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.

This box of tricks will certainly give you your bang for buck, considering its diminutive size it kicks out up to a 150mW from its solid state circuitry with nothing more than its casing as a heat-sink. Tiny it may be but its feature set belies its form factor. All you need to do is download the USB 2.0 driver for Windows from cambridgeaudio.com's support page and you have got 24/192 in yours ears(provided you have those FLAC files)No less than 54 volume steps if you care to count them and simple, intuitive double and long key presses on the + & - buttons will provide you with the array of settings. Confirmed on every keystroke by the multi-coloured micro LED indicator. The PDF User Manual provided on the cambridgeaudio.com site couldn't be any easier to follow and for Mac users the set-up configurations are even easier!Needless to say, this guy now sits permanently plugged in at the side of my PC and is in its carry pouch just as soon as I'm off on my travels along with my HD music library that's growing by the week!!

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 have a MacBook Air and wanted to be able to listen to good quality music while I work. I upgraded my headphones to Audio Technica ATH-M50 and tried a different DAC which made quite a bit of difference but unfortunately let me down. That DAC was second-hand and would have been around £70 full price (by the way, I had purchased it on Amazon from a company, they refunded fully). After searching the reviews I decided this was the one. Very small, nicely made, really nothing to it - until you listen! If you are like me and wondered whether DAC technology might be a snake-oil solution, designed to extract money for not much benefit, this little Cambridge product will cure you. I won't bother you with mythical hifi descriptions: just a world of difference between the headphones plugged straight into the laptop and the headphones via this. I have listened to headphones costing more than twice as much as mine plugged directly in, there is absolutely no question but that this DAC brings the very best out of what you have. If you care about the quality of music you are listening to and want to listen from a computer, get one.

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

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.

Paired with some mid-range JVC headphones the quality is light years ahead of the sound produced from my Dell laptop's built-in audio chip. Better than some expensive soundcards I've had in desktop computers too. Only have one gripe; I get weird instances of streaming video (YouTube, Netflix, Prime) freezing up and have to pause for a second then hit play for it to resume. Only happens when using this DAC. Haven't seen any other reports of this, so probably just a weird driver glitch with my particular laptop config. Other than that, this little box is audio heaven!

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

Lo uso con mis audiotechnica m50x y es millones de veces mejor que el conector jack de mi pc. Se oyen detalles que nunca había escuchado en canciones. Obviamente tiene que ser archivos flac, wav o streaming en calidad máxima.

Purchased directly from Cambridge Audio, USA office in FL, shipped SUPER FAST FEDEX. At first I was confused with the setup. My Audioquest Dragonfly 1.2 was definitely easier to setup. In fact there was no setup, its just plug and play. So for this audiophile I realized a few things. (1) the Dragonfly 1.2 defaults to whatever bitrate and Hz it thinks is best for your config and tastes. That meant, which is fine, that I had to accept Audioquests recommendation every time, or change it every time. I like more control over my music playback, specifically. (2) Drivers ARE required for the DACMagic XS in Windows 10, which I run on a superbook laptop worth a couple grand because it has everything I ever wanted in a laptop, so naturally I had to pay for that. Then came along Microsoft Surface, specifically the Pro 4 with 6th gen. Core i5, 256 SSD, 8GB RAM, 4K display with only 1 USB port, a 3.0 variant. (3) Lastly, the DACMagic XS could take advantage of that USB 3.0 with flying colors, given the correct DRIVER from Cambridge Audio is installed. Now this important.... here is the point and the benefit of the DACMagic XS over the Dragonfly. Along with total control over the configuration AND, the DACMagic XS goes all the way up to 24 bit 192Hz, whereas the Dragonfly tops out at 24 bit 96hz. You may say to yourself, why does that matter to me? Will I ever even notice a difference sonically between 96hz and 192hz? There it is! A very high quality, audiophile sound signature that can can take advantage of that 192hz spec. Can a human ear tell the difference, I am not sure. But this leads me back to the original review preface. If its available, I want it. And yes, [...] has downloadable audio right there at that very high birate and Hertz! I've downloaded some of it and its impeccable. Since we are human made of flesh, blood and brains, we require a DAC to convert that digital audio to analog so we can hear and enjoy it! The DACMagic XS by Cambridge Soundworks is truly an awesome device, in a class by itself! So is the Dragonfly in its own right. The sound signature is definitely different between the 2, so you will have to listen for yourself and decide your preference, or buy both like me. I like options. This is the good old USA and we have tons of them. In part thats what makes this country great! The DACMagic XS has a "British" sound signature. It takes some getting used to. Definately some burn in. I wont get started on headphones now as this review would go on for days. Suffice to say I have a dozen or so, many of which are considered audiophile grade from the UK, Germany, Denmark, USA, Japan, etc. Here the main point, the options provided by the DACMagic XS, in my opinion, outweigh ANY and ALL other portable audiophile DAC 's on the market. At a very reasonable price as well. Try it out, you only live once! If you love all kinds of music as much as myself, I know a lot of you do, again, just try it out. Its a genuine pleasant surprise I never thought I would ever have the opportunity of owning. But boy, am I sure glad I do!

Sehr guter DAC (wie von Cambridge Audio gewohnt). Der Klang läßt kaum Wünsche offen. Seine Power ist für niederohmige Hörer mehr als ausreichend (über 50 Volumeprozente wird es schon eher ungesund laut), für größere Kopfhörer reicht es allerdings nicht. Daß er offiziell von CA als Notebook-Lösung angeboten wird, findet seinen einleuchtenden Grund darin, daß seine Power immerhin so groß ist, daß er meine Sopny Xperia in drei bis vier Stunden Musikhören komplett leersaugt. Ich versuche dem DAC jetzt mit einem OTG-Y-Kabel und einer kleinen Powerbank eine eigene Stromversorgung zu ermöglichen. Hoffe, daß es klappt.Der DAC selbst ist klanglich jedenfalls sehr gut und man möchte ihn nicht mehr missen.P.S.: Leider funktioniert das Kabel nicht wie erwünscht (ich behalte es trotzdem, etwa wenn ich mal eine Festplatte anschließen möchte o.ä.). Der Grund liegt wohl darin, daß der DAC selbst im Leerlauf keinen Strom verbraucht und erst durch den USB-Host (Handy) initialisiert wird. In dem Moment aber liefert das Handy auch automatisch den Strom (und die Batterieanzeige sinkt und sinkt), während sich die Powerbank abschaltet, da ihr kein Bedarf gemeldet wird. Ich habe jetzt aber eine andere, vielleicht bessere Lösung gefunden: Da das Sony Xperia neben USB noch einen zusätzlichen magnetischen Ladeanschluß hat, verbinde ich diesen direkt mit der Powerbank beim Musikhören mit dem DAC und das erwünschte Ziel ist - vielleicht sogar noch einfacher und besser - erreicht...