Naim DAC - Is there ANY word?

Allen you based a purchasing decision on speculation, and your own ideas of what something might be?

Odd.

Naim know how to make a decent dac ,there is one in the 555, why not use that, I suspect a stumbling block may be price, the little lavry is £650, the head unit from the 555 is what £7000?

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Originally posted by AllenB:

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Originally posted by DHT:
Naim know how to make a decent dac ,there is one in the 555, why not use that, I suspect a stumbling block may be price, the little lavry is £650, the head unit from the 555 is what £7000?

In essence, there lies the crunch!(IMO) It's why I reckon any Naim DAC will be closer to the SN DAC, rather than their flagship CDP. That way it can fit in nicely with their source product range and price structure.

I sincerely hope I am proved wrong though.

The HDX has already broken the price structure at its price. In Denmark it is I think more than 1000 pounds cheaper than the s3, and with external SU it beats the s3 even before the first firmware upgrade. So you may very well be wrong here.

I have heard that the £200 new Cambridge DAC Magic is on a par with their £500 740 CDP. That sounds about right to me in terms of ratio, retrieving the data from the disk accurately is as I understand it the hard bit, making a world class DAC should be considerably cheaper than making a world class CDP, but we will have to wait and see I guess! The other issue is what you feed it with, apologies to the miniMac enthusiasts but I have never been especially happy with anything that involves a normal domestic computer sound card's digital out, (or the Airport Express's digital out, that is going on fleabay next time they have free listings). I would actually like to see a onboard soundcard with USB/firewire input or a sepearate Naim soundcard of some description. Ideally something that betters SPDIF which JV was so damning about!

The best 'digital' i have heard came from a MAC Pro fitted with a lynx 16aes PCIe interface, outputs an extremely low jitter signal AES/SBU, there is a PCI version for PC's too, it is expensive but the consensus suggests that this is as good as it gets at the moment.

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AES/SBU

Excellent, add that to the DAC wish list!

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lynx 16aes PCIe interface

How much would one of these hurt my wallet?

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Originally posted by Claus-thoeg:

The HDX has already broken the price structure at its price. In Denmark it is I think more than 1000 pounds cheaper than the s3, and with external SU it beats the s3 even before the first firmware upgrade. So you may very well be wrong here.

Sorry - but I disagree.

Gregg

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How much would one of these hurt my wallet

They are about £750 ,there are different versions, you would need the 'break out' cable version, and if you are going to use it on a PC you need to to bypass the OS sound core with ASIO, also you may need to download 'Media Monkey'

quote:

Originally posted by AllenB:

quote:

Originally posted by DHT:
Naim know how to make a decent dac ,there is one in the 555, why not use that, I suspect a stumbling block may be price, the little lavry is £650, the head unit from the 555 is what £7000?

In essence, there lies the crunch!(IMO) It's why I reckon any Naim DAC will be closer to the SN DAC, rather than their flagship CDP. That way it can fit in nicely with their source product range and price structure.

I sincerely hope I am proved wrong though.

While I personally think the SN DAC is better than other $1k DACs (I know opinions vary here) available at this time, I can guarantee that if they bother, a stand alone will attempt to be even better. There's a few things they do in their players that are not in the SN due to cost. At more than 1/2 the price of a complete SN, I would expect more. At the price of a CD5X I would expect more DAC than it has and what's in that and a CDX2 (similar) is better than what's in the SN. That you wouldn't expect more than a SN sounds like a bit of spin to me. Price doesn't guarantee performance but it would definitely not just be a recased SN DAC.

SN dac?

SuperNait

Thanks JS!

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I have heard that the £200 new Cambridge DAC Magic is on a par with their £500 740 CDP.

That bad eh ... well it's only £200.

I hope that you're right and they follow through as I know they've looked at it. I didn't suggest CDX2 equivalent as there different beasts and the goodness of the selected source or which type will work through the unit would have a significant influence on the result. I was just saying that the DAC would be at a higher level than a SN and using the players for perspective. How good it is will be discovered if and when it arrives.

Please, let's have a 5 series DAC around $1000-$1400 with the possibility to add a hicap or two, then a Classic series DAC. You'll sell tons.

