What to upgrade next?

Posted by: Colesy on 15 February 2014

I've just today made my most recent upgrade to my speakers but am already thinking of what's next...

 

I want to get the best from streaming music in the long run so the focus should be there.

 

The streaming route I currently have is:

 

Dedicated Music serverSBT

Arcam rDAC

Naim 122x

Flatcap

NAP 250

Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk2

 

The upgrades I have been considering are:

A Power supply for the Arcam rDAC,

A better Naim power supply

A better DAC.

 

Or would my money be better spent elsewhere?

 

Thanks, Will

Posted on: 16 February 2014 by Lightkeeper
Originally Posted by Colesy:

I've just today made my most recent upgrade to my speakers but am already thinking of what's next...

 

I want to get the best from streaming music in the long run so the focus should be there.

 

The streaming route I currently have is:

 

Dedicated Music serverSBT

Arcam rDAC

Naim 122x

Flatcap

NAP 250

Dynaudio Contour 1.8 Mk2

 

The upgrades I have been considering are:

A Power supply for the Arcam rDAC,

A better Naim power supply

A better DAC.

 

Or would my money be better spent elsewhere?

 

Thanks, Will

 I would sell 122 and FC and buy V1. End of the story.

Posted on: 16 February 2014 by Colesy

Have just looked into this and the only problem with that is I need my preamp to have the unity gain feature for home theater duties.

 

But I found this thread: https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...output-configuration

 

The end suggestion is to buy an analogue to digital converter. So I could take the pre-outs from my ht receiver, convert them to digital, which is then plugged into one of the V1 digital inputs. I suppose there would be a slight downgrade in sound quality for the ht but this is not too important.

 

Is this a setup that would work well?

Posted on: 17 February 2014 by Colesy

Does anyone know if this is a feasible setup?

 

The only draw backs I can think of are that the volume control of the V1 would have to be set to the same level each time ht was in use.

 

Would an analogue to digital converter effectively reduce the digital signal levels?

Posted on: 17 February 2014 by hungryhalibut

I would just get a used NDX. The 122x is a super preamp.

Posted on: 19 February 2014 by Colesy

I'd like to stick with the SBT for now as I have a few Squeezeboxes around the house.

 

I am liking the idea of a V1 though. It would replace several other "sound boxes" helping keep the other half happy and the equipment it replaces would almost cover the cost.

 

It's just the unity gain feature I would be missing. Does anyone have any experience of using an analogue to digital converter like this on the V1?

Posted on: 06 March 2014 by Colesy

I am now in possession of a V1 which I bought from a famous auction site. At first I was a little underwhelmed but I am now loving the new sound, I think it just needed to warm up!

 

I also bought an analogue to digital converter to test out the unity gain substitute and am pleased to say it works perfectly. I am now toying with the idea of whether to just sell the 122x or whether I should do some back to back testing to see if the preamp section of the V1 is as good as the 122x.

 

Has anyone any experience of the two who might be able to save me some time?

Posted on: 06 March 2014 by DavidDever
Originally Posted by Colesy:

I am now in possession of a V1 which I bought from a famous auction site. At first I was a little underwhelmed but I am now loving the new sound, I think it just needed to warm up!

 

I also bought an analogue to digital converter to test out the unity gain substitute and am pleased to say it works perfectly. I am now toying with the idea of whether to just sell the 122x or whether I should do some back to back testing to see if the preamp section of the V1 is as good as the 122x.

 

Has anyone any experience of the two who might be able to save me some time?

Depending on your AV preamp-processor, you might be able to extract the front LR channels from HDMI and feed this (via an HDMI to SPDIF extractor) into a digital input on the DAC-V1, without having to convert to analogue.  (Problem is, you would still need to ride front volume in either scenario.)

Posted on: 24 March 2014 by Richheart
Originally Posted by Colesy

 Or would my money be better spent elsewhere?

 

Thanks, Will

Go on holiday, note how awful the sound is in public places, live music amplification, in your hotel room etc.

Come home and appreciate your stereo. We are all OCD on here, your money would be better spent elsewhere

Posted on: 14 May 2014 by Colesy

Thank for the replies, I did go on holiday and really appreciated my hifi on return and thought I'd give the upgrades a rest for a while...

 

But then a good deal came up on a pair of B&W 805S!

 

 

Posted on: 14 May 2014 by longmanjon

i think i would prefer to keep the dynaudios, great bass.

Posted on: 14 May 2014 by Colesy

I'm not getting rid of the Dynaudios yet. Moving into a new house in a month or so. So will do some side by side testing to see what sounds best as soon as I can. The 805S do sound good but do lack bass so I might have a go at integrating my sub, have read mixed views on sub integration but will give it a go anyway.