Naim nac n272

Connecting via Coaxial s/pdif would probably be my preference, in which case find out if the Cyrus connects signal ground to mains grounding the transport.  If so, you should set the 272 to float, if not, set to ground.

As to the choice bwteen DIN or RCA phono, it's my experience with Naim that the DIN is always preferable, all else being equal, even when only DIN at one end and RCA phono at the other.

It would be worth borrowing a 250DR to go with the 272 to see how it compares with the 272/Cyrus. Have you tried streaming to the 272 from a nas? It's miles better than the sound you get from iradio or Tidal, and if you went this way you would probably use the CD player very little. 

Once you start using a Naim streamer and NAS a CD player just gathers dust!!

Richard Dane posted:

Connecting via Coaxial s/pdif would probably be my preference, in which case find out if the Cyrus connects signal ground to mains grounding the transport.  If so, you should set the 272 to float, if not, set to ground.

Are the 272 coax S/PDIF inputs not transformer coupled so this shouldn't be an issue Richard ?

Pcd posted:

Once you start using a Naim streamer and NAS a CD player just gathers dust!!

Couldn't agree more.

james n posted:

Richard Dane posted:

Connecting via Coaxial s/pdif would probably be my preference, in which case find out if the Cyrus connects signal ground to mains grounding the transport.  If so, you should set the 272 to float, if not, set to ground.

Are the 272 coax S/PDIF inputs not transformer coupled so this shouldn't be an issue Richard ?

Good question James.  Not sure if this would make it an issue or not.  I guess it's always best to use your ears to decide which is best.

I would avoid using a CD player with something as fine as a 272, better to use a Unitiserve.... 

I wouldn't agree with that. A Cyrus transport would be just as good, in conjunction with music streamed from a nas. 

Richard Dane posted:

james n posted:

Richard Dane posted:

Connecting via Coaxial s/pdif would probably be my preference, in which case find out if the Cyrus connects signal ground to mains grounding the transport.  If so, you should set the 272 to float, if not, set to ground.

Are the 272 coax S/PDIF inputs not transformer coupled so this shouldn't be an issue Richard ?

Good question James.  Not sure if this would make it an issue or not.  I guess it's always best to use your ears to decide which is best.

Agreed it's not going to do any harm changing the ground switch but also should make no difference in this case. 

James

Pcd posted:

Once you start using a Naim streamer and NAS a CD player just gathers dust!!

Totally disagree if you have certain Naim CD players. There is something about a CDX2 that has me reaching for it as my goto player sometimes... I listen to most of my music streaming and FM radio... but my CDX2 deals with heavy rock and blues superbly - yes not perhaps the most accurate or insightful - but boy its fun... and music replay is about being enjoyable isn't it - not being a science test bench..

Choosing the right source type for the right master can be worthwhile - its certainly not in my recent experiences a case of one size fits all - you would be missing out on so much and after all that is why we have those input selectors on our Naim preamps.

Simon

why would I spend additional thousands  for a Unitiserve when I have a fine cd and 100's of cds?

Thanks so much everyone. So, just to be clear - even if the Cyrus transport requires the switch set to float or chassis, I don't need to 'run a wire?'..........although to be honest, I'm not sure what that means anyway!

If I was to consider streaming from some form of hard disc - Which I'm sure I will want to with the 272, then is a nas (any advice on which please) a better solution than a unitiserve? I just don't want to spend too much time on a computer, setting stuff up - as I do enough of that at work!

And if I went with the Unitiserve for ease, would that make the Cyrus transport redundant, as I believe the former can even play discs straight out, without even ripping? Sorry for so many Q's but this is a whole new world to me! Thanks all.

If you store your music on a US, you still need a nas for backup. Ripping with a US is very easy, but the rips are no better than those done with dbpoweramp on a laptop. The best NASes for the job seem to be QNAP or Synology. Both can be backed up to a USB drive plugged into the back. 

You can play CDs from the US if you connect a digital lead to a DAC. You can switch between playing CDs to streaming stored music over Ethernet via the nServe app. 

