Naim DAC

I would appreciate this as well if someone could. Especially if they could grill the Naim reps for as much info as possible!!

Thanks

Can anyone comment on the market level the DAC is aimed at relative to the current CD line-up?

Thanks

Graeme

quote:

Originally posted by Jonn:
Be good if anybody going to the first roadshow in Stroud this Thursday could report their impressions - some pictures would be nice as well

There are some good pictures here:
http://www.stroudphotos.co.uk/page8.htm
The roadshow is in fact nearer to Painswick.

Thanks rupert bear, but I was hoping to get a better idea of the sound and found this:
http://www.visit-
gloucestershire.co.uk/gloucestershire/painswickvideo.htm

Jon

Jon

I think this is what you meant.

http://www.visit-gloucestershi...e/painswickvideo.htm

Not exactly riveting is it

Latitude: 51.699244N Longitude: 2.306703W
Underground, backstage pass type Q&A (Cheese wine and nibbles) in Hetty Pegler's Tump (after the main show) or so I believe.

The DAC (apparently that's its official name) takes output from a revised CDX2. With a 552/500 driving Ovators, the CDX2 sounded good (hard to anchor the presentation to anything as I didn't feel the music was a useful choice for this purpose). Adding the DAC changed the picture completely: far more detailed and natural. Apparently, it'll sell for just under £2K, and in that system was a no-brainer.
Adding an XPS to the DAC just gave a lot more of the same improvement.
Note, by adding the XPS to power the DAC, leaving the CDX2's internal power supply solely for the analogue stages, obviates the need for an external psu for the CDX2, they said.
These are first impressions, based on difficult music, ancillary kit I'm not familiar with in a room unlike my own. However, the progress from (new) CDX2 to CDX2/DAC to CDX2/DAC/XPS was in typical Naim style: big. worthwhile jumps which don't invalidate the preceding steps.
For the demo of the Ovators in the first part of the show a CDS3/555PS was used. While this wasn't directly compared with the CDX2/DAC/XPS, my hunch is that the latter is noticeably better than the CDS3/555PS. So much so, one wonders how far short, if at all, it falls from the CD555/555PS.

Thanks Jeremy

I have been wondering about the DAC by itself. I wonder if Naim have developed it such that one needs a CDX2 or HDX to make the most of it rather than plug in a mac etc.

Waz

Yes thanks Jeremy. Interesting observations as it puts a new perspective on Naim upgrade path. New CDX2/DAC/XPS is likely to come in at about £8000, which is £3000 less than current CDS3/555PS so if CDX2/DAC/XPS is noticeably better?? or not far off CD555/555PS at c£16000??
Some interesting comparisons to be made...
I guess a high end DAC can't be that far away either.
Jon

quote:

Originally posted by Wazza69:
Thanks Jeremy

I have been wondering about the DAC by itself. I wonder if Naim have developed it such that one needs a CDX2 or HDX to make the most of it rather than plug in a mac etc.

Doug Graham emphasised the unit's universality. I'm sure your question was asked last night, but I didn't understand the answer. My strong impression is that you can't plug the Mac, say, directly into the DAC, but you can create a network containing both components. This will enable you to 'stream' (Doug's word) content into the DAC from any compatible source.

quote:

Originally posted by Jonn:
Yes thanks Jeremy. Interesting observations as it puts a new perspective on Naim upgrade path. New CDX2/DAC/XPS is likely to come in at about £8000, which is £3000 less than current CDS3/555PS so if CDX2/DAC/XPS is noticeably better?? or not far off CD555/555PS at c£16000??
Some interesting comparisons to be made...

Don't forget the possibility of a CDX2/DAC/555PS - still less than the CDS3/555PS, and presumably better than the XPS version!

quote:

Originally posted by Roy T:
Latitude: 51.699244N Longitude: 2.306703W
Underground, backstage pass type Q&A (Cheese wine and nibbles) in Hetty Pegler's Tump (after the main show) or so I believe.

Is this a rave?

So Jeremy, is it your impression that the DAC is also a streamer? Just like the HDX?

It this is the case, we have a winner!

Not a rave but a Passage Grave.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeremy Marchant:
Doug Graham emphasised the unit's universality. I'm sure your question was asked last night, but I didn't understand the answer. My strong impression is that you can't plug the Mac, say, directly into the DAC, but you can create a network containing both components. This will enable you to 'stream' (Doug's word) content into the DAC from any compatible source.

A DAC is just, as it says a Digital Analogue Converter. Normaly a DAC needs to be fed with a digital audio signal probably into a SPDIF coax or optical input.

If one has a Mac with a SPDIF output you should be able to just attach it to a DAC, and stream the digital data using a software player on the Mac to the SPDIF output.

If you want to use it in a network where the music files are stored on a network storage, which normaly would not have a player onboard, then one would need another device, e.g. a media player or digital streamer but could also be a PC or Mac, that can access the network storage to read the files and stream them as digital audio signals into the DAC through a SPDIF-connection.

Is this more or less how it was explained?

Concerning sound quality, I wonder if it matters what kind of source is used to feed the digital signal into the DAC, because the DAC is the first stage in transforming it into an analogue signal. As long as the digital source can deliver a continuous and error free digital audio stream it shouldn't really matter?!

-
Aleg

*

so to use it with an existing CDX2 would mean sending the CDX2 off to Naim to be converted to connect to the DAC?

You will not be able to have a CDX2 converted to the latest spec as far as I know.

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Abela:
You will not be able to have a CDX2 converted to the latest spec as far as I know.

That's what was said yesterday.

quote:

Originally posted by stephenjohn:
so to use it with an existing CDX2 would mean sending the CDX2 off to Naim to be converted to connect to the DAC?

If teh CDX2 does not have a digital output, which I think it doesn't, then you can not connect it to an external DAC. If Naim would provide the possibility to add a digital output to an existing CDX2, I don't know.

I read that it was the added feature of the CD5XS, that it now does have the optical digital output. I don't know about the CDX2's.

Is the digital out the only way the new CDX2 will differ from the current one?

yes.



This is NOT the correct answer - the new model differs significantly (details - later) - in ways which (I would confidently say) make a simple modification to older models impractical.

quote:

Originally posted by Patrick F:
yes.

SO I guess it will be an update rather than an upgrade.

Regards...

quote:

I guess this is one way of keeping the CDP range alive, but it's rather disappointing that the DAC is not being demoed with a computer

Perhaps the low cost (computer) solution might sound the same as the CD transport ...