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Originally posted by Eric Barry:
Please, let's have a 5 series DAC around $1000-$1400 with the possibility to add a hicap or two, then a Classic series DAC. You'll sell tons.

BINGO!

This is a price point that will work well at the lower end of the spectrum. I can't see paying $3K as Patrick the treat starter suggested.

i was thinking about it being 3k due to Superline pricing... a similar new product from Naim you use with an additional Non-Naim component.

Basically a SuperDAC.... a Superline level/price box. PSU upgradable, or powered through Naim pre/integrated.

If it is going to be a year, I'll check out the Lavry and see whats up when a Naim DAC appears.

I understand the need for reticence regarding new products in development. But a simple word from an authorized mouthpiece wouldn't hurt.

Something like "It is in development and will be 18-24 months out" or "We have no interest and NEVER will produce one".... whatever.

If they dont, before they know it, half their sales will be diverted to Mr. Lavry's new home on the Puget Sound.

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Originally posted by DHT:

quote:

How much would one of these hurt my wallet

They are about £750 ,there are different versions, you would need the 'break out' cable version, and if you are going to use it on a PC you need to to bypass the OS sound core with ASIO, also you may need to download 'Media Monkey'

Hi, I have just bought a AES16 and I am looking for a good cable, what is a "break out" cable?
Where can I purchase a cable to connect the sound card to my Lavry?

quote:

Originally posted by goldfinch:

quote:

Originally posted by DHT:

quote:

How much would one of these hurt my wallet

They are about £750 ,there are different versions, you would need the 'break out' cable version, and if you are going to use it on a PC you need to to bypass the OS sound core with ASIO, also you may need to download 'Media Monkey'

Hi, I have just bought a AES16 and I am looking for a good cable, what is a "break out" cable?
Where can I purchase a cable to connect the sound card to my Lavry?

You need a break-out cable which has a high density D-Sub (I think 26-pin) on the source end and XLRs on the other side of the cable. The original Lynx cable is called "CBL-AES1604" and costs some 60 USD (in the US). Or you can make yours, the pin-out of the high densitiy d-sub connection can be found on the Lynx home page.

http://www.lynxstudio.com/pop/product_file.asp?i=26

Thanks for the info, any recommendation for this 110 ohm digital cable?

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"It is in development and will be 18-24 months out" or "We have no interest and NEVER will produce one"....

There you go pc, hows that!
After what our friend jonh said to me about the performance he heard of the lavry I think you should wait, who knows what might happen, maybe we stopped dbl production to make way for the dac

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Hi, I have just bought a AES16 and I am looking for a good cable, what is a "break out" cable?
Where can I purchase a cable to connect the sound card to my Lavry?

Lynx sell several versions of the 16aes interface , select the one that includes the aes connectors, whilst the DA10 is a decent dac you might also look at Prism, Weiss, Apogee all the 'pro' mastering dacs I have heard have been good, ( as you would expect I suppose ).
I hopethere will be a Naim dac sooner ratherthan later, will the company be able to modify existing players to use the new dac when it arrives?

Instead of a DAC, what about the bastard child of a 202, 282 or 252 and a SuperNAIT. Take the SN concept up a level-or-three (although I think my SN already most excellent and in no urgent need of replacement). Put a really nice DAC into a quality pre-amp. PS upgradeability galore and no need for a low-cost standalone DAC that might cannibalize CD player sales without recompense.

I think a lot of people with Naim amps who are comtemplating an upgrade might be swayed by the additional functionality. They now have two reasons for dropping the cash - sound quality and options for other digital sources. Additionally, those with SuperNAITS already could then upgrade to separates without losing function.

It might just also get Naim some new upgrade-mad customers. For me, the DAC in the SN was admittedly a minor factor at the time of purchase, but it is a very important part of my system now (which would be silent without it ). The DAC actually influenced my subsequent choices.

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Originally posted by Paul Stephenson:
After what our friend jonh said to me about the performance he heard of the lavry I think you should wait,

Thank heavens, I didn't write that!!!

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Originally posted by Paul Stephenson:

quote:

"It is in development and will be 18-24 months out" or "We have no interest and NEVER will produce one"....

There you go pc, hows that!
After what our friend jonh said to me about the performance he heard of the lavry I think you should wait, who knows what might happen, maybe we stopped dbl production to make way for the dac

Why the secrecy?