Cambridge Audio DacMagic XS, Portable USB DAC (Black)

Hardly any reviews on this product at the moment. Took a gamble and bought one - currently have a DacMagic Plus 'desktop' DAC which is pretty good and worked on the assumption that this 'portable' DAC might have similar qualities. It does. Not only that, it's genuinely tiny! Certainly something you could chuck into a laptop bag along with a decent pair of in-ear phones. Coupled with audirvana pro on a macbook, and a pair of Klipsch X10i's, the sound quality is very good. It's never going to be as good as a desktop setup (e.g. DacMagic Plus and AKG K702's), but it is reasonably close to that quality. Slight loss of sound stage focus, bass a little lacking in punch, but what can you expect from such a tiny package?! Very pleased with this DAC - plays up to 192Khz files, 24bit, with no difficulties and the headphone amp is very effective (bit too good, actually - watch out for high volume!). The usb cable seems a tad budget, but you could always replace this if needs be (not sure if you would really notice much difference though). Seems well made (it's an aluminium box, so not much to say!) and looks durable enough.

Amazing improvement to sound quality! Combined with a fair cable to the speakers, no matter what kind of source you are using, you will not believe in your ears! Easy to use, small, so small actually you fear you will [Event "AI Factory's Chess"] [Site "Android Device"] [Date "2014.05.19"] [Round "1"] [White "You"] [Black "Cpu (7)"] [PlyCount "91"] [Result "1-0"] 1. e2e4 d7d5 2. e4e5 Nb8c6 3. d2d4 Bc8f5 4. c2c3 h7h5 5. Bf1d3 Bf5xd3 6. Qd1xd3 g7g6 7. Ng1f3 Bf8h6 8. Bc1xh6 Ng8xh6 9. O-O Nh6f5 10. Nb1a3 a7a6 11. Na3c2 e7e6 12. Nc2b4 Nc6a5 13. g2g3 h5h4 14. g3g4 Nf5g7 15. h2h3 Ra8c8 16. Nb4c2 O-O 17. b2b4 Na5c4 18. a2a4 a6a5 19. b4b5 f7f5 20. e5xf6 Qd8xf6 21. Nf3d2 Nc4b2 22. Qd3e3 Rc8a8 23. Ra1a2 Nb2c4 24. Nd2xc4 d5xc4 25. f2f3 g6g5 26. Nc2e1 Ra8c8 27. Qe3e4 c7c6 28. b5b6 Kg8h8 29. Ra2f2 Rf8g8 30. f3f4 g5xf4 31. Rf2xf4 Qf6d8 32. Ne1f3 Qd8xb6 33. Nf3g5 Ng7f5 34. Qe4e5+ Nf5g7 35. Ng5f7+ Kh8h7 36. Qe5e4+ Ng7f5 37. Rf4xf5 e6xf5 38. Qe4xf5+ Rg8g6 39. Qf5xc8 Rg6g8 40. Qc8f5+ Kh7g7 41. Qf5f6+ Kg7f8 42. Nf7h6+ Kf8e8 43. Nh6xg8 Ke8d7 44. Qf6e7+ Kd7c8 45. Rf1f8+ Qb6d8 46. Rf8xd8# 1-0

I didn't give this 5 stars for a few reasons. My reasons are: 1. The product gets extremely hot while in use. This is supposed to be normal for the device but is hard to ignore. (MAJOR issue) 2. The microUSB slot is not 100% sturdy so you might feel very slight movement (when connected) after using the product for some time. This might cause concern for some. That being said, it is hardly noticeable and does not affect connectivity. I only noticed it because I've come across many devices with microUSB slots so loose that they occasionally get disconnected. (MINOR issue) 3. The not-so-straightforward process of installing and using the USB 3.0 components of the device. I had almost concluded I couldn't install them until I eventually figured things out. The installation guides exists but are not as clear as they could be. (MINOR issue for me. Possibly MAJOR for others) The DacMagic XS has been a great find in spite of those issues. The device has been especially useful as a sound card replacement since mine stopped working last year. I can't really hear a clear difference in quality between various files but I only listen to 320kbps MP3 and FLAC files so its probably harder to notice anyway. I would give this product 4.5 stars if there were such a rating.

I purchased this to use as a simple DAC/amplifier for use with a three year old iMac. My headphones are a pair of rather old Sennheiser HD540 Reference which have a high input impedence of 300 Ohms. With hindsight it was rather ambitious to expect a device powered entirely by the output of a USB port to drive these headphones and I have since ordered a dedicated headphone amp. I cross checked them a pair a of Sony XHA-H1 in-ear phones and the DAC attached to the iMac. It was fine. I then attached the Sony's to the iMac without the DAC Magic. It was also fine. Perhaps my ears and or setup were simply too insensitive to notice any difference or the iMac's built in DAC is simply good enough to drive sensitive in-ear phone without the DAC Magic. Detecting no obvious improvement or change in sound I returned the DAC. The Dac Magic Xs is a nicely produced and well made piece of kit but my experience is that it neither adds nor detracts from the iMac and that includes playing CDs and Hi-Res music files.

