Aeolus magiDAC

[mapstec]

Re Singlepower:

Ah, but you missed the point, the suspense for how long it takes and in what bizarre ways whatever you ordered will be build is part and parcel of the whole experience, not to say expected...

[spritzer]

Re Singlepower:

Ah, but you missed the point, the suspense for how long it takes and in what bizarre ways whatever you ordered will be build is part and parcel of the whole experience, not to say expected...

It's also required to send it back at least once to have something fixed that should have been done correctly the first time...

[mauimike]

Hi guys -- again, sorry for the weird shipping delays.

The units do not ship from Maui, they come from Washington state, where they are built. As I am over 2500 miles from there, it's hard for me to know exactly what's going on. But I am trying to find out.

Very sorry for the delays and lack of communication - it shouldn't be like that!

(At least not from a small company) I'll post back with news as soon as I find out what's up.

[mauimike]

I just talked to the build crew at Audiomagus and they are building DACs as fast as they can, but there is a rather large backlog. They are taking care of it as fast as possible. Many apologizes for the delays.

If you ordered a magiDAC and are still waiting for the darn thing, you can email them to see where you are in the build queue. I think that only about 5 a day are going out.

Seems to have been an unlucky combo of more orders than expected and unforeseen production glitches.

Again, sorry for the delays and lack of info. This should get cleared up now. Please let me know if it doesn't.

[Pars]

<snip>

Very sorry for the delays and lack of communication - it shouldn't be like that!

(At least not from a small from ANY company) I'll post back with news as soon as I find out what's up.

FTFY

[audiomagus]

Hi Guys,

This is the other Mike from Audiomagus. I'm the one not in Hawaii... and the one building the DACs. In other words, the one to blame .

The DACs are all hand-assembled here in Poulsbo (outside Seattle). We were overwhelmed by the number of orders and have been trying to keep up while making accurate and reasonable ship-date estimates. As is in evidence here, we've not been keeping up very well. I apologize for that.

We will be shipping the last batches through the weekend. The only ones waiting after that are 3 that are dependent on a new delivery of custom transformers from Bud Purvine. Bud assures us that we'll have the new transformers by Wed. (A week late...but Bud makes very good transformers.)

If you have any questions, please call, email or chat. All of the contact info, including live chat link and toll-free telephone number, can be found on our site.

Thanks and, again, I apologize to any of you that have had to wait!

[Hopstretch]

I hope mapstec gets his soon because I wanna know how it sounds!

[Cankin]

mapstec is selling his here

Pending: Audiomagus Aeolus magiDAC (Europe, ships to worldwide) - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

[Hopstretch]

Quickest turnover ever?

[blessingx]

Wow, that didn't take long. I know his was held up at customs for a bit so I assume it wasn't in his hands long. Wonder how many day(s)? Would be curious to get his input.

I've held off making comments as A) I've barely been around the house for several weeks and given the DAC about five hours of listen, maybe and wanted to have the time to give a more detailed reaction. Since that isn't going to happen soon...

It's a little difficult to do a comparative review as there isn't much in the price range and even above I do not have much at my house at the moment. Thus I only A/Bed against the Squeezebox itself and the Pico (at high/2 o'clock). Using both USB and coaxial (fed by Squeezebox), and all the equipment in sig (a least quickly and apologies for that's all the time I've got recently) I'd describe the overall sound as both smooth and impactful. Audiomagus sales pitch uses 'an analog sound' phrase in relationship to digital issues and I think this is quite accurate. If you're a detail freak the magiDAC may not be for you. Certainly the Pico wins there and is overall a superior DAC. It of course is nearly twice the magiDACs intro price (though also includes an amp) and limited to USB input. From memory the Lavry DA10 is also, but we're now talking 3-4x the price.

The Squeezebox on the other had was a bit confusing at first. Initially there was an input bleed on my amp which made a comparison difficult, but once that was sorted out it was clear the magiDAC addition was worth it. Although decreasing the soundstage width a bit which may be an issue for some, it moved the midrange forward and filled in the bottom end. Things came alive. I've said some of this before, but decay on piano is quite nice. Vocals intimate. Placement good. Overall a pretty organic presentation which leads to the analog description. Although my time hasn't been long I don't get the impression this is will be a short-term impress. Dynamic range and other tests will have to be in the future. I've always felt the Squeezebox 3/Classic was undervalued as a DAC - again taking price/performance into account, which at least to me in especially necessary with DACs. I certainly would recommend the magiDAC addition to the Squeezebox over certain similarly priced power mods to it (if using the analog outs).

I know most here have primary setups quite a bit above the likely magiDACs target population and even its performance, but I'd recommend you consider for secondary setups or for those starting out. I certainly haven't heard a better $300 DAC and have heard worse above $500.

