Currently, I have my NAS upstairs in my study - this is connected via an internet hub which is then ethernet cabled downstairs to the ND5XS - sounds great, no line drop outs and I've got my head round how all the connections work.
In addition I have my Musical Fidelity A3.2 CD player running as a transport into the phono digital input of the ND5XS which is a big improvement over the internal DAC in the CD player.
So I'm thinking (fan on NAS is fairly quiet) so would I benefit in sound quality by moving the NAS down to the Hi-Fi rack and taking the SPDIF from the NAS to the digital in of ND5XS - I'm left with BNC or opitical inputs given CD is using the phono.
suggestions most welcome.
Posted on: 02 February 2016 by Eloise
As James says ... unless your NAS is a specific media server / media PC its unlikely to have a SPDIF output. You can with many NASes use a USB to SPDIF converter, but really thats not how the NAS is designed to be connected to the ND5XS.
Stick with what you've got set up would be my advice.
Posted on: 02 February 2016 by Mike-B
Vortexbox only show ethernet to router so I would expect that to be optimum.
This makes the interface & operation of ND5 & the Naim app easy, I'm not sure how (or if) that would work if connected via S/PDIF.
While you are moving stuff around, have you considered a switch between Vortexbox & ND5 ?? It might make the wiring easier, but the main reason is routers are not great at switching duties & a switch normally gives better SQ. The switch still needs a connection to the router, this can be done with an ethernet or a wireless extender/link.
Posted on: 02 February 2016 by ChrisSU
My guess is that your current configuration will sound better than SPDIF, but I could be wrong. Easy enough to try, though. It would be a bit of a PITA to have to use the Naim app for input selection and volume control, then switch to another app to access your music library.
