Simple yes/no question about USB and nDAC.

no

Dear John,

Thanks for the straight answer! Nothing to add now I think!

ATB from George

If you have an Ipod touch, it may be possible to connect that and play through it remotely though I doubt it will steam and would be limited to the on board library.

Thanks for the suggestion, though the iPod approach seems pointless to me till they can get a 200Gig onto one as it would mean running loads of different iPods, which means searching in different paces for the music!

My current library runs to 153 Gig [in ALAC files], and I expect that it may grow towards 200 Gig in the comming years. Even at 153 Gig that runs to 25.6 days of music, so really no reason to grow it much more! That is about 550 CDs transferred.

The remaining big gap is a set of the Canatas and Oratorios of JS Bach, which is a huge body of music to discover over the rest of my life!

ATB from George

The current classic holds 160gb but can't be remoted via WiFi. I understand not wanting that route regardless. ahh Bach.

George, you'll need an asynchronous USB - s/pdif interface such as those from M2tech et al. About £100 in the UK.

There are some cheaper options out there but the Hiface is the only one with which I have experience.

Or you could get (wait for) an NDX and stream to it wirelessly or over ethernet without any intervening third-party hardware. So, although the NDX costs more than the DAC, you save much of the difference because you don't have to buy M2Techs, power supplies, cables .. and you'll have some Naim remote control options. A USB - s/pdif converter would still have merit if you wished to listen to live broadcasts though.

Really, why I asked is that I was wondering whether I could bring my PC to the local Naim dealership and try out some of my music through the nDAC. But it is all too complex at the moment by the sound of it. I just wanted to see how really nice it is!

It was only an idea! Thanks for the suggestions. This place has so much experience and understanding to share!

ATB from George

George

Get a decent capacity USB stick and pop some music on there. Your local dealer should be able to play from that into an nDAC.

regards
Geoff

Dear Geoff,

That is the obvious solution that I did not think of! Simply select some music that is favourite and take the USB stick with me!

Aha! How the obvious can elude. Something to do with my enforced time off!

ATB from George

It should be trivial for any dealer to temporarily put your pc on his network and stream any of your music to an nDAC via other NAIM products. If he can't do it effortlessly, find another dealer!

Dear Likesmusic,

There are few logistical obstacles in the way of going to another Naim retailer. With a broken wrist, there is zero chance of me getting to another town or city with a PC in tow!

Really I should have worked out what Geoff wrote for myself!

And I did not bang my head at the time either!!!

ATB from George

Sorry George - didn't know about your wrist. Hope you get better. Hope Santa brings you Gardiners set of Bachs Cantatas for Christmas .. Soli Deo Gloria.

(p.s. under the circumstances, couldn't a Naim dealer visit you? I mean, like it's a recession, your wrist is duff, and you're interested in buying stuff?)

Dear George - hope your wrist heals quickly - Geoff's method will show off the nDAC at its best IMHO - make sure the USB is in the rear rather than front port on the nDAC for very best results. This is exactly how I took music to my trusty dealer to demo.

If your PC has an optical out that would enable you to connect it to a Naim DAC, but the Naim DAC's USB port is not suitable for a Mac, PC or hard disk only for sticks.

When you make the stick ensure your files are WAV. Also make sure your music files are the only thing on the stick, as this gives the best chance of working first time.

I have a Chord DAC and Naim DAC and the Naim is much more musical even though the inexpensive Chord is far from bad. Both are far better than the old DAC in my ancient Yamaha recorder, which really shows its age as it is a rotten transport when used with the Naim DAC - it is still a very good CD recorder though.

I prefer USB/nDAC to the CDX2.
However, I did get fed up with copying files to USB sticks as a permanent solution - plus unlike CD-Rs there is no easy way to label sticks so if you had a lot of them you could easily find the one you wanted to play.

iTunes through the Naim DAC is very good, but the USB stick is a shade better IMHO.

ATB Rotf