Canbridge Audio D500 v DAC v CD6 advice

[Chicho]

New here, but I have been reading for quiet some time.

Ok, my question is –
I’m in the process of building a budget Hi-Fi.

I have a chance to buy a D500 or a Dacmagic 2MkII or an older CD6, I have found some great reviews on all of the units.

I also have a current Yamaha DVD which plays SACD, I was hoping that the DAC could be plugged in to this DVD for the CD listening.

What do people here think would be my best buy?

Thanks,
Diego.

[Puffin]

All the Cambridge stuff you list are pretty old designs. However that does not mean to say that they are bad. How much are they asking for them ?

The D500 is a CD player which I seem to remember was fairly well reviewed here in the U.K The Dacmagic Dac is just that, a standalone Dac and will need an optical or digital signal fed to it to get any sound out of it. One of the attractions of the Dacmagic was that for it's price it was very heavily enginered and had balanced outputs. So if you had a amp that had balanced inputs you could (in theory) get better sound.

The CD6 is a CD player that has most of the Dacmagic inside it. It too has balanced ouputs (if that is important).

I have had 2 Dacmagic's and a CD6.

You CANNOT use the digital out from your DVD player to use the Dacmagic, as it will not sample the signal.

[Chicho]

Thanks for the reply Puffin.

Yeah it’s all old stuff but I believe it still better then buying current el-chepo sony, pioneer etc…

$120Au each, and $100 for the CD6.

My amp is a Yamaha 995, old design but has DTS – no balanced inputs thou.

Hmm.. I thought I could use the coax from the DVD to the DAC, Oh well that’s that out of the question.

Out of the DAC and the CD6, witch do you find better?

[Puffin]

Chicho. Oddly enough, although the CD6 contains a lot of the Dacmagic inside it, I found that the combination of the CD6 and Dacmagic was better than the CD6 on it's own.

If you can find a Discmagic transport to partner the Dacmagic with, they sound really good together (they were of course designed to be used together)

I think the conversion rate £ to $aus is about 1.4 ?

I now use a LiTe Dac AH which cost $USD125 (about £75) with shipping from H.Kong to U.K. IMHO this beats the Dacmagic in all areas.

[rfbrw]

Originally posted by Puffin


You CANNOT use the digital out from your DVD player to use the Dacmagic, as it will not sample the signal.

Eh ? Of course the OP can use the DVD player in combination with the dac for CD playback.

[Puffin]

Yes. Sorry for CD playback only. I tried to use the Dacmagic with the digital out from a Cambridge V500 surround sound processor which was not compatible.

Chicho. Appologies for the error.

[Chicho]

Ok, so I will be able to use the DVD for HT via the 5.1 out and the coax for DAC output?

So now it’s between the D500 playing solo or the DVD connected to the DAC.

What would be the best combo?
The fact that I would be able to use the amp remote for the DVD also puts a + for the DAC.

I have read some issues on high jitter form the DAC if it’s not connected to the clock, is there a mod for this connection?

Sorry to be asking such silly questions.

The more I read the more I want – B&W speakers 603s1 any good?

[Puffin]

Can you afford to buy both ? You could then compare.

I could not say which combination I preferred unless I heard them, which presumably will be the same for you.

[Chicho]

I was thinking of doing that and ebay the one I do not want.

At the moment thou I think these unit will be better then my cheap speakers to do a good comparison anyway.

Do people here think better cables make much difference in a budget system like this one?