I'm fairly inarticulate in reviewing to begin with, but especially with DACs. I likely will have the magiDAC at Icarium's meet so hopefully we'll have a few more impressions soon.

Note: This unit had the clock upgrade. I ordered two units and one had a grounding issue and will go back, but the other, used for testing, did not.

[fierce_freak]

Great, thanks for the impressions

[blessingx]

Because of a change-around this weekend, I was fortunate enough to spend another five-ish hours with the magiDAC (and unfortunate to spend a few with higher end sources), and please let me subtract one 'clear' and modify one 'clearly' from the above.

I still think the magiDAC has high bang-for-buck value, but after a little more time I do wonder if the soundstage shrinking could be an issue for more. Using primary an ALAC/Squeezebox/Extreme Platinum (w/5965 & 6080 tubes)/HD580 setup this time (and not the panoramic STAX Lambdas), I became a bit more concerned with this subtraction when swapping from the Squeezebox solo to feeding the magiDAC.

Coupled with an impactful sound that tends not to be the opposite - polite, I can imagine the magiDAC not being for a larger segment than I once did. Even forgetting some of the expected advantages like increased transparency and air from higher gear I heard this weekend, compared to the Squeezebox itself, the magiDAC can sound thick occasionally.

So while this sounds more negative than my previous post, I'd just shift the focus from the magiDAC being the best $300 DAC available, to should be on your list of DACs in this price point. And oversimplifying more than a bit, maybe not the perfect solution with Diana Krall or Air, but very very satisfying for T. Rex or The Black Keys. And I've still heard worse $500 DACs.

NOTE: Although my time listening is still short, the magiDACs were burnt in for 60+ hours before first listen. And if I eventually choose not to stop at the magiDAC it's only because I want to reclimb higher.

[Cankin]

Thanks for you honest opinion!

[mapstec]

sorry for not having posted earlier, but I was glad to have washed my hands of all things AudioMagus...

I received the MagiDac shortly after having gotten a modified Lite DAC-AH (modified to a passive output stage).

My first impression of the physical enclosure: nice build, but why have a switch with a bulb at the end? seemed weird.

Anyway, I put the DAC into the system, connected the USB and switched it on, left it running for an hour and sat down to listen: nice enough, but on my Starving Student I heard background noise. Ok, DAC was fed via USB from a Notebook, not ideal, so I switched to the USB-Link I otherwise used and fed the DAC via coaxial input.

Still some background noise, almost gone when feeding a solid state amp, but still there...

So I packed it back up and offered it for sale, if no one had wanted it I would have send it back.

For the 300$ price tag the specs look good, and if you get a set without issues it might be worth it.

I have the Lite DAC-AH which new is around 500$ and has no issues and at least the same quality of sound.

I also own a "DAC-1", a simple Chinese DAC without USB input that sells for around 150$, the HK seller offers a parts upgrade (some caps and resistors) and if you add a USB link you still stay below 300$ and this combo blows the MagiDac away imho.

I do not want to turn anyone away from this DAC, and if you live in the US and can afford to easily ship the unit back and forth go for the trial period.

[audiomagus]

Mapstec,

I'm sorry you had an unsatisfactory experience with the magiDAC.

We welcome your comments. Please pound on us for our mistakes. We are a small company with great dedication to providing high levels of customer service. This, of course, does not mean that we do not make mistakes, but that when we make mistakes, we work to correct them, to learn from them... and not repeat them.

Please also engage in full disclosure when speaking in a public forum. This is not my first apology to you as I had contacted you via email as soon as I saw the DAC up for sale. You neglect to mention my two emails in your post. You also don't mention that we offered to pay return postage; and, once we found that you had sold the DAC, we asked you to instruct the new owner to contact us so that we might find if the problem was the DAC and, if so, resolve it quickly.

Regarding the dogbone shape of the switch lever: The switch was selected because it is a high-quality DC-specific switch. When tested, comments were that the bulb shape made the switch comfortable and easy to work. We are always working to improve our products and are looking for alternatives to the switch that provide the same quality and functionality.

Again, I am sorry that your experience with magiDAC was poor. We are specifically looking at headphone performance as we work through design of the next generation of the DAC.

Best regards,

Mike

s.

sorry for not having posted earlier, but I was glad to have washed my hands of all things AudioMagus...

I received the MagiDac shortly after having gotten a modified Lite DAC-AH (modified to a passive output stage).

My first impression of the physical enclosure: nice build, but why have a switch with a bulb at the end? seemed weird.

Anyway, I put the DAC into the system, connected the USB and switched it on, left it running for an hour and sat down to listen: nice enough, but on my Starving Student I heard background noise. Ok, DAC was fed via USB from a Notebook, not ideal, so I switched to the USB-Link I otherwise used and fed the DAC via coaxial input.

