nDAC won’t read HiRez FLACS

Guinnless posted:

I've converted the file to WAV with dBoweramp and it nows plays fine on my nDAC 

So it looks like the nDAC will only play FLAC up to 192.   

This is partially good news!
A firmware update should be able to fix the problem 

Guinnless posted:

I've converted the file to WAV with dBoweramp and it nows plays fine on my nDAC 

So it looks like the nDAC will only play FLAC up to 192.   

I can confirm that.

Just maid the same test.

Converted the 24/352.8kHz FLAC file to WAV.

It plays nicely on my nDAC.

We're getting close : the problem seems to be FLAC related 

Guinnless posted:

I've converted the file to WAV with dBoweramp and it nows plays fine on my nDAC 

So it looks like the nDAC will only play FLAC up to 192.   

That what I thought. The capability of processing .flac files was added to the nDAC via firmware update and it is not very surprising that they limited it to 24bit/192kHz. 

Once more, this example shows how much confusion and uncertainty the absence of precise specifications can lead to. It is a shame that a company that has built its reputation upon outstanding hardware and service  has lost the capability of delivering detailed users guides and precise product specifications.

Aaargh...  I got a third of the way through the download until the internet dropped.  At between 100-200kbps it just takes too long...

Anyway, I've heard back from Steve S, who has conferred with Hjalmar and they think that on the Naim DAC, FLAC was capped at 192kHz but that WAV should be uncapped.  If WAV at 352.8kHz plays fine then that confirms it.  On the latest streamers the 352.78 FLAC file should play fine, as confirmed by Steve H (thanks Steve).  

Steve S recommends that if playing higher than 192kHz via the DAC, then to either convert to WAV or to downsample the FLAC to 192kHz or under. 

nbpf posted:

Guinnless posted:

I've converted the file to WAV with dBoweramp and it nows plays fine on my nDAC 

So it looks like the nDAC will only play FLAC up to 192.   

That what I thought. The capability of processing .flac files was added to the nDAC via firmware update and it is not very surprising that they limited it to 24bit/192kHz. 

Once more, this example shows how much confusion and uncertainty the absence of precise specifications can lead to. It is a shame that a company that has built its reputation upon outstanding hardware and service  has lost the capability of delivering detailed users guides and precise product specifications.

This is true.  This information should have been available of the shelf as it were.  I've just visited the Firmware page on the website and there are no details as to what the update does other than it adds the ability to play FLAC files.  It doesn't say 'some' FLAC files 

To be fair, when the ability to replay FLAC files was added (was it 7 or 8 years ago?), FLAC was capped at 192kHz - there was probably no call or need for anything beyond 24/192 and the ability of the Naim DAC to decode and play up to 32/768kHz was somewhat academic. It's only in more recent times that we're starting to see files of higher than 24/192 resolution. 

I can confirm that I have tested all of Tom's files and they all play perfectly fine in flac format on my ND555 right up to the 352.8/24 ones.

Sorry Richard we have a bit of duplication with the ND555 Impressions thread here. 

There should have been a Document with the Firmware update that implemented FLAC saying something along the lines of:

USB
FLAC  to 192Khz
WAV to 768kHz

It eliminates confusion.

To also be fair this is not a 10 bob bit of kit and this information should be readily available.

Richard Dane posted:

To be fair, when the ability to replay FLAC files was added (was it 7 or 8 years ago?), FLAC was capped at 192kHz - there was probably no call or need for anything beyond 24/192 and the ability of the Naim DAC to decode and play up to 32/768kHz was somewhat academic. It's only in more recent times that we're starting to see files of higher than 24/192 resolution. 

Agree, my concerns are not really about the documentation of the old DAC but of the new generation of Naim devices. I would expect detailed user guides and specs to be available for download for ND555, NDX 2, ND5 XS 2, Uniti range and Core. The ND555 white paper is a good first step in the right direction but more steps need to be done, in my view.

For me we also can close the problem. As already written in the ND555 threat - I am playing it now flawlessly without changing anything, so then not a problem on the ND555, potentially Melco with having side tasks......

I felt it right to also post it on the ND555 threat as I did introduce the problem, and made some potential customers concerned. 

You can tranfer this file whit X-recode and transfer in wav  easy and your n-dac will play on usb

[@mention:1566878603942595] , [@mention:13111295364991225], [@mention:1566878603869316], [@mention:1566878603910500], [@mention:23389351206659471]

Thank you all for your help, ideas and inputs.

The problem is now sorted out.

In summary:

With the latest FirmaWare (4.11.8), using the front and rear USB socket, the nDAC can read and play:

- WAV files up to 32bits/768 kHz
- FLAC files up to 24bits/192 kHz

The new streamers, ND555 and NDX2, do not have that FLAC related limitation.

Richard, I think the thread can now be closed. Thanks again for your help.

Thomas