Equipment Review: Cambridge Audio DacMagic 3

Cambridge Audio DacMagic 3 is an external Digital Analog Converter (DAC), convert digital signal (from CD player or digital streaming music) to analog signal, then amplified to speaker. It comes with two colour of choice, silver and black finishes.



The DacMagic3 's performance is boosted by its Adaptive Time Filtering (ATF™) asynchronous upsampling.

It has Dual Wolfson WM8740 24bit DACs, a Texas Instruments TMS 320VC5501 DSP upsampling digital filter and a 2-Pole Dual Differential Bessel Double Virtual Earth Balanced analog filter.



The DacMagic3 offers one coaxial and one optical digital output, and standard single ended (RCA) and balanced (XLR) analog outputs.

There are two Digital inputs for connection to two digital sources. Each input has both S/P DIF and TOSLINK types fitted. Only one of the two types for each input should be connected at any one time. If both the optical and co-axial outputs have connections made to them (even if only one is attempting to function), neither
will work.

One of additional feature of DacMagic3 is USB input which can be connected to PC soundcard. I will leave others to review as I have not using this feature as writing this review.

There are three filter/phase select, namely, linear phase, minimum phase and steep phase.

First impression with DacMagic without full run-in, I can easily hear a wider, different depth of music and good separation of music instruments. However, it sounds over dynamic and bright initially.

After 50 hours run-in, the over dynamic and bright effect subsequently reduced. DacMagic3 brings deeper, warmer and dynamic soundstage, improve clarity over different depth of music, separation, also with the proper speaker placement setup, the system produce a very good and clear 3D sound imaging especially at mid-range (vocal) frequencies. I tried them at both digital sources, i.e. CA 540C CD player and Squeezebox Classic.

Slight improvement of sound using RCA interconnect from DacMagic 3 compared to the same RCA interconnect from CA 540C CD player and/or Squeezebox Classic internal DAC. With XLR interconnect, there's much improvement of sound and clarity.

However, I can't really hear much different between the three different filter/phase select, probably based on my listening music genres, vocal, jazz, classical, new age. Mostly I listen with minimum phase (default) selected.

Overall, I would say DacMagic3 has meet my expectation with reasonable price and yet deliver good quality, improvement to my sound system.

Let's hear other DacMagic3 owners share their review and opinions based on different perspective, music genres, and setup.

Enjoy the music !



Audio Setup:
Digital Source : Cambridge Audio 540C V2 CD player, Slim Devices Squeezebox Classic network media player
DAC : Cambrige Audio DacMagic 3
Amplifier: Krell KAV-400xi
Speaker: Sonus Faber Concertino Domus
Interconnect: Audioquest Copperhead RCA Interconnect ; Van den Hul the Source RCA Interconnect; Cardas Quadlink 5C XLR Interconnect; MIT RG 6 Digital Coaxial Interconnect
Speaker Cable: Van den Hul the GoldWater

hi Auronthas...

Recently added the DAC into my Hifi equation. What a difference .

Connectivity is CDP --> DAC --> Tube Buffer --> Amp.

The charateristics when connected out of the "box" is similar to your views. There is definetly clarity in the music, better separation, detailed but a bit on the lively side.

For comparison, the DAC was removed from the equation and there is an immediate difference, even with my upgraded DAC chip in my CDP. Suddenly everything sounded lethargic but before the DAC it sounded mesmerising . Next comparison the DAC was back into the equation and Tube buffer taken out.

The "warmth" of the music being played is not there any more. But the DAC still maintained its character. Can live both ways.

So that justifies the investment of both the hardware. Now it 's down to putting in the hours for the DAC to reach its full potential.

Any recommendation on the Cable between the DAC and AMP - QED, Monster and does it need to be a Co-Axial ?

cheers

Hi,

Do you know who is the local distributor for the DAC Magic?

Thanks.

hywong2005 wrote:Hi,

Do you know who is the local distributor for the DAC Magic?

Thanks.

I know CMY carries them. Not sure about other shops.

Saw a few shops in Amcorp mall as well on display. Not sure brand new or 2nd hand.