Working from home I realized that my Bowers & Wilkins headphones really didn't sound that great. I knew it wasn't the headphones so it had to be the source my firm issues computer. I didn't want to mess with the computer too much and wanted a simple plug-n-play solution. This is is, once the drivers are downloaded my headphones came back to life, the detail, separation, and stage just sound incredible. I'm not sure how anything beats this thing, especially with the volume control which I absolutely love. I know that this is a bit long in the tooth and I sincerely hope that Cambridge Audio replace it in the future. I'm planning on buying a second unit to use with the Harmon Kardon Soundsticks which have also come to life. This is absolutely the best bang for my buck.

An average HP Pavillion laptop running both iTunes and foobar highrez tracks into a pair of AKG K550 MKIII.

Plug the cans straight into the laptop and you are rewarded with poor definition, woeful clarity, distortion and a generally unrefined grainy and rough sound.
Not good, in fact so bad that after ripping a cd into iTunes I chose to listen using an iPod into headphones, where sound quality is actually quite good but lacks sufficient gain to energise and sufficiently drive the akg's.

Cambridge audio Dacmagic XS: Introduce this little baby into the chain and it totally transforms the sound, its literally nothing like the previous pitiful efforts. Amazing!!!...especially when you consider it sounds equally good when listening between high Res and anything I've ripped into apple lossless. iTunes copies of my CDs have never sounded so interesting and just plain listenable. I've listened to many dacs and none are as good as this. Buy one.

I have tried many dac that are for office use and I could not reach anything like this one. I have been buying and selling DAC'S for a while until I got to this one. Has and amazing sound. Good clarity, bass, and details. I wish it has a screen so I would know where I am on the volume level, but other than that it is very well recommended.

The DACMAGIC was plugged into the USB socket of a computer with a 'doubtful quality' sound card. The impact is immediate. Crisp detail in the sound presence, solid bass and total control of the volume output. It is used demonstrating Audio Visual sequences in a large hall and secondly is connected into my music system at home when operated from the computer.