I know everyone has their own opinion, I'm no expert but this is mine. A friend who knows his music said I should try a USB DAC. From the myriad to choose from, I liked this little beastie fro its neat size, cost and from the reviews performed rather well. He was right, compared to the on-board PC sound card this is a step in the right direction. The bass seems tighter, no rumbling into the distance and overall a definite improvement. I have now spent many an hour playing with different set-ups and have a sweet spot I am happy with. The Flac fans may curse me but I quite like using Lame V0 VBR, happy medium between size and quality. I mainly play through a pair of V-Moda Crossfade LP which I got for the bargain price of £60 during Black Friday. Also I find Foobar2000 (can tart the basic player up with some skins) a little better than stock Windows Media Player. The only downside to this is that I now chair dance more than I used to, so be warned.

Did not buy my DAC XS from Amazon, but after only a few uses it packed in no sound.

A matchbox sized gizmo with a coupe of chips in itand a wire from your Mac/computer's USB port to the box. Purchased Jan 2020, sounded brilliant until recently July 2021, now adds an unpleasant high pitched whining to anything you pass through it. Have tried several different sources, leads, computers, all the same. I'd probably not mind if it was a £25 chinese knock-off but I don't want to pay for something with an allegedly premium name/brand like Cambridge Audio that you have to throw away and replace after 18 months. Disappointed :-(

After reading reviews of these tiny dacs i was a little sceptical about how good they actually were. I decided to give the DacMagic a go mainly because it's made by a genuine hi fi company not some multi product electronics company and the price, of course. I'm very pleased i did. It has transformed my laptop set up. I have a 2.1 speaker set up but was never happy with laptop sound. It lacked any depth or dynamic range and after a short listening time became tiring. The dac has opened everything up considerably, I've always preferred a warm sounding hi fi and that's the way i would describe the DacMagic sound. Reveals all the details in the midrange and the bass is tight and solid(i'm considering getting rid of the sub because it's too much) my speakers don't have a dedicated tweeter but treble is superb. The other very important improvement is it's very easy to listen to. This may sound daft but anyone who listens to music for long periods will understand what i mean. Through my headphones, sennheiser hd600 the sound is wonderful and through my hi fi the sound isn't as good as my Arcam cd player but it's not far off and i would say as good as a reasonable priced cd player. Overall the best single improvement i've ever made to my sound systems

Voilà un petit appareil qui va transformer vos écoutes de musique numérique ! scène sonore superbe , son chaleureux sans agressivité , beauté des timbres que ce soit sur les voix ou les instruments , bref une alternative indispensable aux mauvaises cartes son de nos pc ! à utiliser avec Asio bien sûr et l'installation du driver usb 2 se fait sans encombre ! un rapport qualité prix imbattable et des récompenses presse amplement mérités . Je l'utilse pour lire mes fichiers flac avec le lecteur J River sur un ampli Naim et des enceintes BW nautilus qui pardonnent peu de chose et sincèrement c'est superbe ! n'hésitez pas à ce prix .

Bueno por el precio que tiene ahora. Como advertencia no sirve para móviles sólo para ordenadores. Buena marca.

Comparing this amazing sounding DAC-Headphone amp to the Meridian Explorer, the cEntrance Dacport, the Woo Audio Firelifes, and the ResonEssence Concero, i will have to tell you that this device is astounding. It equals the Meridian and cEntrance in value and surpasses them in clarity and articulation. (and yes, they both sound very good). As compared to the Woo Fireflies or the Concero HP, it actually has better dynamics and clarity. It does not sound better then those (2) $4X its price units, but it offers no less quality of sound, which is amazing. The volume control implementation is excellent and the unit itself is aesthetically refined & beautiful. Its a little sonic miracle for very little money as compared to the Audiophile sound quality which it supplies. At 3x the price it would be a good value. ! The Stereophile review was correct about this brilliant device.

Oh I thought it was excellent. I was one of those old world audiophiles who once upon a time used vintage DACs with Motorola processors ( pre Intel ). Since my source now has changed from CD player to my spare Macpro the Damagic XS makes great sense.

La qualita' e' eccezionale, la definizione, i timbri , lo uso insieme a delle ottime cuffie della Bowers & Wilkins. attaccando le cuffie al pc (con scheda audio di serie integrata nella motherboard) senza usare questo CODEC la differenza si avverte, come dicevo si perde in definizione, soprattutto sui medi/alti. Inutile acquistare cuffie da 500-700 euro se poi non su usa un dac ottimo come questo. Consegnato con qualche ritardo ma tutto nella norma.