Any Digital Impressions of the Caiman yet?

[Junglist]

Thanks for your reply Marscay, very useful.

Forgive my ignorance, but I thought the 7520 was the same as the 7510 with a phono out and USB connection?

The whole modding thing is difficult to stack, as obviously the DACMagic can get modded as well, but the advantage of the Caiman is it requires no further expenditure beyond the basic unit.

I take your point with following numbers, a DAC can have awesome specs but sound dry as hell. I didn't get on with the Benchmark DAC1 personally, and I'm definitely in the minority there. However I do have a pretty revealing system so there is a real drop in resolution I will definitely notice it.

I wonder if there is there anyone who has heard the DACMagic and the Caiman running side by side who can comment further?

I used a DACMagic for a week and i compared it to a 7510 that i also had, there wasn't much in it but the DACMagic had more detail although it sounded a little thin to me.

There is not much doubt to me that the 7520 is a better DAC than the DACMagic imo however and once you add some better opamps it is clearly a better performer and the 'Caiman' improves on the 7520 again by quite a bit.

You can't really go by SNR numbers and the like, some of the enthausiast soundcards (Xonar/Auzentech) have good DAC's and decent specs but they still don't cut the mustard for me.

[StanleyB]

I wonder if there is there anyone who has heard the DACMagic and the Caiman running side by side who can comment further?

I have not had the opportunity to test the Caiman against any other DACs below £1K. However, the comparisons with far more expensive ones have been piling up in my email box.
One should remember that the DM is a Chinese mass market made product, whilst the Caiman isn't.

[therockst4r]

I have not had the opportunity to test the Caiman against any other DACs below £1K. However, the comparisons with far more expensive ones have been piling up in my email box.
One should remember that the DM is a Chinese mass market made product, whilst the Caiman isn't.

Where is the Caiman made?

[The Vinyl Adventure]

i was to impatient to wait til i got home to have a listen so i brought it to work



its not the ideal situatuion to get an impresion of sound quality... i dont really like the nad kit and it doesnt gel at all well with the monitor audio speakers we sell .. to my ear at least! but once the beresford was in there was def improved dynamics... i just want to go home now!

[StanleyB]

Where is the Caiman made?

In Taiwan, and mostly hand produced in small quantity. Each unit is individually tested afterwards and then carefully and lovingly packed in eco friendly packaging.

[Junglist]

I have not had the opportunity to test the Caiman against any other DACs below £1K. However, the comparisons with far more expensive ones have been piling up in my email box.
One should remember that the DM is a Chinese mass market made product, whilst the Caiman isn't.

Thanks for your reply Stan.

I don't really understand DAC design, but I was wondering if you could tell me how much the chip itself contributes towards the sound of the DAC, and how much is due to the other elements? With respect to the DACMagic I was wondering whether it running two of (nearly) the same chip provides any intrinsic benefit over the single chip in your design. I understand that the Caiman has other elements like the op-amps and caps which sound like they have been intelligently chosen to contribute to the overall sound quality.

I find the resolution from the DACMagic to be very impressive but I do feel it lacks a bit of sweetness in the treble and has a slightly digital feel which I am looking to improve on. I have compared it to a ~£2000 DAC which uses the same chipset and it sounded identical.

I am very tempted by the Caiman at it's attractive price, I guess I'm just waiting for a few more user reviews to come in.

Thanks

Junglist

[StanleyB]

Someone asked me why I used the WM8716 instead of the WM8740, and I replied 'go figure' . The specs of the WM8740 might be better on paper, but bolting a NE5534 at its analogue output neuters the benefits gained earlier on.

[Gazjam]

I'd be curious to hear a fitted WM8741 - apparently the "best dac chip in the world" (according to Linn...)

[marscay]

The whole modding thing is difficult to stack, as obviously the DACMagic can get modded as well, but the advantage of the Caiman is it requires no further expenditure beyond the basic unit.

I take your point with following numbers, a DAC can have awesome specs but sound dry as hell. I didn't get on with the Benchmark DAC1 personally, and I'm definitely in the minority there. However I do have a pretty revealing system so there is a real drop in resolution I will definitely notice it.

I wonder if there is there anyone who has heard the DACMagic and the Caiman running side by side who can comment further?

Big advantage of the 7520 & Caiman is that you can modify the opamps yourself in 5mins, the DACMagic doesn't have socketed opamps afaik.

I am feeding an Arcam AV9 with the Caiman and it sounds wonderful, from my limited testing so far it's pulling more resolution than the AV9 so that's a pretty decent complement right there considering it's £3.5k price tag just a year ago.

[Spur07]

"I have compared it to a ~£2000 DAC which uses the same chipset and it sounded identical."

junglist, which dac was that?