DAC for a Unitiqute2 - is it a worth considering?

Ok. Patched in uq2 into nac 52 on pre-amp out on uq2 & it works but very low volume. Tried a number of line-in inputs on nac 52 but all the same. If I put the uq2 volume to 100 rather than 84 & set the 52 vol to pretty much max it is ok but still only what I would call backround level volumewise. What am I doing wrong?

Regards

Jeff

Did you set the Qute loudspeakers setting to Off? Not sure if this will solve your problem, but that needs doing.

I used the Unitiqute 2 as a source into a SN2 for a while...you should not be using pre-amp out,you should use digital out of the UQ2>into a digital in on the 52.Speakers on the Qute 2 should be set to none/off.I also used a Hugo in between the 2,then the digital out of the UQ 2 went to the RCA digital in on the Hugo>then the analog outputs(RCA) from the Hugo went to analog inputs on the SN2.

One more thing,you might have to go into the menu of the UQ2,to enable digital out.

I'm confused. By digital in on the 52 do you mean one of the line level input such as sockets 3-6? If so what's acting as the dac? I was assuming digital out on the uq2 was exactly that and was therefore by-passing it's inbuilt dac? So yes I can see why uq2->hugo->sn2 would work but without an intermediate dac I thought the only way of using the internal dac of the uq2 was to use the pre-amp output (thereby actually having the compromise of passing the signal through two pre-amp sections)? Happy to try your suggestion but just want to confirm before I blow anything up.

Sorry if I confused you,I am actually not familiar with the 52 pre-amp,just the UQ2.After googling it,I am not certain it even has digital inputs,so in that case you would have to use an external DAC fed from the UQ2 digital out.Then the Dac would feed an analog Input on the 52,maybe somebody more familiar with that pre would know the proper input to use.

Hi No Quarter. No worries - thanks for trying to help as I'm obviously doing something daft. Are you 100% sure though that you ran at a point in time with just uq2 -> sn2 with it set to digital out? As far as I can tell the sn2 unlike the sn v1 model lost it's dac so in that sense no different to my nac 52 as far as I can tell in terms of input types.

Jellyheadjeff posted:

Hi No Quarter. No worries - thanks for trying to help as I'm obviously doing something daft. Are you 100% sure though that you ran at a point in time with just uq2 -> sn2 with it set to digital out? As far as I can tell the sn2 unlike the sn v1 model lost it's dac so in that sense no different to my nac 52 as far as I can tell in terms of input types.

There's definitely no DAC on the SN2. 

Thanks. So am I not supposed to be using the uq2 pre-amp out (analogue) into a line in on the nac 52? If so why the really low volume level?

Jellyheadjeff posted:

Hi No Quarter. No worries - thanks for trying to help as I'm obviously doing something daft. Are you 100% sure though that you ran at a point in time with just uq2 -> sn2 with it set to digital out? As far as I can tell the sn2 unlike the sn v1 model lost it's dac so in that sense no different to my nac 52 as far as I can tell in terms of input types.

Thinking back,yes I used the Hugo with it the entire time,I had to look at the SN2 again on the Naim site.There are no digital inputs on the SN2 because it has no DAC inside,sorry for the confusion,it was a couple of years ago now.But I know for sure I was using the UQ2's digital out to the Hugo,this was one of the reasons I traded everything in on a 272,no redundancy,plus it sounds much better.

Used a UQ1 BNC digital out to a DAC V1 for awhile. A Sonore Mircrorendu with an Uptone LPS-1 into the V1's USB replaced it - and trounced it - and now UQ1 doing full duty in the office. I think the UQ works best as an all in one as intended, at least for the price. 

When I was playing around with streaming I used my UQ into a 102/180 (with unity gain) and then direct into a 180 (using the volume control on the UQ). In both cases I  took the pre out from the UQ into either one of the DIN inputs on the 102 or used a special cable (cheap) bought on ebay I think into the NAP i/p. I didn't have your problem with low output levels - can't explain that.

I found the results  very convincing - gave me the confidence to sell my CD player and buy a better streaming source.

Yes.  Unity gain on the 52 is the solution to the two-pre-amp problem.  This bypasses the Volume pot on the 52.  Volume control is handled entirely by the Qute.

If the low-volume persists, the Qute has a fault, or is not configured correctly.  

Nick

Which input on my 52 would be the unity gain one - is it input 5?

Jeff -- I wouldnt muck about with Unity Gain without a print-out of the official instructions in front of me -- get it wrong and the wrong component will blast at full volume.

Easy to do, though.  Cool feature.  I am assuming the 52 has it.  My 112, 202, and 552 all had it.

Nick

I just looked at your manual -- no evidence Unity Gain was provided on olive series.  Sorry.

Thanks Nick. I thought the later nac 52's  (mine I believe is a later one) came with a unity gain input but might be wrong.

Jeff

Jeff - you can just use unity gain on the output of the UQ and change volume on the 52. As I remember you can set the pre out on the UQ to either fixed level or variable in the settings menu.

The UnitiQute V1 only has a unity gain input not output. Don't know about the Q v2. 

ah. sorry if I got that wrong. 

All the unity gain does on the Qute V1 is set the output volume to a fixed value of 84. 

Thanks peeps. Still not sure what the sound volume issue is as from sound of things I was doing correctly as advised in terms of speaker off, volume at 84, pre-amp rca out into nac 52 input line level.  Will have another play probably tomorrow night to try and work out what the problem is.

Regards

Jeff

Sounds like you were indeed doing it right to me.  

An issue with either the preamp out sockets on the UQ2 or a duff cable, maybe?

Yeah - I was thinking possibly cable. Trying to think whether I've got another rca- din cable anywhere. Things all abit in a mess as moved house a few months ago and had building works ever since so things all over the place. I'm pretty sure I've got another one somewhere but need to hunt it down. Will report back once I've had a chance to investigate.

Hi,

Do you have line-out on the UQ2 (a standard "tape" input) ? Then you could possibly connect this to a line level input on the 52. 
Haven't tried this myself, and I also don't know if there is any danger in it !

But if you had a tape deck and connected 1) UQ to the record input on the deck, and 2) the deck output to the 52, then I'm pretty sure it would work. I used to have a similar wiring at one point, can't remember the exact details though.

Claus