DacMagic 200M

Digital to Analogue Converter

• Dual ESS ES9028Q2M DACs - easily handles digital audio files up to 24-bit/768kHz or DSD512
• Supports MQA - be sure you're listening to artist-approved studio-quality audio
• Digital optical, digital coaxial and USB inputs - connect CD players, games consoles, laptops or other digital audio sources
• Built in Bluetooth aptX - send digital audio files from your smartphone or tablet wirelessly
• Finished in Lunar Grey

Digital audio is brilliant, but it needs to be analogue audio before you can hear it. And the way it ends up sounding depends entirely on how you convert the digital audio files stored on your computer, on CD or from your favourite streaming service. DacMagic 200M performs the digital-to-analogue conversion perfectly every time, letting all kinds of audio systems sound better than ever before. 

Studio Quality Audio

DacMagic 200M is Cambridge Audio’s first product to support MQA.

MQA is an award-winning British technology that delivers studio-quality sound in a file small enough to stream. TIDAL, for instance, uses MQA technology to deliver master-quality sound in their Hi-Fi membership. Cambridge Audio’s DacMagic 200M can fully decode and playback MQA files, so they sound exactly like the original studio recording.

On the product, look out for the blue MQA indicator. This indicates you are playing an MQA Studio file, which has either been approved in the studio by the artist or producer, or has been verified by the copyright owner. The green indicator is confirmation you are playing and decoding an MQA music file.

Powerful Processing

At the heart of the DacMagic 200M is a pair of extremely high-quality ESS Sabre digital- to-analogue converters. They handle digital audio files up to 24bit/768kHz or DSD512, so they can deal with digital music of any kind stored on CDs, smartphones, computers - or anywhere else, for that matter.

Once a digital file is onboard DacMagic 200M, its twin DACs convert it to analogue information with all of its dynamics and detail intact. And, because the analogue signal it sends to your audio set-up is so astonishingly free of distortion, so precise and so lifelike, your system will sound more convincing and complete than it ever has before.

Easy Integration

Despite the incredible number of features, the extensive functionality and the extraordinary technology on board the DacMagic 200M, Cambridge Audio has managed to fit it all into a beautifully built, flawlessly finished steel and aluminium box measuring just 52 x 215 x 191mm.

This means it will fit neatly and discreetly into any existing audio set-up without taking up loads of room or drawing too much attention to itself. All that’s required is a balanced or unbalanced connection to your system (and some mains power, of course) for DacMagic 200M to deliver you a sonic upgrade that’s way bigger than the box it comes from.

Well Connected

It’s possible to get digital audio files into DacMagic 200M in any number of ways. Digital optical, digital coaxial and USB inputs mean CD players, games consoles, laptops or any other digital equipment can be easily hooked up - and Bluetooth aptX reception means it’s just as straightforward to wirelessly deliver files from your smartphone or tablet too.

DacMagic 200M has both balanced and unbalanced analogue outputs, so can be easily connected to audio systems of all types, as well as switchable filters to give you different sonic options. Alongside its ability to deliver stunning sound to your speakers, it has a high-quality headphone amplifier with 6.3mm output on board too, so you can enjoy DacMagic 200M’s thrilling sound quality in private – at whatever volume you like.

THE DETAILS

Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M review

What Hi-Fi? Awards 2021 winner. Cambridge’s generously featured DAC keeps the magic alive

By What Hi-Fi? published October 05, 2021

Cambridge Audio’s flagship DacMagic 200M is the DAC equivalent of an all-inclusive holiday that not only offers flights, meals and accommodation but also throws in room upgrades, free excursions and unlimited ice cream for the kids. And while we may have forgotten what holidays feel like right now, the fact that this digital-to-analogue converter is a generous soul should please anyone in the market for a well-equipped DAC for their hi-fi or desktop system.

Features

The DacMagic 200M wants to accommodate every music source and file you already own, or might conceivably think of owning. There are pairs of coaxial and optical inputs for covering CD players, games consoles and Blu-ray players, as well as a USB-type B socket (with a ground/lift switch) that welcomes laptops and PCs with open arms. For those who value easy and convenient wireless playback from a phone or tablet, aptX Bluetooth is also onboard.

RCA and balanced XLR outputs on the rear panel allow the DacMagic 200M to be a middleman in a hi-fi system, while a front-panel 6.3mm output caters for listening via headphones. That’s driven by Class A/B amplification that, thanks to a reduction in output impedance, promises more power and less distortion than the one found in the previous DacMagic design.

