Linear phase is the type of filter most commonly used in up/oversampling players, since the very first Philips' machines in the early 1980s. It gives no phase shift at all within the audio band and rolls off very sharply around half the sampling frequency. As far as Bluetooth goes, the 200M is an altogether more qualified success – quite a bit of the alacrity, unity and positivity of its performance drops away a little. Everything’s relative though, of course, and the Cambridge Audio remains an engaging and enjoyable listen. And as a way of bringing some wireless connectivity to a system that has none, it could be a lot worse. Cambridge Audio DACMagic 200M review: design & usability

Como todos nuestros productos, el desarrollo del dispositivo fue realizado de forma personalizada por nuestro fantástico equipo de profesionales de nuestra sede en el centro de Londres. Nuestros ingenieros pusieron todo su esfuerzo y atención al detalle para garantizar que la característica principal del producto es su calidad del sonido. Esta es la razón por la que DacMagic 100 incorpora el convertidor de digital a analógico más reciente de Wolfson, la empresa líder en el sector. Caractersiticas Tecnicas Apart from anything else, we just loved the clean but always extended and tuneful bass this setting gave, with an utterly convincing sense of timing that made the most of the rhythmic qualities of any musical style. Move on to Emeli Sandé’s Heaven and the Cambridge paints a tonally even picture with well-mannered treble and weighty, precise low frequencies. That seems an obvious requirement, but it's surprising how often it's not quite met – one finds that the entrance of a male voice puts a female one slightly in the shade, or vice versa. Fed a 16-bit/44.1kHz rip of Dusty Springfield’s Son Of A Preacher Man, the DacMagic 100 serves up an open, spacious sound. Vocals are given space to breathe and, even with a mix of instruments thrown in, everything knits together well.In the advanced tab you will be given the option to change the Windows output sample rate. If you are using your DacMagic 100 in USB Audio Class 1.0 mode, set this to ‘24-bit, 96000Hz’. As far as usability is concerned, it really couldn’t be any more straightforward. There’s no control app, no remote control… so just make your digital connection, hook the 200M to your amplifier or plug in your headphones, and that’s all there is to it. You’ll need to set a volume level, of course, and investigate your trio of filter options – but fundamentally the Cambridge Audio is a very straightforward device. That smoothness clings to the violins leading Ólafur Arnalds’ Spiral (Sunrise Session) (24-bit/96kHz) in a way that makes it enjoyable without clouding the textural finesse or dynamic undulation of the strings that communicate the piece’s beautiful fragility. The Cambridge rides the dynamic ebbs and flows nicely, showing its grace in the quieter moments and its authority in the louder ones.

Connect the audio outputs of the DacMagic 100 using RCA cables to the line-input of your amplifier. Since then, the DacMagic has existed in one form or another in the Cambridge Audio range. Recent attention has been more focused on adding digital inputs to the amplifiers themselves though so the 200M is the first new DacMagic in a rather long time. Is this still a fine way of boosting your digital capabilities or have the changes that the DacMagic name started moved to the point where you don’t need a standalone DAC any more? Is it a jump in performance on the original? Yes. It sounds better and does more, and if you value the extra features then the DacMagic Plus could be ideal. The whole right-hand side of the Cambridge’s facade is dedicated to displaying the sampling rate of the audio signal being fed into it. Several LEDs each labelled with a sampling rate –‘44.1kHz’, ‘48kHz’, ‘96kHz’ and ‘192kHz’, for example – light up to signify it. So if you’re playing a CD-quality file, the ‘44.1kHz’ LED will illuminate. Likewise, LEDs for MQA and DSD light up when those types of files or streams are detected. The Cambridge Audio DacMagic is practical and good-looking too and we would rate it all-round as one of the best audio bargains we've come across in a while.Prices valid in stores (all including VAT) until close of business on 26th November 2023. (Some of these web prices are cheaper than in-store, so please mention that you've seen these offers online.) There are two coaxial inputs and a single optical one, all switchable from the front. Add to this the USB input and gold-plated analogue RCA outputs for connecting to your hi-fi and the DacMagic 100 has every angle covered. There's a choice of Linear Phase, Minimum Phase and Steep filter modes, which you should experiment with, too (we liked Minimum the best). At this point one of the two S/P DIF source LEDs will light up; S/PDIF 1 represents USB 1.0, and S/PDIF 2 represents USB 2.0.