Playing music from laptop or iPod to vintage hi-fi/NAC12s preamp

Chord made (maybe they still make) a wire called an ichord, with a plug for the iPhone headphone socket on one end and a 5 pin din plug on the other end. It's all you need. 

Better still Naim make/made a version of their interconnect in a 3.5mm jack to DIN5 version.  I've tried a number of alternatives and in my opinion this interconnect is tops for connecting a Pono player to my Naim systems.

For an iPod or iPhone you may be best using an adaptor or dock to take a line out signal rather than from the Headphone out.

If you want to use a laptop then rather than taking a signal from the relatively poor headphone output, look out for a secondhand Audioquest Dragonfly - at under £50 s/h this transforms the audio output of a laptop computer.

If you don't want to spend much cash on this, I can recommend a Flashback 3.5mm to DIN cable. I dare say Richard's recommendation of the Naim version is better, but I didn't feel that this was something worth investing too much money on.

The Audioquest Dragonfly is a good idea for plating from a computer. I use the original version with my MacBook, and it really does improve audio quality a lot. The current Dragonfly models can also play from an iOS and Android portable devices, but they would cost a bit more.

Excellent, thanks all. 

Have ordered the Flashback cable which will hopefully do the trick; Audioquest Dragonfly sounds great so will be on the look-out for an older one if they go cheaper. 

Cheers!

danieljnolan posted:

Excellent, thanks all. 

Have ordered the Flashback cable which will hopefully do the trick; Audioquest Dragonfly sounds great so will be on the look-out for an older one if they go cheaper. 

Cheers!

I was just about to add....does the NAC 12, being old, have the older latching DIN sockets, rather than the current locking ones? Flashback can still supply either, but I guess you know that now!

Yes they're the latching type, Flashback have a guide to help you pick the right one so have hopefully done so!

The later Preh DINs with the locking rim will fit the Deltron latching sockets - you just need to have the ring fully pulled back.

well cables DO make a difference. No point in going cheap on cables.

I would look into the Naim 3.5mm to DIN, or one from Chord/Vertere.

Richard Dane posted:

The later Preh DINs with the locking rim will fit the Deltron latching sockets - you just need to have the ring fully pulled back.

In that case, maybe a locking ring type would be a better option - at least in terms of future-proofing.