Topic: Cambridge DAC Magic available locally?

[laukong]

Is it available locally? How much kaya?

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=320

Thanks.

[Stagea]

5th Ave. used to have a few pero nabenta na lahat and di na ulit sila kumuha ng stock. Wala na daw sila sa local warehouse.

If you'd be using SPDIF anyway, the 740C and the 840C should do just fine. They should sound better than the DACmagic.

[laukong]

for use sana as an upgrade to the dared mp5 DAC.

pc lossless > dac>mp5 > k701

[Stagea]

If your PC has an SPDIF output, the 740C/840C should be able to work with it.

Kung medyo budget and purely for USB mode (or ayaw mo ng malaking device), check out the Pro-Ject USB Box.

Hindi ka ba satisfied dun sa built-in USB audio adapter nung MP5?

Unsolicited opinion ko lang... I might be wrong, but the amp may be more of a limitation than the built-in USB interface. Try connecting a different source (CDP, DVDP, etc.), and see how you like the sound. If you're happy with the sound of the external source, then an add-on DAC may indeed be what you need.

I haven't heard the MP5 driving headphones kasi, but imo headphones as good as the K701 deserve an equally stellar amp.

[laukong]

I'll try your suggestions.

The k701 is kinda bass lite, but i'm now subjecting it to burn in with white and pink noise, going to around 24 hours on and off.

The mp5 USB DAC with asio4all is limited to 16bits/48khz, so upgrading it was the first thing I thought of.

Around how much are the 740c and 840c? Pwede pala gamitin yung DAC nun .  The DAC will work as an external sound card and will be seen as such by the PC?

PC (coaxial) > 740c/840c (DAC, CDP)> MP5 > k701

This is my first foray into head fi, after some reading, i thought the mp5 is enough for headphones and it was readily available locally.  Meron kang ma recommend na better headphone amp?  

Thanks very much for the help.

[romymartinez]

upgrading opamps might help, hindi ko lang alam kung sino puwede gumawa nito. Maybe Sir rascal, jojod?

[romymartinez]

DACMagic is locally distributed by AVESCO/5th avenue. Ang problema ay laging ubos stocks. Their pricing is very competiitve or might even be cheaper than getting.

[Stagea]

The 740c costs about 43k, and the 840c is a little over 70k (though prices may have gone down). Both provide a higher quality output versus the DacMagic, but these only accept SPDIF connections (unlike the DacMagic which has a USB port). 

Btw, the DacMagic is also limited to 16-bit / 48 kHz if you're using USB. The only way to get these units to accept 24-bit / 192kHz is to connect them via SPDIF. Your PC needs to have an SPDIF output that supports this sampling depth and rate (whether coaxial or optical).

Azalia HD (integrated into most recent motherboards) support upto 20-bit / 96kHz in most cases. You'd probably need a separate audio board in your PC to support 24-bit / 192kHz (such as an Asus Xonar or a higher Creative X-Fi) to interface with the external DAC. When playing back native 24-bit files, I can detect some graininess from conversion when using just Azalia versus my X-Fi (though it is still far better than 16-bit).

Maraming headphone amps na maganda, ask mo mga ibang HeadFi fanatics. Creek, Grado, Pro-Ject, Lehmann and Music Hall come to mind.

I'll try your suggestions.

The k701 is kinda bass lite, but i'm now subjecting it to burn in with white and pink noise, going to around 24 hours on and off.

The mp5 USB DAC with asio4all is limited to 16bits/48khz, so upgrading it was the first thing I thought of.

Around how much are the 740c and 840c? Pwede pala gamitin yung DAC nun .  The DAC will work as an external sound card and will be seen as such by the PC?

PC (coaxial) > 740c/840c (DAC, CDP)> MP5 > k701

This is my first foray into head fi, after some reading, i thought the mp5 is enough for headphones and it was readily available locally.  Meron kang ma recommend na better headphone amp?  

Thanks very much for the help.

[Nelson de Leon]

I think may available na sa 5th Ave. ng DACMagic.