The unit is compatible with sample rates up to 96kHz at 16- or 24-bit resolution. Physical assembly is neat and tidy and practicality is aided by the option of horizontal or vertical mounting for the unit – for the latter, a nonslip rubber base is provided. We were particularly impressed with the user manual, which goes into unusual detail in explaining what the DacMagic does – and how.

Competitive performance

Still, you don't listen to a user manual. We did listen to the DacMagic, though, with interest and increasing admiration as time went on. We were hardly surprised to find it ticked all the boxes on basic tonality and detail: most digital components do, these days. Happily, it seems to go some distance beyond that and it gives some well-respected DACs at considerably higher prices a pretty good run for their money.

It's probably worth getting a word or three in at this point about the filters, because they do indeed have an important effect on the sound – nothing gross, but the way the sound registers on the ear over the course of a prolonged track varies between them.

To the extent that each can be succinctly summarised, the linear phase is clean and tidy with a particularly well-controlled bass, but can sometimes seem a little clinical by comparison with minimum phase, which seems slightly warmer but perhaps a shade less precise.

Meanwhile, steep is superlatively detailed in simple music – single voice/instrument, or just a few – but slightly loses out to linear in very dense textures.

Tuneful bass

All that said, we would probably live happily with any of them, but while the keen tweaker may want to experiment and perhaps adopt preferences based on musical style, we ended up listening mostly to linear.

Apart from anything else, we just loved the clean but always extended and tuneful bass this setting gave, with an utterly convincing sense of timing that made the most of the rhythmic qualities of any musical style.

One tends to associate rhythm particularly with music for dancing or marching but, of course, it's no less important in a string quartet or ballad, just in a different way.

Indeed, it was with such pieces that we were aware of the DacMagic's clear precision in presenting the timing of each instrumental part. But yes, before you ask, it can also make the most of a dance track.

State of the art DAC

Tonality is exceptionally neutral, with clean extension at both extremes and very well-balanced midrange.

One often finds that certain instruments or voices seem slightly favoured, but we could detect no such effect here and were particularly struck by the way in which multiple voices coexisted without interfering with each other.

That seems an obvious requirement, but it's surprising how often it's not quite met – one finds that the entrance of a male voice puts a female one slightly in the shade, or vice versa.

There have been concerns voiced that USB is intrinsically a more jittery interface than regular S/PDIF, so we tried our best to hear any differences between the various options. Frankly, we couldn't – certainly not consistently. Nor could we measure any, the DacMagic turning in measured results which in every way qualify it being as state of the art.

Top audio bargain

Standards of CD replay being what they are, it probably won't lift many modern players beyond recognition, but it could give a new lease of life to some older models and for computer-based music replay it is an excellent choice.

The Cambridge Audio DacMagic is practical and good-looking too and we would rate it all-round as one of the best audio bargains we've come across in a while.