High-resolution file support goes beyond what most people will need: the USB-type B goes up to 32-bit/768kHz and DSD512, above the bitrate of most commercially available music files, while the opticals and coaxials top out at 24-bit/96kHz and 24-bit/192kHz respectively. As off-the-shelf DAC chips become more sophisticated, hi-fi DACs increasingly sport such highbrow file compatibility.

But what makes the Cambridge stand out is its native support of MQA technology, meaning it can decode and play downloaded MQA hard files, in addition to hi-res Tidal Masters (which are MQA-encoded). That’s great news in particular for Tidal HiFi subscribers who have access to the increasing number of ‘Masters’ streams (many of which are 24-bit/96kHz) that populate the catalogue.

Build

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.

It makes for a busy aesthetic, not least as they’re also joined by LED, buttons and text labels for DAC filters and source selection, as well as the usual power button, volume dial, headphone jack and company logos. Still, it’s smartly presented and gives the DAC a rather tactile element – great if you plan to have it near you on a desktop and manually make adjustments, though not so relevant if it’s placed far away (those text labels are small) or tucked away in a system rack, as the compact aluminium chassis lends itself to. There’s no remote control either.

The DAC architecture itself uses dual ESS Sabre DACs in a mono configuration. That means one DAC chip handles the right audio channel while the other handles the left, theoretically resulting in better channel separation.

Sound

The DacMagic 200M’s performance continues the momentum of the company’s recent hi-fi components, including the CX and Edge ranges. It’s recognisably ‘Cambridge’, characterised by a full, smooth tonality that’s complemented by an open, expressive and authoritative manner.

We hook the Cambridge up to a Macbook Pro via USB type-B, feed it Arab Strap’s Fable Of The Urban Fox (16-bit/44.1kHz) and are instantly impressed by the articulacy of Aidan Moffat’s trademark poetic storytelling through the 200M. It not only communicates his unmistakable Scottish accent but also the masterful cadence of his delivery.

The insightful midrange, also exemplified by the textured acoustic melody, is bookended by a rich, punchy low-end – the introductory bass thump is full and lush – and pleasingly present highs that round off a nicely proportioned, equally talented frequency range. As the instrumentation busies the soundstage, the Cambridge has enough breadth and control to keep things coherent.

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.

Dynamic shrewdness is backed by rhythmic coordination and punch, amounting to a musical presentation. There’s much to appreciate in a hi-fi component that lets you sit back and enjoy your music no matter the genre, whether it’s Beethoven’s Piano Concerto 5 Op73 “Emperor” Adagio (MQA, 24-bit/96kHz) or Drake’s What’s Next (24-bit/88.2kHz) – and the DacMagic 200M is one of those.

There’s enough transparency to make the most of the higher-res tracks in which it supports, too. A DSD64 of Stevie Wonder’s Too High sparkles with the amount of detail revealed. 

At the other end of the scale, music transmitted over Bluetooth often equals notably muddier, more confined results compared to a wired source. But while there’s some degradation here in terms of clarity and subtlety, Bluetooth playback is exemplary when paired with a Samsung Galaxy S21 during testing. The presentation is clean, open and ultimately  well upheld, which is about all you can ask for from a product of this nature.

The Cambridge’s three digital filters – Fast, Slow and Short Delay – offer fairly subtle differences, albeit some level of sonic customisation. We find ourselves settling for Short Delay – it seems the more punctual of the three in relation to timing – but it’s worth experimenting with them.

The similarly priced Chord Mojo sets a rather lofty benchmark at this price, despite lacking many of the Cambridge’s features due to its portable (and battery-powered) nature. The Chord edges ahead in performance, delivering even greater subtlety and rhythmic precision, but it can’t match the DacMagic 200M’s impressive feature versatility.

Verdict

Cambridge Audio’s latest top-of-the-line DacMagic continues the legacy of the long-standing DacMagic model, the original of which earned Cambridge its first What Hi-Fi? Award in 1996. The 200M is 25 years and several evolutionary steps along the DacMagic line in terms of features and performance, but it hasn’t lost sight of its vision to sit among the very best at its level. The DacMagic 200M is a talented all-rounder: a safe buy indeed.

SCORES

• Sound 5
• Features 5
• Build 5