I sold my Serve over a year ago and have not regretted it. The metadata and album art is better with dbpoweramp, and rather surprisingly playing music from the Synology using Minimserver sounds better than playing rips from the US. 

There is an element of faff in setting this up, but a few hours should do it, and you can refine as you go. If I were in your shoes, I would keep the Cyrus, get a nas and forget the US. 

And don't forget a network switch too....

+1 for Synology

Another + for the Synology...

Also in relation to connecting to your power amps using DIN to RAC or RAC to RAC... if I remember correctly, in the HiFi News technical review of the N272 - they suggested using the RAC connectors to drive the power amps in preference to the DIN connectors, as the RAC outputs on the N272 apparently had a lower impedance... it may be better to drive NAIM power amps via the DIN connectors - so if you ever decide to purchase a NAC200 or NAC250 this may be the connectors to use - but for the Cyrus amps you have the RAC connectors should work fine.

I would also suggest that before you look at changing your CD player to a US or even to one of the NAIM CD players - you consider upgrading the power supply with a XPS DR... I think you will find the gain in sound quality is more than swapping the CD player (which you most likely will be using as a transport anyway)

And let us not forget the PowerLines and SL cables.... Oh and Fraim while I'm spending your money.

Sorry my mistake..!! - Just looked up the HiFi News review on the N272 - disregard my comment on the RAC output having a lower impedance than the DIN output... the reference was in relation to the line-out vs the pre-out... 

An alternative to a NAS drive is thenAries Mini, which can be fitted with a SSD drive. Then the Aries works as a NAS drive (with a 272 you wouldn't need the Aries' own streaming capabilities), - but you'd need to rip the music elsewhere.

Naim wanted to go to full SSD years ago (rather than small SSD+NAS as with the uniti serve), thus perhaps they are working on a successor to the uniti serve?

S.

Stefan Vogt posted:

An alternative to a NAS drive is thenAries Mini, which can be fitted with a SSD drive. Then the Aries works as a NAS drive (with a 272 you wouldn't need the Aries' own streaming capabilities), - but you'd need to rip the music elsewhere.

Naim wanted to go to full SSD years ago (rather than small SSD+NAS as with the uniti serve), thus perhaps they are working on a successor to the uniti serve?

S.

I really don't understand why anyone would buy an Aries to use as a nas and not use it to stream when there are so many purpose built options around that will do what you need. 

fernar posted:

Sorry my mistake..!! - Just looked up the HiFi News review on the N272 - disregard my comment on the RAC output having a lower impedance than the DIN output... the reference was in relation to the line-out vs the pre-out... 

The other mistake is that it's RCA rather than RAC, which is the Royal Automobile Club. 

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Pcd posted:

Once you start using a Naim streamer and NAS a CD player just gathers dust!!

Totally disagree if you have certain Naim CD players. There is something about a CDX2 that has me reaching for it as my goto player sometimes... I listen to most of my music streaming and FM radio... but my CDX2 deals with heavy rock and blues superbly - yes not perhaps the most accurate or insightful - but boy its fun... and music replay is about being enjoyable isn't it - not being a science test bench..

Choosing the right source type for the right master can be worthwhile - its certainly not in my recent experiences a case of one size fits all - you would be missing out on so much and after all that is why we have those input selectors on our Naim preamps.

Simon

 

 

I think the beauty of our little hobby / passion / illness (as some might see it) is that we all have different ears, perceptions, preference of how re listen to music, budgets, partner input, space and many other factors. I had 8 years enjoyment from my CDX 2 and was somewhat nervous when I made the decision to chop it in and go for a streaming option. All Naim sources have their own distinct characteristics and the bare CDX2 has some that divide opinion (I loved the bare CDX2). However, for me, the convenience of being able to put all my CDs away in the loft (once I'd ripped them) and having instant access to my music was a big factor in the decision. As it happens, I think the 272 is a great allrounder in the way it produces music - doing a great job of everything from jazz to prog rock!! Over all I feel it has a more "natural" sound than that of the CDX2 (at least hooked up in my room to my SN1+HC).

