USB to SPDIF benefits?

Tareq - do you mean a move to the S/PDIF input on the DAC-V1 ? If so i'd say the V1 has a pretty well optimised USB input so you'll probably not gain much (if anything at all) over the USB input. 

James

Yes, that is what I was thinking off in an effort to curb away all the electrical "dirty" noise from the PC.. read in a number of sites that this can effectively improve SQ depending on the type of PC used, in my case the PC is a standard of the shelf mini unit that has no high quality electronics so I assume that Naim DAC has to work that much harder to filter all of that out with USB.

I use a V1 in a second system, and I did try the coax input using my rather fine Luckit USB to SPDIF convertor, but to my ears it was marginally worse than the V1's USB input.

As James mentioned, the V1's USB input is very good as standard.

I use a Gustard U12 USB/SPDIF isolator/converter which cost me about £110 through a well-known online auction site (from China), but is also available from other sources not much greater cost.

I can't answer for your specific setup, but it changed my Mac Mini with Audirvana through Hugo to sound better than ND5XS through Hugo, whereas without it the Mac Mini/Audirvana with unisolated USB into Hugo sounded distinctly inferior to ND5XS into Hugo.

Absolutely no point in my view, and above posts suggest the same thing.  The DAC-V1 is already electrically isolated from the PC, a lot of care has gone into the USB implementation on this product, and it shows.  I also agree with TONYM, to date, nothing via SPDIF, and I've tried various sources, rivals the SQ performance of a PC via the USB input.  The DAC-V1 was made with USB in mind, so my advice would be to not mess with it.

Ok, thanks for all the comments. Most of the posts point to a "keep things as is" option which may be the most sensible option... I will defer this option until I find a demo converter unit somewhere that I can use to test the waters here.

It seems the DAC-V1 is engineered to isolate the USB electrical signal line and maybe less susceptible to electrical interference from the PC than other DACs out there.

DAC-V1 already has very good USB input so I wouldn't bother with external converter. In my case, I need one since Naim DAC doesn't support USB input directly from PC. 

As folks have said, absolutely no point in having an add-on USB to SPDIF converter when using the V1.

A way to assure yourself is by checking out: the Hifi Choice review of April 2013 (it has a responses from folks at Naim who designed the V1), the Audiphilleo site, and reviews of Audiphilleo's USB to SPDIF converters (Naim uses Audiphilleo's tech in the V1 - on the outside of the V1 some of the menu screens are a strong clue).  It's way more than galvanic isolation used on the Chord 2Qute, for example.

There is a lot said on this forum and others about USB to SPDIF conversion. I found that that you have to look quite deep into a lot of this content to realise that a lot of DACs do don't have optimised USB inputs, hence the active market of USB to SPDIF converters.  

Enjoy the music

Jude

From what I've read I'd be inclined to leave the V1 as it with USB.. it seems optimised that way.

Ultimately SPDIF or its balanced AES/EBU alternative is less electrically noisy than isochronous asynchronous audio transfer via USB.. But that is down to the deliberately unbalanced signalling pulses .. but such noise would eminate from the cable and interface and not be connected to the common mode noise that you describe as being conducted from you PC.  So I suspect one would need to get to a significantly higher level of refinement and resolution than is the V1 before this limitation of USB became a possible issue.

Simon

It might be worth experimenting with different USB cables though. To my surprise, I found the DAC-V1 to be responsive to changes in USB cables. The Chord USB Silver Plus seemed to work well. 

^USB cables do affect the DAC-V1! I have tried the Chord USB Silver plus and the Supra USB and a lot of unbranded cables, of which one was a great match.  Some branded ones I like and use are the Belkin Gold ( a 10 ft extension with adapter) & C2G Ultima (6 ft).

I also find that from my desktop PC, rather than USB, I get the better sound definition (especially in the lower frequencies) and a sense of 'ease and clarity' if I use a quality PCI sound card's  coax out into the DAC-V1 SPDIF with its SRC engaged (v1.16) . This evident even when using an old but nice  card like  the CardDeluxe by Digital Audio Labs (sadly deleted).

In comparison:

• via the mobo mounted USB port - nice but not as resolved, 
•  with the Uptone Audio USB Regen - no notable gains, I believe preferred V1 without it (yet Regen improved the Chord Hugo in some cases!),
• with the Paul Pang (V2) PCIE USB hub with a linear ps - a noticeable loss of bass extension and slam, but otherwise nice.

I have not yet tried a USB/SPDIF converter as such.