Dacmagic burn-in

Hello all, I'm new here and I've posted a brief introduction in the new members section but now I've got a question.

Yesterday, as a first step towards up-grading everything, I took delivery of a new Cambidge Audio Dacmagic to put between my old Sony XA20ES CD and Sony TAF3ES amp on the assumption that the DAC in the Sony was a bit old hat these days.

It sounds horrible.

To be fair my set up has never been right since I moved here and I lay the blame for this squarely at the room dynamics and lack of soft furnishings etc. Imaging? forget it. However, the overall sound - even off axis - was acceptable, if a little bass light.

The introduction of the DAC has made things worse. It seems to be pushing the upper midrange (which was already a bit overblown) and everything sounds very muddled.

I am aware of the concept of 'burn-in' periods but do people on here think that it makes much of a difference? ie can I / should I expect things to sound 'much' better after about a week of use?

I'd really appreciate your comments please.

 

Dr Hi welcome to ZG, personally I don't think the sound will change once the unit reaches it's optimum operating temperature which probably only takes a few seconds ( if that ) with a dac, what I believe will happen is that your ears will become accustomed to the new sound .
Not everyone agrees with me however!
Get some soft furnishings.
Keith.

 

Gas mark 8 for 30 minutes.

Seriously, if it sounds wrong now it will sound wrong in six weeks time.

Sort the furnishings and then reassess.

 

Ok, thanks for the replys. I'm glad I found this forum. Since I was a teenager, I've never actually met anybody who was seriously into getting the best out of their equipement and I've had to rely upon magazine articles for information. I've often suspected that much of what was written in those mags was driven by advertising revenue and that many of the claims made for various so-called "tweaks" etc were a bit far fetched. It's encouraging to find some people who have first-hand experience and who are therefore in a position to tell it like it is.

I do know what I consider to be a good sound. My first job, after leaving college, was as a tape-op in a well specified recording studio and that set the benchmark for me. That was a long time ago and I've spent the intervening years dipping in and out of the hobby but never really had the money to take things as seriously as I'd like to.

Once or twice over the years I've managed to audition some mid-range equipment in obliging dealers and have been quite impressed by what I've heard. That's how I came by the Mission 753fs. They sounded really good in the dealers but have never sounded like that for me.

As you say, I do need to get the space softened. I also need to re-model it to be honest but I'm also wedded to the idea of up-grading to some hi end kit so I'll be browsing around on here for some time yet.

Thanks again for the replies.

 

ok.....

a different view !

leave the unit switched on for at least a week and if you can passing a digital signal throught it .....

if break in is going to occur its going to happen over the long term rather than the warm up suggested by previous posters....

warm up will effect the sound but not the charactor of the sound ...warm up should take the edge off any harshness if it occurs .

As to the sound don't even think of comparing it til the units had 100 plus hours of continuous use ...thats not to say you have to listen to it !

 

My, few month old, Dacmagic has always sounded exactly the same to me.

Due to the size of the unit and the the way the voltages are changed inside, it warms up pretty quickly too.

I'm yet to try the bigger Maplin transformer that's all over the internet but will do soon.

 

Hi, yes I've seen the stuff re the original PS not being up to the job and it and the DAC getting too hot + CA's response supplying an upgraded version. Mine gets warm but certainly not what I'd call hot so I presume mine has been supplied with the newer PS.

Re the DAC itself. Has anyone experimented with the digital filters? I have to confess that I can't choose between them at the moment. Either the rest of my gear isn't sensitive enough to show up the differences or I need to spend a lot more time auditioning.

 

if the dac runs off a simple dc supply the best psu you can build would run something like 75va torroidal tranny..feeding a schottky rectifier bridge smoothed with panasonic fc caps and wima film caps ...with say 20000uf storage ...

this works wonders for sb3's .

if it's an ac supply then a whopping great torroid stepped down to the correct ac voltage will be all thats required ...as in some mf xdac's

 

Yeah, it runs from an AC supply Zanash.

My newer supply is 'Mascot' brand.

 

No point going over the top on the PS, it's rectified then voltage doubled inside. just get a decent large 12v transformer from Maplins.

 

Thanks for all the interest and feedback.

I think I just need to get used to the extra detail that the DAC is bringing out. It definately makes poor quality recordings sound even worse but some of the quieter stuff is starting to sound ok.

I've got some new amps coming this week (hopefully) so that will be a whole new story - and probably a lot more questions.

 

you're underestimating old sony CDPs - some of them are true gems. don't know about yours but i've recently listened XA7ES as a full unit against itself as a transport with altmann attraction DAC (which is a highly regarded unit, possibly one of the best NOS DACs ever). it sounded better as a full CDP.

 

That's an interesting point and I was surprised that no one else suggested that the Sony XA20ES might actually be quite good in the first place. I bought the DACMagic as an experiment, in the hope that it would be a revelation. So far though, that warm feeling of "yes! that sounds so much better!" that you sometimes get with a new piece of kit hasn't happened. The story with the amp upgrade is even worse (see Audiolab thread)

I need more time to set things up so that I can do some direct A / B comparisons.

 

That's a pity.
I had the opposite experience when I also bought a DACmagic, for my Squeezebox Classic.

After reading so many positive stories about it I took the risk and to me it sounds wonderful!
(open mids, clear and detailed treble and enough bass-drive and control) Just the way I like it.
(sold my Naim CD5i-2 pretty soon after I got the DACmagic)

To me that's a sign of good quality kit!

 

Can you get it compared with another sample?

I've heard a couple of samples of another DAC, to say they sounded different would be an understatement. One was open, detailed and engaging. The other was over-bright, unfocussed and tiring to listen to. It turned out to be faulty and was replaced by one that sounded as good as the original audition.

Steve

 

Power for the DacMagic

Nope, it's not rectified. The 12V-AC goes straight into the DacMagic, internally it may be transformed to 9V-DC, but who knows? I tried the supplied Mascot unit, it runs a little hot (regardless whether the DAC is on or off) and hums a bit while running hot anyways. The Russ Andrews power supply stays cool but emits a pretty audible humming as soon as the DAC is switched on. Maplin does not deliver to Germany. I ended up with a fairly cheap "Fujikon" power supply (12V-AC-1.688A) - the Fujikon does not heat up, there is no humming, and it sounds just fine!