Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 Review

[musicisjustvibrations]

I think CA has milked the design a bit too long. As good as it was back then, and is still reasonably respectable, for the dollars asked it's time to look elsewhere. A refurbed model might be OK if gotten cheap. I have one in a closet somewhere, replaced with the CA DacMag Plus. One thing on the latter more expensive unit: the tiny LEDs are starting to fade, making that functionality useless. I'm not sure who spec'd LEDs that wear out so quickly? To save a few pennies in production? Maybe it's just my unit, who knows?

I have the problem with fading/broken LEDs on my dacmagic 100:

Toslink is the only input connected at the moment.
I bought it secondhand in 2015 and first they worked fine until a couple months later...

 

[musicisjustvibrations]

Also this weirdness when turning on after a while:

 

[OK1]

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 USB DAC. It was kindly sent to me by a member. Despite having been announced back in 2012, the DacMagic 100 seems to still be a current product, available on Amazon costing US $199 including Prime shipping.

While it won't be mistaken for a high-end audio products, the DacMagic 100 nevertheless differentiates itself from budget DACs with its enclosure and design:

View attachment 55583​

The back panel also shows some differentiation:

View attachment 55585​

Notice the dual S/PDIF coax inputs. And a ground lift for USB input which may solve nasty ground loop issues (no guarantees though).

An external adapter, double the size of typical phone charger, powers the unit.

Overall, the box makes a positive impression.

DAC Audio Measurements
As usual, we start with our dashboard of 1 kHz tone and see what we get:

View attachment 55586

Nice to see above 2 volt output. Distortion and noise as embodied in the SINAD rating falls in competent, but nothing resembling state of the art:
View attachment 55587

Dynamic range falls in the same category:

View attachment 55588

Intermodulation distortion test shows good noise performance (sloping down part of the curve) but onset of early distortion:

View attachment 55589

Jitter test looks fairly good on all three inputs:
View attachment 55590

32-tone test signal shows more intermodulation distortion than I like to see:

View attachment 55591

Linearity test which shows how accurate the level from the DAC is as signals get very small, is very good but shy of competitors:

View attachment 55592

Finally THD+N versus frequency shows a slight rise in distortion as frequencies get low:

View attachment 55593

And generally indicative of some ultrasonic noise.

Conclusions
There has been recent development in the $110 to $130 range in desktop DACs where you get near state-of-the-art performance with such useful features as remote control. So it doesn't make sense to recommend the DacMagic 100 in that context. If you have one though, or can get one used then it is a fine DAC with solid build.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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1. Please where can I find a list of these $110 to $130 range of desktop DACs, which would be a better buy than the Dac Magic 100?

2. I once recall viewing a list of DACs and other devices reviewed either by Amir or others, I think it was a spreadsheet or table, searched but I have not found it..!

Thanks

 

[Jimster480]

1. Please where can I find a list of these $110 to $130 range of desktop DACs, which would be a better buy than the Dac Magic 100?

2. I once recall viewing a list of DACs and other devices reviewed either by Amir or others, I think it was a spreadsheet or table, searched but I have not found it..!

Thanks

I can say Topping D10/S/Balanced/Mini/Balanced Mini, Topping E30II Lite, DX1
FX Audio DAC-SQ3, DAC-X6
JDS Atom DAC+ or DAC2,
SMSL SU-1, D12, M300SE, DS100
FiiO K11, K7, KA13 (dongle), NEWK3

There are actually lots of dongles too, which would be even cheaper.
I have also missed some other cheap DAC's but the list is pretty good for what is out there today.

 

[OK1]

I can say Topping D10/S/Balanced/Mini/Balanced Mini, Topping E30II Lite, DX1
FX Audio DAC-SQ3, DAC-X6
JDS Atom DAC+ or DAC2,
SMSL SU-1, D12, M300SE, DS100
FiiO K11, K7, KA13 (dongle), NEWK3

There are actually lots of dongles too, which would be even cheaper.
I have also missed some other cheap DAC's but the list is pretty good for what is out there today.

Thank you.

 

[OK1]

I can say Topping D10/S/Balanced/Mini/Balanced Mini, Topping E30II Lite, DX1
FX Audio DAC-SQ3, DAC-X6
JDS Atom DAC+ or DAC2,
SMSL SU-1, D12, M300SE, DS100
FiiO K11, K7, KA13 (dongle), NEWK3

There are actually lots of dongles too, which would be even cheaper.
I have also missed some other cheap DAC's but the list is pretty good for what is out there today.

When I look back, I've wasted far too much time, thinking that good research would afford me high quality audio, in a dongle dac format, and there probably are many decent devices in that market segment. My challenge is, too many horror stories about issues with dongle dacs, and they are like the fashion of the day, new models every few weeks, and old models are unavailable, kind of like a moving target. In comparison, audio interfaces in the consumer or professional space, and products like this Cambridge Audio device, may not have the bleeding edge specifications, but they remain on the market for at least 5 years. In the case of this Cambridge Audio device, I deduce that's was being sold for at least 10 years, and the specs are still respectable, if not bleeding edge in today's market.

I definitely need a DAC with an outstanding headphone output( that will support almost any headphone (from low impedance to high impedance) - exception being electrostatics - which need special headphone amps)

Fiio K11, Topping DX1, Topping DX3 Pro+, SMSL C200. I appreciate my budget may have to reach over $200, but the time I'm wasting searching for cheap DACs with ASIO drivers, should be better spent doing more profitable tasks.

If there are any other desktop DAC's with good headphone outputs, and ASIO drivers, which I may add to this list, please I'd be happy to hear about them. Upper limit of my budget is about $250, for this device. IMHO devices should be work tools, not things to bother about with quirks, like I have experienced with dongle dacs, always with one more unexpected twist of incompatibility.

Spoiler: Musings and Rant on Dongle Dacs

There's a good reason, for standards like ADAT, Balanced XLR, SPDIF, AES, Toslink, RCA, USB, etc, - they should just work, and they do., year after year. Dongle dacs seem to be this weird invention, that breaks the mould - too many gotchas. It should be a lot simpler - like VGA, Display Port, HDMI, or like the mouse I'm using - USB on a cable, plug and play and forget about it, and it always works. Life's too short for tinkering around with dongle dacs.

More rant on dongle dacs here.

Recommend me a small, good measuring, small usb-c dongle from Amazon?

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