as there's such a large Caiman fraternity here..

[dave2010]

I borrowed a DacMagic from Richer sounds (sometimes they'll let you do that...) and took it back a few days later. As I recall it didn't give a significantly better output than either my Squeezebox or my CD player. I then ordered a Caiman, which certainly seemed different initially, and to my surprise seemed to have a substantial burn in period over which the SQ did seem to improve significantly. One advantage of my Caiman (an unmodified one) is that it has a headphone output, which has on occasions been very useful. Some would say that a better headphone amplifier is needed for really serious listening on good quality headphones, but at the price the Caiman was very good value for me. Maybe Stan is still offering a discount if you mention this forum.

The DacMagic is good, but I felt it didn't give me anything extra over my other kit at the time. For a replacement for a computer sound card etc. it's undoubtedly very good.

Since then other DACs have come on the scene - some in the same price range, and arguably some better ones at higher prices.

The prices for "pre-owned" DAcMagics and Caimans on eBay are not dissimilar.

[Welder]

I thought the Cambridge Dac Magic sounded rather dry and un-involving personally.

[RobHolt]

Had a DM here for a couple of years and can't fault it.
In fact its our stock budget dac recommendation along with the MF V-Dac. Nothing between them.
Never tried a Caiman but also looks a decent bit of kit.

[pjdowns]

IMHO the Caimen wipes the floor with a DacMagic.

There is just more life, more control, bigger sound stage... and as DSJR pointed out it can be upgraded if you want to.

When I first got mine it took quite a long 'burn in' period to sound at it's best but now it is something quite exceptional.

The combination of it with the Squeezebox gives my Naim CDI a run for it's money which still shocks me.. Yes, the CDI is better, but not much considering the difference in the initial cost differences.

Paul.