Netbook as source - not outclassed by upgrades

Have just added the Mtech power supply to my system. That also has made quite an improvement. Only had a chance to have a little listen today but all sounds good. I will be having a dem with a 300 on Friday and will take along my netbook and Mtech stuff and will be interested in how it fares. May also try and have a comparison to a Qute/NDX depending on time.

My current feelings are that an Ndac receiving a signal from a netbook or even digital out from CD player is mighty fine indeed.

Had a demo of a 300 against my current 200. Made me realise what a good amp the 200 is.However the 300 does make nice music which is the main thing. And so it should considering the cost. Was quite surprised as the speakers in the dem were s-400. They were the biggest surprise. I've never taken to Allaes or SL2s. Finding them a bit too sharp for me and not too enjoyable to listen too, The S-400 were lovely - conveying the music in a very clear and believable manner. And also showing what the 300 could do as well. If I was in the market for new speakers would have liked to compare them to my Audieovector S3 Super speakers. The Audiovectors are great speakers and would take some beating especially with their upgrade options. I guess also the S-400 are in the same price point as well so if I was looking to improve would have to go higher up the chain.

Again its amazing what a lowly netbook and MTech Hi-Face components can bring to the party. At no point during the two hour demo did I feel the need to worry about my source. So to reassure poeple it is possible to hear great things through a netbook.

Anyways placed my order for the 300.

I wasn't sure what to do as well. But I thought that the end was nigh for cd's so I traded in my CDX2 against a NDAC. I used an old Arcam CD player with a digital out so I could play cd's. This was a calculated gamble but I took the view that a digital output into the NDAC would sound good enough for me while I worked out what I wanted to do. In fact it sounded more than fine and I didn't miss the CDX2 at all! I suspect that the price of CDX2 continues to fall as more people do this type of thing.

I bought a Netbook and ripped cds to it in FLAC format and then and realised that I couldn't connect direct to NDAC via USB cable. Which is a shame and has left a gap for some companies to fill. In particular MTech. I started with a Hiface but the version I had wasn't compatible with the AMD processor in the netbook I had. I then exhanged for an Hiface Evo. I bought a rechargable battery to go with it to power it up. Again small costs in the scheme of things but great sounds. After my kids had pulled the cables out of the battery twice I decided I needed something more rugged so bought the Mtech power supply. I took this little lot to the demo (£800ish worth of kit) and it made fantastic music through the dealers system I listened too which was NDAC, 252, 300 and S-400. Maybe if I had listened to an NDX I might have thought my setup was outclassed but I never felt the need to even ask. So something must have been going right with what I had.

So I'm not sure if there is a moral to this tale - if there is one it would be that a netbook, Mtech and NDAC is a great source for music.

But isn't an nDAC + £800s worth of netbook, hiface, power supply etc almost the same money as an NDX?

LIkesmusic - yes its close I guess. But NDX still requires a network, ripped cd's or downloaded music, and something to stream from which are additional costs to the NDX. At the time I did this the NDX wasn't around and I didn't want an HDX. However, if I was making the decision today things might have turned out diferrently.

Whether NDX is better than Netbook/Evo with PS/NDAC remains a good question...

Hi John -

I used to run JRMC 15 on a dedicated PC server.  It was a DIY build using the CAPS spec found at computeraudiophile dot com (fanless, SSD, RME 9632 PCI sound card with S/PDIF output).   My music files were stored on a NAS, and my PC server accessed them as a CIFS share.   I used a Macbook Air running Remote Desktop Connection for remote control, and connected it to my DAC using a custom made DB9-to-BNC cable.

For over a year I enjoyed the sound quality of this server very much, and was convinced that, given the Naim DAC's buffering/re-clocking architecture, it was going to be all the source I would ever need.  But then I read the threads created by AllenB, Aysil, Simon-in-Suffolk and others, all claiming to hear improvements in sound quality when using the NDX as a source for the DAC.   TBH, I was very skeptical (or, at the very least, I was thinking that these subtle improvements might only be heard in a 500-class reference system).

For a while I had been discussing with my dealer the possibility of getting a pair of Ovator 400's for home demo.  When they finally became available here in the US, and he was getting ready to have them shipped to me, my curiosity got the better of me and I asked if there was any possibility of also getting a listen to the NDX. 

I am very glad I did, as it totally changed my view of what was possible with regards to digital playback.   The improvements the NDX brought over my PC server were immediate and obvious:  greater clarity, bigger soundstage, better bass articulation, and so on.   Mrs. Hook confirmed what I heard in a blind test (although she did say that she thought it was a pretty silly test, as the differences were obvious -- not subtle at all -- she was used to me asking her to tell the difference between 24/96 and 24/192 FLAC files, etc.).

I re-purposed my PC server to run Asset UPnP.  It, and my NDX, have been rock solid for a couple of months now.   iRadio has been a very pleasant surprise, as has the ease of shutdown/startup forced by this summer's many passing thunderstorms.  Finally, while I agree with all of the N-Stream criticism (needs to show song time remaining, tree-walking could be easier, and playlists would be nice), at least in my experience, the app has been very stable, and the response time using an iPad 2 has been excellent.   The bottom line for me is that I no longer feel like I am missing something when I am not playing vinyl.  My percentage of time spent listening to digital music has gone way up compared to vinyl (a good thing -- saves wear and tear on my DV XX2).  But I should note that the cost of getting to the point where I could say this was pretty high (NDX, DAC, 555PS, HiLine, PowerLines, DC1).  

But at least the question you pose no longer bugs me, and I have found my own answer to it.

Good luck!

Hook

PS - In addition to the NDX, I also kept the 400's. 

@ Hook:

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I guess that the S/PDIF output of your sound card was a weak point in your PC based solution. I can imagine that a Firewire to S/PDIF converter or asyncronous USB to S/PDIF converter is able to output a "better" signal with less jitter and even the Naim DAC appreciates low jitter.