Funny you should ask that, cause currently I have both the Dacmagic and Valab, and have been comparing both with the sound of my Onix xcd-88 (same as original music hall cd25)with OPA627 opamps. I'm using the Onix as the transport.
I've only had them for a week or two, and I'm still evaluating, but right off the bat, these 2 dacs sounded quite different from one another. Also note that my speakers are a pair of Magnepan IIc's, that I've only been using for the past couple months, and I'm still working with tuning the sound with placement, subwoofer level and tweeter resistance. My room is very live, and I sometimes struggle with too much treble energy with some CD's, and the Onix certainly doesn't help. The Onix doesn't fatigue me at all, but just can sound thin.
So far, I have not really warmed up to the Dacmagic. When directly comparing to the Dac in my Onix, something about the dacmagic is fatiguing, to me, and I can't quite pinpoint it, yet. The midrange sounds natural and full, but more forward sounding then I'm used to.
Up until yesterday, my impressions of the Valab were not very positive. It was definitely easy to listen to (non fatiguing), but seemed to lack depth and top end extension. I was pretty much ready to write off the Valab, but I tried another Digital cable I had on hand, which is one I made from silver plated, dual shielded 50ohm coax. This cable seemed to improve the treble extension of both dacs, and acually seemed to narrow the gap of sonic differences.
After the cable change, the Dacmagic still irritates me. I decided to just listen to the Valab for the whole session, and see how it goes. Up until this point, all of my listening tests have been at moderate sound levels, since I've been struggling with overly hard and congested treble at louder levels. At these moderate levels, the Valab sounded pretty good. I'd call it a "safe" sound, but did not sound real full and deep.
I decided to crank up the volume to a level I had not reached with these newly acquired maggies, and lo and behold, things came together. I spent hours listening to a variety of music with varying degrees of recording quality, at fairly loud levels, and enjoyed it. As a comparison, comfortably listening to either the Onix or the Dacmagic at these louder levels proved to be dependent on the disc.
The Valab seems to be a very forgiving dac, and sounds smooth through a wide range of recordings. It was allowing me to listen to discs that I couldn't previously listen to because of various sonic dislikes. If your CD playback sounds too inconsistent between discs, or irritates the heck out of you, you may like the Valab, although you do get the background noise due to the lack of filtering. The Valab does seem rolled off on top, but this could benefit some systems.
I'm still gonna give the Dacmagic a chance, but at this point, I prefer the sound of my CDP's output over the dacmagic, although I think the Onix tries to sound too detailed. I think I'll add a bit of attenuation to my Maggie's tweeter sections to tame the top end, a bit, before my next session. Who knows.....my opinions may change.
If I had to pick one today, I'd keep the Valab, but only because my last session with it was positive. It's been rare for me to listen for 6 hrs straight, and walk away feeling musically satisfied.
I've only had them for a week or two, and I'm still evaluating, but right off the bat, these 2 dacs sounded quite different from one another. Also note that my speakers are a pair of Magnepan IIc's, that I've only been using for the past couple months, and I'm still working with tuning the sound with placement, subwoofer level and tweeter resistance. My room is very live, and I sometimes struggle with too much treble energy with some CD's, and the Onix certainly doesn't help. The Onix doesn't fatigue me at all, but just can sound thin.
So far, I have not really warmed up to the Dacmagic. When directly comparing to the Dac in my Onix, something about the dacmagic is fatiguing, to me, and I can't quite pinpoint it, yet. The midrange sounds natural and full, but more forward sounding then I'm used to.
Up until yesterday, my impressions of the Valab were not very positive. It was definitely easy to listen to (non fatiguing), but seemed to lack depth and top end extension. I was pretty much ready to write off the Valab, but I tried another Digital cable I had on hand, which is one I made from silver plated, dual shielded 50ohm coax. This cable seemed to improve the treble extension of both dacs, and acually seemed to narrow the gap of sonic differences.
After the cable change, the Dacmagic still irritates me. I decided to just listen to the Valab for the whole session, and see how it goes. Up until this point, all of my listening tests have been at moderate sound levels, since I've been struggling with overly hard and congested treble at louder levels. At these moderate levels, the Valab sounded pretty good. I'd call it a "safe" sound, but did not sound real full and deep.
I decided to crank up the volume to a level I had not reached with these newly acquired maggies, and lo and behold, things came together. I spent hours listening to a variety of music with varying degrees of recording quality, at fairly loud levels, and enjoyed it. As a comparison, comfortably listening to either the Onix or the Dacmagic at these louder levels proved to be dependent on the disc.
The Valab seems to be a very forgiving dac, and sounds smooth through a wide range of recordings. It was allowing me to listen to discs that I couldn't previously listen to because of various sonic dislikes. If your CD playback sounds too inconsistent between discs, or irritates the heck out of you, you may like the Valab, although you do get the background noise due to the lack of filtering. The Valab does seem rolled off on top, but this could benefit some systems.
I'm still gonna give the Dacmagic a chance, but at this point, I prefer the sound of my CDP's output over the dacmagic, although I think the Onix tries to sound too detailed. I think I'll add a bit of attenuation to my Maggie's tweeter sections to tame the top end, a bit, before my next session. Who knows.....my opinions may change.
If I had to pick one today, I'd keep the Valab, but only because my last session with it was positive. It's been rare for me to listen for 6 hrs straight, and walk away feeling musically satisfied.