Cambridge DacMagic 100

Cambridge Audio have long since made a name for themselves, offering very decent sounding gear at entry level prices. Perfectly fine for beginner audiophiles, as long as we do not insist on impressive build quality. Having said this, the tiny ‘DacMagic 100’ is certainly in keeping with this tradition. Similarly equipped as its larger brother, the ‘DacMagic Plus’, the unit offers a single 8742 Wolfson chip that can easily be found in higher priced digital to analog converters made by Rega and similar brands. Its USB 1.0 port might sound a little outdated, but it will handle data at rates of up to 192 kHz. In addition to the USB port, it features two S/PDIF inputs and one Toslink optical input. Outputs are RCA/cinch only, an inadequacy for some users that it does not share with its larger and better equipped stablemate.

Ken Rockwell has written an extensive review of both Cambridge DACs and in his measurements concludes that especially the USB signal processing is of unquestionable quality. In my own listening tests I have found that the DacMagic 100 performs very well over the whole bandwidth without any instantly recognisable imbalances. The stage impression is both wide and deep with plenty of space between the instruments. Voices come across in a life-like fashion with perhaps a slight tendency of too much transparency. Although bass performance was lean and fast from the start, it did not have the fullness of some pricier components. Understandably in this price range, the product’s weakness lies in its power supply. Adding a more potent power supply than the cheap plastic switching device, however, really made the bass open up and has left nothing to wish for ever since.

The DacMagic 100 is a great entry level DAC for audiophiles on a budget who shy away from the initial purchase price. Adding in a power supply at a later stage is nearly a must, although this will at least double the price of the unit. For buyers who can live with this two step process, the DAC really offers quality. On the other hand, if you are willing to invest the whole sum right from the start, you might as well get a DAC that has a decent power supply to begin with.

Specifications

• Digital to analog converter: Wolfson WM8742 24-bit DAC
• frequency response: 20Hz to 20kHz (±0.1dB)
• THD @ 1kHz 0dBFS <0.0025% 24-bit
• THD @ 1kHz -10dBFS <0.0025% 24-bit
• THD @ 20KHZ 0DBFS <0.0025%
• Signal to noise ratio: -113dBr
• Jitter <130pS
• Crosstalk: @ 1KHZ < -130dB
• Crosstalk: @ 20KHZ < -112dB
• Output impedance: <50 ohms
• Output level unbalanced: 2.3V rms
• Digital input width: 16-24bit
• Digital input frequencies: 32kHz, 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 192kHz
• Power consumption: 5W
• Dimensions: 106 x 46 x 130 mm

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Picture description

Picture Description Seen from above, we can identify three separate sections, the internal power supply section (bottom third), the unit's operating and switching section located around the main processor (center), as well as the digital to analog processing section (top third). The top third can be divided into the digital section featuring three clocks and the Wolfson 8742 DAC chip (right) and the analog output section with one operating amp chip per channel and a set of capacitors (left).