Computer Audiophile has posted a review of the Cambridge Audio DacMagic DAC ($399). This is a versatile half-rack sized unit (photo) that upsamples to 24/192. It has coax, optical, and USB inputs along with coax, optical, balanced, and unbalanced outputs.
Reviewer Chris Connaker was impressed with the build quality for the price. As for the sound, Chris had this to say:
Fortunately the DacMagic was enjoyable from start to finish. Listening to Rock and Acoustic music this DAC sounds great and has no trouble sending out analog exactly what came in as digital.
Classical Music with a wide dynamic range was a little different story. The DacMagic doesn’t extend up or down as far as I prefer and the sound was congested at times.
Conclusion?
The DacMagic’s very good sound quality is what we’ve all come to expect from Cambridge Audio. In typical Cambridge fashion the price of this DAC is very reasonable as well. The DacMagic’s high quality upsampling implementation is a big reason why this DAC competes with major high-end audio players.
Read the entire review, then tell me how disappointed you are that the DacMagic probably doesn’t sound as good as the highly praised 840C CD player. Now THAT would have been a bargain!