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Cambridge Audio DAC magic

I am in between DACs, in a quest for a sweeter/ more natural sounding DAC.  My tale is well documented in my forum queries LOL.

As I am still auditioning DACS  ( Electrocompanient, Konus, Synthesis; in case you wonder) but in between have borrowed my son's old DAC Magic by Cambridge Audio.  Whilst it does not compare to the above vis a vis detail, soundstage etc, it has a really nice tone and presents vocals in a very natural presentation.  Quite surprising for an inexpensive DAC.  I suspect this is due to the musicality of the Wolfson chip.  But really made me take pause in my search of 3000-5000 dollars DACs many of which are too forward and detailed sounding for my aging ears.  I wonder if there are any current DACs that present music in such a musical natural way yet at reasonable cost?  Are there any Wolfson based DACs?  I understand that Wolfson was purchased by Cirrhus. Are the Cirrhus based DACs as nice ?  I should say this is more a musing than a question; but really makes you wonder are we all searching for the right thing?

Disclaimer:  I type poorly and as a result seem to spell poorly.  No need to correct my typos.

May peace return to our world,

Mike

mdrone

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fuzztone
5,502 posts
 

Kudos on the good spelling.

I have an old Cowon DAP with a Wolfson chip that sounds magical. This influenced me to acquire a NAD CD player with the same Wolfson. The magic was missing;  switched to a transport. I suspect that circuits complimentary to the DAC are responsible for the "toe tapping."

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