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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
2 responses Add your response
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,598 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."

chayro
2,985 posts
 

I think it’s due to the fact that Cambridge products are designed to have an inoffensive, pleasing sound that mates well with lower cost electronics and speakers. Some higher end dacs are designed to be very revealing, which can sound unpleasant with certain source material and electronics. The Wolfson dacs have fallen out of popularity, because companies want to advertise that they’re using the “latest” dac chip. Just marketing. 

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