advertisement


Moving on from the Dacmagic, who's done what?

...at £2000 is not worth the money...

You might find this will all more expensive Dacs, someone on another forum went from the Dacmagic to a Weiss Dac 2, and described the improvement as 1.5% ;)

For some people the small improvement is no doubt worth it. A lot of these new cheap dacs seem very good indeed. Im quite happy with the sound of the Dacmagic, Id just like a bit more functionality, preamp headphone amp etc, then i can get rid of the separate preamp.
 
You might find this will all more expensive Dacs, someone on another forum went from the Dacmagic to a Weiss Dac 2, and described the improvement as 1.5% ;)

For some people the small improvement is no doubt worth it. A lot of these new cheap dacs seem very good indeed. Im quite happy with the sound of the Dacmagic, Id just like a bit more functionality, preamp headphone amp etc, then i can get rid of the separate preamp.

Thats my fear of spending somewhere in the region of £2k for only a minimal improvement, which is why Ive only sort of looked at Dacs upto about £1k, maybe, just maybe the rdac from Arcam will do the trick!
 
The following two DACs are receiving good feedback from owners in the US and are available for less than you have budgeted.

Wyred 4 Sound DAC2 ~ $1500 new

Alex Yeung's Eastern Electric MiniMax ~ $750 new
 
Heard melodic and rhythmic sounds through a Weis 2 DAC yesterday and they were nice as pie, but they were also using a $5000 cd transport (!!). Still I can't understand that a DACmagic is considered as an option.
 
Purchase direct and/or used. The exchange rate upside, even on a used sample, will cover the shipping.

Unless you are looking for local dealer support.

Ive seen a few on ebay Germany and ebay France but none for ages. A real shame we don't have an importer like Bill O'Connell (imports them to the US).
I dont mind paying a bit extra (it is the UK after all) but its 40% cheaper in the EU too.

At this stage i might as well wait for the next six months for the Westlake Dac.
 
Would be interested to hear from people who have took the plunge and moved from the Dacmagic as I am in the market for a new Dac since I have just sold my Nait XS for a Luxman L505u. Currently the DM works quite well with the set up but I feel it could be bettered for not a vast outlay.

Ive tried the Naim Dac which in my opinion was not worth the money, found it very poor to be honest and dont like the idea of adding power supplies and filling the shelves full of black boxes for minimal increases in sound quality.

Dacs I have been looking at but not heard are

Arcam rdac
Lavry DA 10
Rega - I guess many people on hear have not heard it yet and could be worth the wait?


Any help much appreciated

Lee

If anyone is interested there is three seconhand naim dacs for sale on ebay
 
You might find this will all more expensive Dacs, someone on another forum went from the Dacmagic to a Weiss Dac 2, and described the improvement as 1.5% ;)

For some people the small improvement is no doubt worth it. A lot of these new cheap dacs seem very good indeed. Im quite happy with the sound of the Dacmagic, Id just like a bit more functionality, preamp headphone amp etc, then i can get rid of the separate preamp.

Exactly, though 1.5% might be overstating things a little :)
 
Replace the wallwart on the dacmajic with a nice quality torroid transformer in a new box nothing else and get a 10% increase in performance £40 max

Alan
 
How would that happen when most of the noise on the power lines in the dacmagic comes from the unfiltered rectifiers and a torroidal does almost zero to filter any mains noise.

The dacmagic only draws about 200mA so anything bigger than a matchbox is overkill.
 
Weiss is great. So is Wavelength.

You may also want to check out Berkeley Audio Design's Alpha DAC.

I am currently running an Audio Research DAC7 and have been very satisfied with its performance in my systems.

Keep in mind that many less expensive DACs are offering a lot, and don't leave much on the table.
 
How would that happen when most of the noise on the power lines in the dacmagic comes from the unfiltered rectifiers and a torroidal does almost zero to filter any mains noise.

The dacmagic only draws about 200mA so anything bigger than a matchbox is overkill.

Are there any mods which could work?

Could the internal rectifier and reg.s be bypassed, and tr's fitted?

ps wish I new more about electronics
 
I was also disappointed with the Naim DAC. Great detail but ultimately lacking in space and delicate touch. After listening to a number of DACs I went for the Benchmark DAC1 HDR fantastic performance for a sensible sum. IMHO once you get to this level the law of diminishing returns kicks in big time! I did hear better than the Benchmark but the difference was subtle but alas the price difference was not!
 


advertisement


Back
Top