I also own a DACMagic and my experience is similar to yours. When I first received it, I hooked it up with a modestly priced Onkyo CD player which I used only as a transport. However, when I substituted a far more expensive Pioneer Elite universal player, the change was dramatically better -- and I am something of a skeptic about revolutionary changes in performance. Sam Tellig, in the May issue of "Stereophile", reports similar results when switching from a Marantz CD player to a more "robust" one manufactured by Denon.