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Digital sources

lordsummit

lordsummit

Moderator
Ok, so I want to get a good cheap digital source, I've got a Cambridge 540 v2 CD player somewhere, and I could simply plug this in. Alternatively I could splash out, there's enough for a Dacmagic 100 in the budget, or the Teac UDH-01 or the MF V-DAC II. With these I could plug my laptop in via it's usb socket I presume. I've a lot of music on a hard drive, it would be nice to be able to get at that relatively easily. Streaming isn't really on the agenda, it's not something I'm after at the moment.

Alternatively I could lash out on a newer CD player for about £250, nothing fancy, but with kids around, and not enough time to listen, haven't got loads of money to chuck at it.

Basically is there any consensus on the DACs? I'm guessing that there is nothing really between them, in which case I'll choose the one I like the look of the most. Will the CD player do them justice? Or should I just buy the best CD player I can afford? Or mess around with something like a Marantz CD63 KI?

Just playing at the moment, but who knows where it will lead........
 
Well, the CD player is great so the only reason to splash out is for getting music out the PC. To expand on that, the DacMagic 100 is basically the same as the CD player internals. The DacMagic Plus is better but not in budget and I doubt you will hear the small improvement.

To get music out of the PC I recommend a Behringer UCA202 or possibly a decent internal soundcard (I have heard good things about, but haven't personally tried Asus Xonar range and Creative X-Fi).
 
I have the Dacmagic 100 and the Teac UDH-01 and of the two I prefer the TEAC, not by a massive margin but I think it's the more accomplished performer and gives a richer, less harsh sound. However the TEAC has one coax and one optical as well as the USB whereas the 100 has an extra coax as well as optical and USB so if number of inputs is important that's worth remembering.

Both are on sale at Richer Sounds so it might be worth setting up a listen with them or even try at home and send the one you don't like as much back. Worth asking them about that if you buy in store, if you buy mail order distance selling regs allow you to do that I believe. Personally I'd rather listen at home because I don't feel that an in store demo, in limited time on kit you don't know is as effective but that's obviously up to you.

Can't comment on the MF V-DAC II I'm afraid.
 
I've got a beresford caiman for sale in the classifieds- a great DAC for not a lot of money. The version I have has a USB input for your pc.
 
rog said:
I have the Dacmagic 100 and the Teac UDH-01 and of the two I prefer the TEAC, not by a massive margin but I think it's the more accomplished performer and gives a richer, less harsh sound. However the TEAC has one coax and one optical as well as the USB whereas the 100 has an extra coax as well as optical and USB so if number of inputs is important that's worth remembering.

Both are on sale at Richer Sounds so it might be worth setting up a listen with them or even try at home and send the one you don't like as much back. Worth asking them about that if you buy in store, if you buy mail order distance selling regs allow you to do that I believe. Personally I'd rather listen at home because I don't feel that an in store demo, in limited time on kit you don't know is as effective but that's obviously up to you.

Can't comment on the MF V-DAC II I'm afraid.
Click to expand...

I haven't heard the dacmagic 100 but the teac is much better than the previous dacmagic imho, it's a stonking bit of kit for the money (£150 @ richer sounds), my freind has one with a laptop, pure i20 ipod doc and a linn majik and keilidhs.
 
lordsummit said:
Ok, so I want to get a good cheap digital source, I've got a Cambridge 540 v2 CD player somewhere, and I could simply plug this in. Alternatively I could splash out, there's enough for a Dacmagic 100 in the budget, or the Teac UDH-01 or the MF V-DAC II. With these I could plug my laptop in via it's usb socket I presume. I've a lot of music on a hard drive, it would be nice to be able to get at that relatively easily. Streaming isn't really on the agenda, it's not something I'm after at the moment.
Click to expand...

I've got a MkI V-DAC lying around doing nothing at the moment if you want to borrow it and see what you think of the laptop / DAC idea.
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
I haven't heard the dacmagic 100 but the teac is much better than the previous dacmagic imho, it's a stonking bit of kit for the money (£150 @ richer sounds), my freind has one with a laptop, pure i20 ipod doc and a linn majik and keilidhs.
Click to expand...
Yes agreed, I get the impression the 100 is probably on a par with the old DacMagic but I haven't done a direct comparison.

I'm actually considering sending the 100 back and using the money to get another TEAC although the size of the 100 is about right for the office system I have it in and the TEAC a little on the large side (not that it's particularly large). There's a harshness I'm noticing with the DM100 that I don't recall getting with the TEAC when I used it for a couple of days in this system but I need to do some direct comparisons and make a final decision on that basis. Just need some time ...

Oh and I've got a Pure i20 myself, nice little dock for an amazing price! (Especially if you use Richers price match with a fiver off the matched price!)
 
Actually, just grabbed half an hour and did a direct comparison and in swapping equipment round realised that one of the top spikes on one speaker stand had worked slightly loose and the speaker was wobbling slightly so I might have been blaming the DM100 for the slight treble harshness I was detecting from that one.

Anyway, interesting and I'd say the TEAC is slightly ahead for me with a slightly silkier, smoother presentation. Both are pulling pretty much the same amount of detail from source and both giving a decent soundstage and bass so it's minute differences really and probably a matter of personal taste at the end of the day. As I said before the 100 offers the extra coax but the TEAC does have the advantage of headphone output and volume as well as both balanced and unbalanced audio outputs (if that's useful) and a proper IEC power cable which seems reasonably substantial and is, if that's your bag, easily upgradeable.
 
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