Dac V1 connect to Unitiqute 2

Posted by: sgb1 on 06 September 2015

First post and new to Naim so please bear with me.

I have just bought a new Qute 2 and a Dac V1 at a decent price and what I would like to do is to link them and use the Qute 2 as a source/streamer.

Reasons are I believe that the V1 has the better Dac and possibly a better headphone output than the Qute 2 (could be wrong on these assumptions)

What I would like to know is how do i connect them setting and cable wise as I believe the V1 has no analogue inputs ,but im hopeful that that it can still done.

I would accept that there is a fair degree of redundancy on the part of the Qute 2 doing it this way.

All comments and cable recommendations would be very much appreciated.

Kind regards

Bob

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by SongStream

Welcome to the forum. Your configuration idea is making my head hurt. I own a V1, but not too familiar with the qute. Getting digital out from the qute to V1 for headphone listening is dead simple, via the qute's coaxial BNC and matching digital in on the V1. However, for the qute to take the output from the V1 it must come via it's one analogue input, with V1 set to fixed output mode. Therefore I imagine the source setting on the qute would have to be analogue in, or whatever they've called it, but whether it can act as a streamer via digital out at the same time I'm not sure.

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by dayjay

Sounds really complicated, personally I would sell the Qute and use the money to buy a mac mini and a Nap100. Much less redundancy and probably a better sound

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by Huge

Using Qute as a streamer via digital out

Using DAC V1 as a DAC / pre-amp / headphone amp -> headphones

no problem.

However if you are intending to drive speakers (you haven't said what you want to achieve), what are you intending to use as the power amp?

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by SongStream

Originally Posted by dayjay:

Sounds really complicated, personally I would sell the Qute and use the money to buy a mac mini and a Nap100. Much less redundancy and probably a better sound

+1 The V1 works very well and sounds amazing with a PC/Mac acting as the streamer. If you're open to alternative ideas, or simply can't get the qute to work as required, this would be my suggestion too.

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by Brubacca

I actually have a Qute1 and really enjoy it as a streamer.

You need to enable the digital out on the Qute. Also on the Qute2 go into the meno and set the speakers to none. Then connect a BNC digital cable from the Qute to the V1. the V1 is now your DAC/Pre-Amp/Headphone Amp. Headphones now go into the V1.

you haven't mentioned how you intend to connect speakers (or even if you have them for this system). In this arrangement you would need another amp to connect the speakers to. I do not believe that you can use the digital out of the Qute as a streamer and loop the back the DAC to the Qute to use the internal amplifier.

So Qute is either your Digital Out Streamer only or Streamer/DAC/Amp, you can't mix the functions.

I personally use the Qute as a Streamer/Dac and take the pre-amp out to my Valve Intergrated Amp. People here get bent about the waste in the system, but Naim doesn't have a streamer only at the price point of the Qute. Plus they give you the option to turn off the amplifier. If they would release a ND5si and the price of a CD5si this would be the ideal solution (for me).

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by Solid Air

+1 dayjay

Welcome to the forum, sgb1. I'm afraid to say that your system has a lot of redundancy and will be difficult to make work well. My advice would be to either:

- sell the Qute2 and buy a Mac Mini instead. If you want to play over speakers, buy a NAP100 too.

- or sell the DAC V1 and just use the Qute2, which is a very fun little machine on its own.

This was how they were designed to be used. Both are really good at what they do, but they're not really intended to go together.

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by feeling_zen

I had the same dilemma. Have a UQ2 but hated the headphone output but could find no way to connect an external headphone amp, or add a V1 (as a headphone amp) that did not entail adding a NAP100 which I don't need since it drives me office speakers fine as is.

If it is purely a DAV upgrade you are after, I think the UQ2 sounds amazing on it's own and wouldn't bother with a V1 unless I was trying to build a main system with more boxes. If it is the headphone issue that is the problem (same as me), then you may just need to put up with the built in headphone amp and find some cans it can drive easier.

Posted on: 06 September 2015 by feeling_zen

Should read "purely a DAC upgrade" not "DAV" - typo. Not advocating you add a Chord DAVE to a UQ2 but hey, some might