• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M - review/comparison?

pinkish

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
31
Likes
9
SINAD at 1Khz is announced to be 106dB, which is spec from Cambridge (could be matched or worse in most cases) The end. If price is a concern, there's the cheaper SU-9 which runs circles around it.
I was looking at the SMSL SU-9, but I thought the British brand Cambridge is superior to the Chinese brand SMSL in terms of build quality, warranty and support. Plus, their previous DACMagic was a rock solid product from what I've read.
 

VintageFlanker

Major Contributor
Forum Donor
Joined
Sep 20, 2018
Messages
4,941
Likes
19,694
Location
Paris
I thought the British brand Cambridge is superior to the Chinese brand SMSL in terms of build quality, warranty and support
Well, I think the opposite:
Good "value to performance" for sure. Not so sure about their durability. I owned their flagship units at the time. The 851A amp and 851C DAC/CD Player. Bought in 2015 (1600€ each) and issues started few month later. The 851A got VERY warm and sometimes suddenly turned off due to the heat... I wasn't able to listen to it at high volumes for more than an hour. Then the 851C showed serious problems. I started to notice a very audible noise in right chanel (both XLR and RCA) and it gone worse weeks after weeks. I wanted to use some warranty but neither Cambridge or PPL Audio (Cambridge retailer in France) accepted to fix this for free. And asked me 300€ to repair the output stage... I ended by sold both units at a broken price to a guy who was saying he could fix the issue himself.
If this is the kind a quality control (and support) they provide for their flagship units... Then I'm not going to buy anything from them anytime soon...
 

pinkish

Member
Joined
Mar 12, 2021
Messages
31
Likes
9
News update: my local audio store received an email from Cambridge saying the 200M will not be available for orders in the next 6 months due to lack of availability for some of its parts. I think maybe they're taking a break to fix the issues with the DAC :)
 

Snoopy

Major Contributor
Joined
Jul 19, 2021
Messages
1,628
Likes
1,206
Any news about the 200m?

All issues seem to be with Tidal. I'm surprised that people that seem to care about sound quality are even using tidal to begin with and not Qobuz.
 

cheapsoundguy

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2021
Messages
61
Likes
53
I just bought one of these. Still in the box. Debating if I want to return this or the SMSL SU-9. I am VERY disappointed with the way that SMSL treated it’s SU-9 and M500 customers when they had a L/R imbalance bug. They took months to even officially admit there was an issue, and then required customers to ship the units. Really terrible IMO. I do have an M400 from SMSL that I like and I think I will keep.

Update: Just pulled it out of the box. Love the industrial design/look. A hint of retro, but also modern.

Sound is 100% identical (to my ear) compared to the SU-9. (Using several headphones and IEMs). The noise floor on the headphone amp (and DAC) must be quite good, as I could hear some hiss with my IEMs on my old Little Dot MK VII+ amp, and the background is totally black/silent with the DacMagic 200M internal amp.
 
Last edited:

MusicListener

Member
Joined
Jan 3, 2022
Messages
6
Likes
6
I am trying one out right now and so far it's been great.

Other than user MBWORLDZ having a specific issue with the combination of the DacMagic 200M and his Lumin streamer, has anyone had any issues with the 200M?
 

Dmaumau

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2022
Messages
65
Likes
23
Location
Brasil
Someone could be a good sport and lend one to Amir so we can all have an objective view to guide our decision regarding this seemingly nice piece of audio equipment.
 
Top Bottom