Just received mine today, disappointed in the lack of information . I am playing Tidal Masters through Audirvana into the DAC and see no indication of MQA.
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Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M - review/comparison?
- Thread starter Sg86
- Start date
Does this work?, Read the bottom paragraph here in faq “Turn on MQA passthrough in your TIDAL settings to allow the DacMagic 200M to complete the unfolding process rather than the source device.”
Switching between fixed/variable output here
Switching between fixed/variable output here
j^j=e^-pi/2
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@Somafunk regarding "DacMagic completing the unfolding"...
Mine works. I get the lights (blue, green, magenta) depending on how it is set in Tidal or Audirvana.
Settings in Tidal App (not browser). USB connection to PC. Music sounds good.
Audirvana settings (this seems to get all digital modes. DSD, MQA, etc) lights are accurate:
Mine works. I get the lights (blue, green, magenta) depending on how it is set in Tidal or Audirvana.
Settings in Tidal App (not browser). USB connection to PC. Music sounds good.
Audirvana settings (this seems to get all digital modes. DSD, MQA, etc) lights are accurate:
I turned on MQA passthrough from my Lumin streamer. And this is the problem. I just shot this video to show everyone. There is a delay when playing MQA files. And it has a click sound when the DACMagic enable MQA. Pay attention to the light. Music started playing and MQA light still not changing. Horrible!
curiouspeter
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Can't you trade-in your Lumin streamer for a Lumin streaming DAC? Problem solved.
I would assume that clicking sound marks the beginning of the MQA playback. It could be some MQA-related relays. Maybe the light is the only thing that is delayed. You may want to contact Cambridge for more information. Hopefully, this is something that can be fixed with a firmware upgrade.
Can't you trade-in your Lumin streamer for a Lumin streaming DAC? Problem solved.
I would assume that clicking sound marks the beginning of the MQA playback. It could be some MQA-related relays. Maybe the light is the only thing that is delayed. You may want to contact Cambridge for more information. Hopefully, this is something that can be fixed with a firmware upgrade.
I am going to return the unit and get a full refund.
The clicking sound and the MQA light change at the same time. I am sure Cambridge doesn't know this problem. I will email them my video.
Click sound actually affect the song.
curiouspeter
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Wow. That's disappointing. I'm glad I got the Gustard X16 instead.
At $499 with a headphone amp, I thought it would be the cheapest MQA-decoding unit with XLR.
Any idea what you will get next?
j^j=e^-pi/2
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Delay or click not evident with mine. I use Audirvana and Tidal app and Cambridge 5.0 Windows driver
@curiouspeter, sorry to hear that your unit is defective. That is indeed disappointing.
@curiouspeter, sorry to hear that your unit is defective. That is indeed disappointing.
Long Audio Beard
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Just feel the need to express that I also saw the same video from Steve Guttenberg "the audiophiliac" comparing it to Jotunheim, and I was personally dissatisfied that there was a distinct focus on headphone performance as opposed to pure DAC performance. Not that any of his reviews involve much in the way of any objective measurements, but I don't recall him saying he ever connected both DACs to the same independent headphone amp to compare, which is what I would have been interested in. The DAC/line out performance is one thing, and the headphone amplification stage performance is something else and if you only compare them as headphone/DAC combos it leaves out those of us who want to know how the DACs fare into other amps (headphone or speaker amps) - just my 2 cents.
curiouspeter
Addicted to Fun and Learning
Oh, I don't have a 200M. I almost decided to buy one. I think it was @MBWORLDZ who has a possibly bad unit.
Buy one ourself and test it out.
I basically don't need to get another DAC, My lumin can do full decode MQA. I can use it to do the first two unfold and let the Mcintosh decode the rest. I will still get full MQA. Its just Cambridge came out saying top grade full MAQ DAC, I wanna see and hear how good it is with that ES9028 chip set. But to be honest, it is not all that. The DAC built in to the McIntosh C52 has the ES9016 is 8-Channel Audio DAC. I have compared them side by side, the ES9016 sounds more clear and details. I am going to return the 200M.
Didn't you read the previous post ? It has issues !
Plus you don't buy it based on what other people say, you need to get one yourself and listen to it. May be it fits the music you like, may be it doesn't.
For the price point, I think its best bang for the buck
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I have had this unit for about a week now. I am very happy with it but this is my first external DAC so don't have others to compare to. I can say however that it is a big improvement over the builtin in Node 2i dac.
I initially had a similar problem reported by mbworldz... but slightly different. I didn't have the delay in showing MQA status but i did have the clicks/dropouts randomly. Drove me nuts. I set the node to enable mqa external dac, so it passes through unfolded. Turns out that the problem was the "Audio Clock Trim" setting. With it enabled, the dacmagic would periodically click and stutter... almost like a record skipping. Once I disabled this setting, it works perfectly. I googled it after and found that many already knew about this setting causing issues with external dacs. Don't know if the Lumin has a similar setting but that may be the cause?
I initially had a similar problem reported by mbworldz... but slightly different. I didn't have the delay in showing MQA status but i did have the clicks/dropouts randomly. Drove me nuts. I set the node to enable mqa external dac, so it passes through unfolded. Turns out that the problem was the "Audio Clock Trim" setting. With it enabled, the dacmagic would periodically click and stutter... almost like a record skipping. Once I disabled this setting, it works perfectly. I googled it after and found that many already knew about this setting causing issues with external dacs. Don't know if the Lumin has a similar setting but that may be the cause?
My Lumin has no audio clock trimming setting.
But still , if Cambridge knows about the issues, they should test it in house before launch the new device. I already shipped back the 200m. I am done with it.
The MQA song selects which minimum phase (short delay) filter to apply, which is part of the secret sauce.
curiouspeter
Addicted to Fun and Learning
That's the most important part of the MQA experience, not the "unfolding" or upsampling.
That's why I was asking, because it's not the cheapest DAC. I'm thinking possibly the unit you're referring to was defective or maybe all units have the clicks and delays issues.
curiouspeter
Addicted to Fun and Learning
It's possibly the cheapest MQA-decoding DAC with XLR outs and a headphone amp.
