Naim Streamer Technology:
Posted by: Russ on 02 January 2013
Something in AMA's thread on the NDS DAC (specifically wondering whether the streamer and suspension of the NDS was enough to justify the higher price over the DAC) got me back to a point I have been wondering about for awhile--which is kinda-sorta related, but not enough to justify hijacking that thread:
To put it in a nutshell, we all know that source is extremely important--as is the DAC. So is the Preamp. Power--yes, but not so much. But how important is the streamer circuitry to sound quality?
I have been speculating to myself for some time how, with the Superuniti, if I ever did want to upgrade to separates, how the SU would perform just as a streamer--if one were to add pre, power, and DAC--together with perhaps a couple of power supplies, connectors, and/or Powerlines.
On the plus side, if you sold it, you would not realize enough cash to buy a separate streamer and then you would also be paying for a redundant DAC similar to the one you were silencing in the SU.
Another plus is that the power supply in the SU would be totally committed to the streamer--not that that means ALL the supply would go for that purpose--but just that it would not have to be doing anything else.
Finally, if any of your other components ever went belly up, you could revert to the SU as your primary system while waiting for the broken part, along with a year's salary, to get to the repair facility and back.
On the down side, you could say that it is an awful waste of circuitry--and it is true. Still, it would be cheaper than any of the alternatives.
So where does the streamer circuitry fall in terms of imact on sound quality?
How important are the quality of power supplies to the streamer performance--viz a viz their importance to preamps, source etc.
And finally, would the streamer functionality benefit as much from a clean power source/Powerline as do the other components?
Best regards,
Russ
But how important is the streamer circuitry to sound quality?
Not that much in my humble opinion .... a Mac Mini with Supernova 6 sends out PCM data with low jitter and no electric noise or fuss ... it can send out anything up to 24/96 or higher if you use an external sound card like the Stello U3. It can play all manner of sources including DSD downloads which it can send as PCM to a Naim DAC. It can connect wireless to the Internet and needs no network connection to connect to the Naim DAC. It can use a touch screen and wireless keyboard and iTunes 11 is very Sooloos like (plus there are lots of AppleScripts to enhance it if you want).
I'm far from convinced that an alternative streamer can outperform it ... that doesn't mean I think it equals the NDS, but the NDS is far too much hassle as far as I'm concerned and will we need the NDS when the Reference DAC comes along.
Despite all the discussion ... I still can't get passed the Naim DAC has a buffer and as long as that has sufficient data and the data is right then why does does it care where it came from. Sure if the streamer injects rubbish in to it then that would have an effect, but the Supernova doesn't inject much, if anything, in the way of rubbish. Moreover, as the DAC buffer gets PCM words then the DAC can't possibly care if the original data was WAV, AIFF, FLAC, ALAC or DSD.
With the SU doing it all in one box then perhaps there are more issues. I don't know as the one I heard sounded great. I think the SU would be fine as a streamer, but it would be a very expensive one ... if you have one then fine. However, to me the SU is an ideal one box solution. Used as a streamer, I'd just feel I was using it as a £200 Denon network player when it is so much more.
So i would not use the SU as a streamer. I'd get a Mac Mini + DAC and use the SU in the office as a second system; come to think of it if you say UQ rather than SU that is what I do 