DAC Selection Advice

[windsurfer70]

Hey everyone,

Not new to reading the forums but my first post here. I have read so many reviews in here doing my research and care and detail is incredible, engineer by trade and love the technicalities.

Now I am trying to select a DAC for my lounge system. I guess also any advise with my setup. So I have a set of M-Audio BX5 with their matched SBX10 sub woofer. Connected together by balanced leads. To me they sound really nice, they are currently being run from a media computer with an average external soundcard Asus U3 (clearly not balanced). Playing some FLAC albums, 320kb/s and Spotify Premium.

My plan is to improve and expand. I have just bought a couple of Google chrome cast audios, and would like to hook my TV to the system also. Currently anything I want to watch with the speakers I play through the media pc. I also have a pair of Bose Quiet Comfort 25's I use for travel which would be nice to use with the setup. So I believe I require the following:

1x USB connector - Media PC
1x Optical Toslink - Chrome cast Audio
1x Optical Toslink - TV
Volume Control (Each Speaker has its own control and the TV I believe cant change this, usb and chrome cast have no issue)
Ideally Balanced Outputs to the speakers

The only thing that covers all my requirements is the Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus. I live in the UK so I can pick this up from Richer sounds for £250. When it came out it got some great reviews. I feel though with all the new DACs out there I may be missing something? The other thing that bugs me a little is the lack of remote but that is purely laziness.

Any advice would be much appreciated,

Thanks,

 

[Willem]

I recently bought a Pioneer U-05 for the same purpose: digital outputs from the Chromecast Audio, my Bluray player and my television. The Pioneer has a wide array of inputs (usb, AES/EBU, 2x optical and 2x coaxial) but even so I had to get an optical into coaxial converter to connect the tv as well because all my digital sources happen to have an optical output. The unit has rca and xlr outputs, a remote, and volume control so you can use it as a pre amp (as I do - I no longer need analogue inputs). It was tested/measured some time ago by a French publication that is no longer online, but the test was very favourable. It sounds fine to me. I paid 475 euro from hifi Schluderbacher in Germany (you have until 29 March...).
Oh and it is marketed as a headphone amplifier, so it has multiple balanced and unbalanced headphone outputs as well, if you care about that.

 

[andreasmaaan]

The DAC you’re looking at was measured here.

It performs excellently, easily well enough to not introduce any audible noise or distortion.

Unless you find something cheaper and as good, go with it IMO. No extra amount of money you spend will give an audible improvement (unless you prefer something that generates audible distortion).

 

[Willem]

At this quality level, I think price and facilties are the only relevant criteria. I needed more inputs than the DACmagic can offer. In fact, it is surprising that so many manufacturers save a litle money by having fewer inputs.

 

[bravomail]

with multi-device management and remote control needs I found AV receivers to be a good choice. There is no measurements of recent/modern AV receivers here, but there are plenty outside. Everyone raves about Sony STR-DN1080. I myself have Yamaha vx-r683.

 

[windsurfer70]

Thanks all for your advice. I shall take a look at some receivers also; I will need at least two pre amp outs. Also I will check out the U-05 thank for that I haven't seen it before. I think for the price and getting up a few more times without the remote the Cambridge audio may be my best solution and price for my problem. It is nice to have some confirmation.

 

[JJB70]

The Cambridge Audio DACMagic+ is well worth going for I think. It provides the functionality you want and although it's getting on a bit it is audibly transparent and any measured improvements in more recent DACs are unlikely to make a meaningful difference (assuming they are audible at all). Richer sounds is a good dealer and tend to provide good customer service (at least that has been my experience), there is a lot to be said for being able to buy from a shop you can easily return to in the event of a problem. As a general observation Cambridge Audio still seem to do very well in providing solid and good value products.

 

[windsurfer70]

Dear all,

Just to update everyone that I bought a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic Plus. Great decision, it does exactly what I was after and sounds superb. The build quality is excellent and it fits perfectly on top of my HTPC, I feel you get a lot for your money. I spent most of Saturday night with a beer just listening to music. Also thanks to Amir and his review to push me to buying it.

A remote would have been the icing on the cake but I couldn't warrant the price jump to something else to get this feature.

Had a listen to a couple of 24bit 192 Van Morrison tracks, there is just so much detail and clarity. Worried now for my poor bank, its like iTunes days again.

Thanks to everyone for their help, Tom

 

[PierreV]

Thanks for the feedback @windsurfer70. I was looking at XLR DAC preamps to add to the Hypex kits I bought because of the review here (am quite happy with them) and your feedback pushed me over the edge