Still some background noise, almost gone when feeding a solid state amp, but still there...

So I packed it back up and offered it for sale, if no one had wanted it I would have send it back.

For the 300$ price tag the specs look good, and if you get a set without issues it might be worth it.

I have the Lite DAC-AH which new is around 500$ and has no issues and at least the same quality of sound.

I also own a "DAC-1", a simple Chinese DAC without USB input that sells for around 150$, the HK seller offers a parts upgrade (some caps and resistors) and if you add a USB link you still stay below 300$ and this combo blows the MagiDac away imho.

I do not want to turn anyone away from this DAC, and if you live in the US and can afford to easily ship the unit back and forth go for the trial period.

[blessingx]

Since a few have asked of my experience privately, I wanted to give a brief summary publicly, as it may be useful for others. Plus Mike asked for it.

As mentioned earlier Audiomagus was generous enough to send a prototype for a meet and was always kind enough to answer my questions on the phone. The people I talked with were always knowledgeable on technical questions and sorry if there was a problem. The value of good customer service can't be overemphasized.

But good customer service requires some competency in the basic service arena and Audiomagus is a disaster here. I gave them some slack and even defended them for delays in a new product introduction though statements where often inconsistent ("We're assembling them right now. I've got bruises on my hands already." "We're going to spend the whole weekend to get these out." "We're starting Monday." "Oh yes, we've been shipping. We'll get to yours shortly".). After a final grounding/buzz issue delay my two models arrived - serials #0001 and #0002 (I'm not sure if the 'rush' to send them was my connection to this community, but I have my doubts how many earlier units were shipped).

And one of them still ended up with a grounding issue. Coupled with mapstecs, that makes 2/3rds of the units we know about had a fault that Audiomagus was aware of. What rigorous QAing these three units underwent during their delay is anyones guess, but my impression is Audio Magus isn't a large company so I have difficulty understanding their slips here.

But still I debated holding on to the working unit. I was torn (especially when factoring the intro v. normal price), but as one was going back I decided to send the other.

I returned home from a trip and noticed the refund hadn't been granted yet, so I called them. I was told someone would be contacting me that day. I waited a week and called again. This time I was told I'd be getting a call within a few hours. A couple days later I emailed them. A prompt response came that the refund had been granted. I emailed back asking when it was, so I knew when it should show at my bank. Never heard back.

Yesterday I did get my refund so I'm now thankfully done with them. I suggest if you ever think about doing business with Audiomagnus you consider my experience. I certainly never will buy a product from them again. Nice, knowledgeable guys are a big plus, but only a plus if basic competency is nowhere to be seen.

As for the MagiDAC (besides the fact that you can only get it through Audiomagus), its price has fluctuated up, settling, at the time of this writing, at $500 (nearly double the intro price). Although the transformer seems to have changed from the previous base, and I have not heard the new unit, I have serious doubts it could improve to the level of other DAC options out there. $500 is a whole other price bracket and the Headamp Pico and Apogee Duet are but two obvious choices that are leagues above the three MagiDACs I've heard. Consider the used market and your choices explode. You could even buy a couple Parasound 1100s off eBay for that.

[audiomagus]

Thanks for the feedback. We are willing to take hits for the service you received. We dropped the ball on internal fulfillment and follow-up. Steps have been taken to correct this.

We are small and growing and try to learn from our mistakes. Key to our philosophy is to bring quality and performance to at reasonable prices. We don't want to just be pass-through importers of Asian products. We enage in R&D and new designs. We build them here. It is not an easy task. We also work hard to deliver strong and effective post-sale support. That doesn't mean we don't make mistakes. I apologize.

Regarding magiDAC grounding issue: It has been identified and corrected. It did not occur in all set-ups... It required some diagnostics time on our part to repeat the issue and then correct it.

Regarding the rush to get them out: They were built and shipped as we stated. You're right, we are small company. We are trying to do our assembly work in the US rather than overseas. It has been a challenge. We have changed our approach (still in the US) to allow for more scalability so we are not overtaken by orders again.

Regarding pricing: One of the new v2.0 DACs (with high-end transformers) was at the Heathrow show as a prototype. It received much interest. UK distributor and dealers there want the price to be >$2000. We are committed to keeping the pricing for the new DAC in the "reasonable" range (The DAC will not cost that much, even if it costs us dealers).

We will release the new DAC around the first of the year with new casing and PCB. Based on what we have learned the hard way, we will have supply on hand to fulfill more initial orders than projected.

We are going to keep trying. We will, no doubt, make mistakes in the future, but we will keep pushing to provide high-value high-performance audio and strong service levels.

Mike