iPod Cables into nDAC? and does it do digital out from apps?

Posted by: mutterback on 26 August 2013

Has anyone witnessed a great improvement using the Naim iPod cable or any other digital doc (Cambridge, Wadia....) vs. the standard Apple white cable? I use my iPad and iPhone for online streaming from various apps - max file quality is 320kbps mp3.  

 

related - I'm not even sure if the nDAC sucks out digital or uses the idevice's DAC for output from apps. Does anyone know?

 

BTW - the archive.org streaming app can get you almost every Dead show ever, as well as all of the other audio on archive.org, for free!

Posted on: 26 August 2013 by Phage
AFAIK nDAC takes the data in digital format when iStuff are conbected via USB cable,and therefore also makes the D/A conversion. It is after all a DAC.
Posted on: 26 August 2013 by mutterback
Originally Posted by Phage:
AFAIK nDAC takes the data in digital format when iStuff are conbected via USB cable,and therefore also makes the D/A conversion. It is after all a DAC.

LOL - you're right, I doubt it can even take in analog. I'm just so used to ipods pumping out analog over USB.

Posted on: 26 August 2013 by Bart
Originally Posted by mutterback:
Originally Posted by Phage:
AFAIK nDAC takes the data in digital format when iStuff are conbected via USB cable,and therefore also makes the D/A conversion. It is after all a DAC.

LOL - you're right, I doubt it can even take in analog. I'm just so used to ipods pumping out analog over USB.

The 'made for iPod  / works with iPhone' certifications mean that it can take digital off of the iDevice and bypass the cheap dac in the iDevice.

Posted on: 27 August 2013 by KRM

I have an Audioquest Carbon iPod to USB interconnect which is an improvement on the standard Apple cable. If you're interested I would recommend you borrow one from a dealer. I only use it for streaming from the web (Spotify etc) so didn't feel it was worth spending a lot megabucks.

 

Keith

Posted on: 27 August 2013 by Phage
Originally Posted by Bart:

The 'made for iPod  / works with iPhone' certifications mean that it can take digital off of the iDevice and bypass the cheap dac in the iDevice.

Once again I may have misunderstood this, but if DAC features an USB port and USB cable is connected between the iSomething and the DAC the signal going in the cable is digital, not analog, is it not? Old Supernait has an input in the front panel that takes analogue signal through 3.5 mm jack. That is analogue and hence utilizes the in-build DAC of the player.

Posted on: 27 August 2013 by Bart
Originally Posted by Phage:
Originally Posted by Bart:

The 'made for iPod  / works with iPhone' certifications mean that it can take digital off of the iDevice and bypass the cheap dac in the iDevice.

Once again I may have misunderstood this, but if DAC features an USB port and USB cable is connected between the iSomething and the DAC the signal going in the cable is digital, not analog, is it not? Old Supernait has an input in the front panel that takes analogue signal through 3.5 mm jack. That is analogue and hence utilizes the in-build DAC of the player.

Phage that's right.  The Naim Dac works this way due in part to the license from Apple to include software on the dac that allows the internal dac of the iDevice to be bypassed.