I appreciate I may be putting convenience over sound quality, but all I can say is that I am listening to more music now than I ever have done in my life - which must be the ultimate test of how one feels about their hi-fi. I like the ability to build playlists but I appreciate to some - desecrating the running order of an album is sacrilege - but again, we're all different and look for different things from our kit. FWIW I also have a Gyrodec, which has had very little air time since owning the 272. (I know this is a bone of contention with some members) but I find a well recorded / mastered / engineered/ produced/ etc / etc /etc "Hi res" file is as good (if not better in some instances) than it's vinyl counterpart, with the added bonus of missing the pops and clicks. For the avoidance of doubt I'm also well aware that there are some god awful "hi res" files out there in the same way that there are god awful CD, SACD and vinyl. <I'm now packing my bags and have booked a one way ticket to Coventry> 

You could use any computer, not just a NAS (or MiniAries) networked to the 272 to store music and allow streaming, with the limitation that the computer obviously needs to be on when wanting to play music.

That said, beware noise (acooustic as opposed to electric in this context): many computers are quite noisy and could be obtrusive to listening if in the same room. The same can be true of NAS drives  - I had to get rid of my first one, a Zyxel NSA325, because it was unpleasantly noisy, both in the listening room and anywhere else convenient to locate it. Some NASs, just like some computers, are noisier than others. Qnap makes a silent NAS which if fitted with solid state drives is absolutely silent, but more expensive than something more basic.

My own solution after my noisy NAS was a Mac Mini running Serviio uPnP software (free), which although it does have a fan it runs so low that I have to have my ear to it to hear it, and it is conpletely inaudible more than a couple of feet away in my quiet listening room (I bought a secondhand late 2012 MM at cost similar to an empty Qnap, and fitted with SSDs and max RAM myself  - though they can be bought ready upgraded, or can be bought new 'fully loaded'). However, as dayjay intimated regarding the MiniAries, a  computer is wasted just as a file server, and for me it opened the door to a different way of doing things, which I've detailed in other threads on these fora, as have others.

As someone else mentioned, if you start either buying  music to download, or ripping from CDs etc, it is wise to get yourself some means of backing up the files as any form of computerised storage carries the inherent risk of data loss. The backup does need to be separate from the main storage (ie not a second disk in same computer or NAS, but it could be an offboard drrive such as a plug-in USB drive. Most computer experts advise more than one independent copy, as a failure whilst copying can destroy both original disk and copy.

Regarding sound quality, streaming from files on a hard disk has the potential for higher quality than CD playing, even when that file is ripped from a CD, because when playing a Cd everything has to happen in real time subject only to a data buffer so any mechanical or optical problems, for example, causing data loss or corruption will affect the sound, which is not the case with streaming, and quite a few on these fora have mentioned discovering more in ripped recordings than CD playing had revealed. And of course once ripped your library can physically be much smaller unless you want to keep the physical cases with inserts handy to look at. So once set up, it may well be beneficial to consider ripping CDs - and then when the CD transport deteriorates or fails, as in my experience it will one day (each of mine achieved about 10 years then caused problems), there will be no need to replace it.

Olek_K posted:

why would I spend additional thousands  for a Unitiserve when I have a fine cd and 100's of cds?

My parents used to as "Why would we want a colour TV, we have a perfectly good (black&white) one now?"

Thanks again, everyone.

It seems as if there are too many options open to me - when I've only been used to a cd spinner! Is there anywhere that I can go to to find out how to set up a nas or indeed Mac mini as an alternative? 

What I now may have gleaned is that if I've already got an iMac that has CDs ripped on it for mobile audio (many ripped as lossless), can I download a program to stream from that - at least initially, until I've worked out what I need to do next on this journey!

So sorry for the rather basic questions!

Just been into my local Naim dealer to book a demo of a nac282, Supercap,250dr and a xps power supply for my NDX they have offered to help in any streaming set up as required I should hope your dealer would do the same if you purchase through this route?