Recipe for INT202 ultime with rack of naim

Hi Gav,

Congratulations on your new set up, looks like an interesting project! Just out of curiosity, were there any specific reasons you opted for a multi-component set up, including the Weiss INT202 and Audirvana? Or are these legacy elements of your system your are simply happy to keep at this stage? Have you contemplated the NDX or even listened to it? I am asking because looking at the level of your system the NDX seems like a more natural choice. Or maybe not?

Just read some stuff on Audirvana and on paper it reads like an interesting project, open source and all. Do you happen to know how it compares to the likes of Amarra and PureMusic?

Many thanks

tp

Hi tp,

I have been in the very fortunate position of being able to upgrade my system dramatically over the past 18 months. I am nearing the end game now, apart from the source. I have heard the NDX a couple times but not in my house. I have to say, that the max'ed out INT202 into nDAC sounds really really good to be honest and it has not cost a huge amount of money to realise, bearing in mind that I got the INT202 used. I expect the NDX would take things that bit further though. The trouble is I'm sure that I would end up keeping the nDAC and that would be 3 full shelves of source and then how long before I start dreaming about another 555PS/XPS-2 on the NDX and bingo we have 4 shelves of source. The INT202/PSU are small and I can tuck them out of the way as things stand and just plug my macbook in when I want to listen to ripped music or internet radio or listen again services. Like many here, a 'NDS' type device would get me very excited - two boxes and better than nDAC and no tempting DAC upgrade. Until then - I must resist the pull of the NDX!

I have tried the various players for the mac and Audirvana is my choice for SQ. It's 'free', although I did send dosh to Damien the developer -  it's only fair really. I actually paid for Pure Music a while ago and really liked it until I got Audirvana to work with the settings as per my initial post.

Gav

Thanks for the reply Gav, I kind of figured you might be waiting for an NDS type streamer.

Regarding Audirvana, does it plug onto iTunes like Amarra or PM, can it be controlled via Apple Remote?

tp

tp,

Audirvana doesn't use itunes as a music library shell. If you have itunes open with a playlist loaded then I think there is button that will copy the list across to Audirvana. I just build a playlist on the fly each time I listen by adding tracks/albums into Audirvana from the Finder file structure. One of the guys on computeraudiophile has written a simple script that enables the most basic pick and play functions via Apple Remote. As things stand though the control functionality is going to be a problem if you have a headless macmini. It's not a problem with a macbookpro, which is what I use. Damien has mainly concentrated on features to improve sound quality so far and for me he has beaten the 'competition'. I think he is now turning his attention to usability, so keep an an eye on how things develop.

Gav

C'mon, gav -- you may wish to activate your S400 with dual NAP500 

Gav, thank you for an interesting post.  I am not a "technical" person but would like to know how the firewire interface (which resides in the digital domain) can be improved with a power supply.  Could you, or anyone, provide a simple explanation for differences in sound quality experienced.

Thanks,  Ears

Ears, have a read through page 2 of Hook's thread 'NDX support for 24/192 UPnP' where sound differences between digital sources is discussed.

My take on it is that ultimately my computer and interface and DAC are electrically connected so there is potentially a conductive route for RF noise generated in the computer to reach the DAC which then impacts on sound quality. I think that the Paul Hynes PSU provides a cleaner power supply to the INT202 than my computer and of course I am trying to isolate the noisy power coming from the computer.

My macbookpro has a 9 pin Firewire connector, pins 1-4 seem to be for the data signal. 5 is a shield, 6 is ground, 7 seems to be redundant, 8 is power and 9 is another shield. Pins 5-9 are located together so I can tape off all five pins or just pin 8 (or any combination) and still get sound out. It's interesting that the sound characteristics noticeably change if I just tape off pin 8 or tape off all pins (5-9).

Gav

Don't laugh AMA. I was talking to my dealer the other week and we got on to the topic of power amps. He mentioned that he has an essentially brand new 500 and could work a very reasonable deal against a 300 - aarrgh!

Hello Gav

Many thanks for the reply.  I'll do the reading you suggest and try to improve my understanding.

Regards,  Ears

Excellent Gav  - it all makes perfect sense - I've noticed some of the better USB cables isolate the power carrying wires (Wireworld does this), It must be working for you with Firewire too as you are hearing the improvements which is what it is all about. 

Originally posted by gav111n:

"My take on it is that ultimately my computer and interface and DAC are electrically connected so there is potentially a conductive route for RF noise generated in the computer to reach the DAC which then impacts on sound quality. I think that the Paul Hynes PSU provides a cleaner power supply to the INT202 than my computer and of course I am trying to isolate the noisy power coming from the computer."

I agree with the approach; it can't just be a question of zeroes and ones, because this would be to ignore the carriers of this information and the environment in which they exist.  Gav, thanks for pointing me to Hook's thread.

My dealer and I have been discussing the topics covered there and are trying to locate a "no power" FireWire-type cable to link my Mac Mini and INT202, while addressing the separate powering of the interface.  Maybe we shall have to resort to masking or snipping, but we'll see.

Software on the Mac is currently iTunes and PureMusic, but alternatives can be investigated when the installation has settled down.

Ears