Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 - Digital to Analogue Converter with Toslink, S/PDIF, and USB Inputs Featuring 24-bit Wolfson DAC - Silver

Product Information

Conversor de digital a analógico con entradas digitales S/PDIF y TosLink, y una entrada de audio USB (todas compatibles con 24 bits) The biggest disappointment about the high-performance DacMagic Plus is its poky volume control. You have to keep turning and turning it to change the volume. As a result, we are treated to a version of the deluxe upsampling technology first seen in the 840C and 740C CD players from the Azur range. Missing: No remote control. No analog inputs. No AES digital inputs or outputs. Not USB powered (always needs wall power). Balanced output 10 dB below standard +4 levels.

There's a choice of Linear Phase, Minimum Phase and Steep filter modes, which you should experiment with, too (we liked Minimum the best).This is worst-case USB: I fed a 7-way Belkin hub from my MacPro, and then ran a 6 foot crappy USB cable to the DacMagic Plus, for a total of about 12 feet of 10-year-old USB cable.

To the extent that each can be succinctly summarised, the linear phase is clean and tidy with a particularly well-controlled bass, but can sometimes seem a little clinical by comparison with minimum phase, which seems slightly warmer but perhaps a shade less precise. Still flat even below 1 Hz. It's flat to within +0, -0.2 dB from infrasonics to the end of the music band, which is great. That 0.2 dB at 20 kHz is probably from cable capacitance and the 50 Ω output source impedance of the DacMagic Plus.Its headphone amplifier performance is typical, limited by its 50 Ω output source impedance, but at least it's 12 dB louder (4 V RMS max.) with high-impedance headphones than most iPods and portable equipment. All that said, we would probably live happily with any of them, but while the keen tweaker may want to experiment and perhaps adopt preferences based on musical style, we ended up listening mostly to linear. The digital outputs are not affected by the resampling, volume or filter controls. They simply pass-through the selected input. They are handy for feeding to your DAT machine or Tek 764 digital audio monitor. Power on the unit and select the input source that you wish to listen to using the source button located on the front panel.

Aha! The 50 Ωoutput source impedance leads to the added low-frequency distortion. At 0.02%, forget about it. The whole right-hand side of the Cambridge’s facade is dedicated to displaying the sampling rate of the audio signal being fed into it. Several LEDs each labelled with a sampling rate –‘44.1kHz’, ‘48kHz’, ‘96kHz’ and ‘192kHz’, for example – light up to signify it. So if you’re playing a CD-quality file, the ‘44.1kHz’ LED will illuminate. Likewise, LEDs for MQA and DSD light up when those types of files or streams are detected.With some music, like softer classical sections recorded with plenty of infrasonic room rumble, you may hear some "zipper noise" as you're changing the volume. Move on to Emeli Sandé’s Heaven and the Cambridge paints a tonally even picture with well-mannered treble and weighty, precise low frequencies. It's easy to get started: just plug it in. The only reason to read the manual is if you want to disable the volume control and have it run at full output all the time. The input LEDs blink if the input goes away, for instance, if your computer is asleep and your DacMagic is left on on your desk. The insightful midrange, also exemplified by the textured acoustic melody, is bookended by a rich, punchy low-end – the introductory bass thump is full and lush – and pleasingly present highs that round off a nicely proportioned, equally talented frequency range. As the instrumentation busies the soundstage, the Cambridge has enough breadth and control to keep things coherent.