Simple nDAC / NAS question...

Posted by: skerrols on 02 February 2013

Could anyone help with the following question? - I am pretty sure I know the answer to this one but just want to double check

Can I connect a NAS to the USB input of my nDAC and control it with the nStream (or appropriate android) app ?

Aplogies if this has been asked before but I am struggling to find a simple yes or no answer!

I have just bought the nDac by the way and I am delighted with the results - I did have an ND5XS at home on trial but I did not like it - maybe I was doing somthing wrong but I thought that it sounded quite differant from the nDAC - anyway, much happier with the DAC and a much better replacement for the CD5XS than the ND5XS I thought.

Skerrols

oh - Nait XS, CD5XS, DAC, n-Sats

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by Simon-in-Suffolk

No.. You need a naim network player to do as you describe. The NDAC is simply that.. It can play wav/flac from USB memory device, or audio from an Apple IPod or SPDIF.

Simon

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by skerrols

I see - Thanks Simon - much obliged. I use a Squeezebox touch to stream and playback digital files (USB Sticks) but need a somthing to rip all my CD's too. It looks like I am after somthing like a Vortexbox or Unitiserve - the unitiserve is pretty expensive though!

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by Bart

Originally Posted by skerrols:

And just to go one step further, you're going to have to decide how you are going to "feed" all of those ripped cd's to your Naim Dac. The choices basically boil down to "local" playback, using S/PDIF (coaxial, or toslink optical), or networked playback via a streamer/player.

The UnitiServe can do either -- provide s/pdif output and be connected directly to the DAC, or serve as a UPnP server feeding a streamer/player such as the Squeezebox Touch. I started out with my UnitiServe as the former, and now use it as the latter. (I started out with the UnitiServe and Naim DAC and CD5XS as source for my Nait XS. I still own all of that except that I traded the DAC towards an NDS.) The UnitiServe with internal hdd CAN do it all, but yes it's somewhat expensive.

You have a LOT of options. The Vortexbox appliance can't connect directly to the Naim DAC however; you'd need to buy a usb to s/pdif converter. I'm not sure how that'd effect the sound; I suspect that each sounds a little different. If you want to network, you could get a Vortexbox and use its Squeezebox sever and your Squeezebox Touch. Or for local playback, you could get a Mac Mini and use an optical (toslink) connection from the Mac to the DAC. Again -- lots of options!

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by BrendanD

If you go the Mac Mini route with optical SPIDF with iTunes, Mac core Audio will create a particular 'signature' - very forward and quite digital.

Audirvana substitutes a different audio engine that sounds more neutral, more like a CD player. It uses iTunes as the library and integrates with remote etc.

Unfortunately the current version has a bug that plays a couple of seconds of tracks, pauses and starts again. V annoying, and one reason I'm getting an NDX.

Posted on: 02 February 2013 by skerrols

Thanks Bart - That is a very helpful reply. I am not particularly interested in networking and wanted to keep the set up as simple as possible, mind you, I have been pleased with playback via the squeezebox - its a brilliant wee box for the money. Perhaps I will use a hard drive to feed the squeezebox for the time being, unless I see a cheap unitisrve on the go.

Cheers Brendan - yeah, I'm not too keen on using iTunes - thanks all for the advice.

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by Focalist

I am pretty sure the vortexbox has its own player and can directly connect to a DAC via USB?

Posted on: 04 February 2013 by Bart

Originally Posted by Focalist:

I am pretty sure the vortexbox has its own player and can directly connect to a DAC via USB?

A dac, but not the Naim DAC absent a usb to s/pdif converter. The V1 would be a different story, n'est pas?