Feeding DAC - Sound quality

Posted by: pz on 18 December 2011

Hi Mates,

 

I have DAC+XPS and naim amplification.

I am about to decide how to feed the DAC  for the best possible sound quality.

 

Possibilities are:

 

1. Buy an nServe and use it as a HDD misic player into DAC.

 

2.PC laptop + Decent interface into DAC

 

3. USB straight into DAC.

 

Which option could give the best sound in your opinion ?

 

 

Any post welcomed.

Posted on: 19 December 2011 by trickydickie

May I suggest an option 4, an ND5 XS with a NAS, similar in price to your option 1 but with the potential for better sound and great usability. 

 

Richard

Posted on: 23 December 2011 by Hook
Originally Posted by trickydickie:

       

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May I suggest an option 4, an ND5 XS with a NAS, similar in price to your option 1 but with the potential for better sound and great usability. 

 

Richard




+1.   See if you can demo an ND5 XS.  Helps a lot if you already own an iPad, as it is pretty much a mandatory component for controlling a Naim network player.

Good luck.

Hook
Posted on: 23 December 2011 by Guido Fawkes

Buy a new Mac Mini and use a Wireworld supernova Optical Interface to connect it to your Naim DAC/XPS2 - stunning sound quality - it must be a new one with the low jitter optical out. Very quiet, flexible and will offer a bit perfect service in to you Naim DAC. Ideally buy the one with 256 GB SSD and 750 HDD, it will hold around 2000 CDs worth of lossless CD quality music. Use iTunes with Bit-Perfect to optimise it. 


Alternative, as recommended by Richard and Hook is ND5 XS and Vortexbox. 

You'll need some network skills to set this up. 

The Vortexbox is as easy as it gets when it comes to serving music. 


In both cases uses an iPad as a remote


The SQ from both options will be as good as it gets. 


Posted on: 24 December 2011 by rich46

ripnas/nds5 streamer/ndac/x5power supply   cyrus 300 feeding quads . forget cds . control number 1 ipad......stunningly tops

Posted on: 24 December 2011 by Claus-Thoegersen

HI,

 

Why should nd5X be a better options than any n-serve from a technical viewpoint.

 

As I read the forum people choose a source for the NDAC based on price, brand, or simplicity of use.

 

Like others on the forum I hope that sometime in the future Naim will produce a streamer/DAC  in reference quality. Until  then I am very satisfied with my ns01 0ndac +spsx2. I would probably have investigated the cheaper alternatives if I had started from scratch, but I traded in my cd s3 for the streaming solution.

 

Claus

Posted on: 24 December 2011 by Jan-Erik Nordoen
Originally Posted by Claus-Thoegersen:
Why should nd5X be a better options than any n-serve from a technical viewpoint.

The n-Serve into the DAC was the best source I'd ever had, until I inserted the UnitiQute between the two. I would imagine it's even better when inserting an ND5X. Others have found that the digital out on the nServe is not optimal. My experience in replacing it with the dig out on the Qute supports this.

 

Please note however, that the n-Serve & DAC remains a stunning combination. It's only when I started to compare that I heard the difference. But it just seems like overkill to use an ND5X, a Qute, or an NDX solely for its streaming function.

 

An interesting alternative would be the Cyrus streamer. A review in HiFi Critic pegs it as superior to the Qute. But then that's just a hifi reviewer's opinion 

 

Jan

Posted on: 24 December 2011 by pz

Hi Mates,

 

Thanks very much for replies got so far.

 

I forgot to mention that I have NO (wired)

internet access where my system is setup ?

 

Please take this into account.

 

Happy New Year To Everyone.

Posted on: 25 December 2011 by Claus-Thoegersen
Originally Posted by Jan-Erik Nordoen:
Originally Posted by Claus-Thoegersen:
Why should nd5X be a better options than any n-serve from a technical viewpoint.

The n-Serve into the DAC was the best source I'd ever had, until I inserted the UnitiQute between the two. I would imagine it's even better when inserting an ND5X. Others have found that the digital out on the nServe is not optimal. My experience in replacing it with the dig out on the Qute supports this.

 

Please note however, that the n-Serve & DAC remains a stunning combination. It's only when I started to compare that I heard the difference. But it just seems like overkill to use an ND5X, a Qute, or an NDX solely for its streaming function.

 

How would you insert a ute or anything else between n-serves and ndac without using the digital out that is supposed to cause the degrading quality?

 

Like most people here I have lost my way in the Naim digital hierarchy, but someday the ultimate streamer plus NDAC, or maybe an upgrade serve will come along.

 

Claus

 

Posted on: 25 December 2011 by aysil
Originally Posted by Claus-Thoegersen:

 

How would you insert a Cute or anything else between n-serves and ndac without using the digital out that is supposed to cause the degrading quality?

Naim UServe is also a UPnP stream server, so you can bypass the digout if you have a stream client on the other end.

 

Like most people here I have lost my way in the Naim digital hierarchy, but someday the ultimate streamer plus NDAC, or maybe an upgrade serve will come along.

I hope this thread is of some help: https://forums.naimaudio.com/...

 

Claus

Aysil

 

Posted on: 25 December 2011 by feu77
I got one of the first nDAC and since then I am looking for the best way to serve it. I tried many streamers (computers, laptops, Logitech Squeezebox, Apple TV2, external Soundcards, Hiface...) CD x2 with dig out, and of course USB. Yesterday I got the XPS2 and Unitiserve HDD from my dealer over the xmas days. I sold my CD5x because the Logitech SB classic via DC1 into the nDAC performed as good as the CD 5x but with the SB i have the advantage of handling my hige media collection. Apple TV2, SB, Macbook air with hiface and most of the other streaming solutions almost perform the same. There are slight differences but nothing eye-opening. Also the Unitiserve is not sounding much better than the other streaming solutions. I only listened for 3-4 hours and it seems to me that all the streamers sound more or less the same, with only slight differences as mentioned above. The real quality step is USB-stick and CDx2 into the nDAC. CDx2 is no option because i want to get rid of my cd's USB Stick (i use Transcend T3 4gb) is so much better than all the streaming solutions I used until now. Soundstage gets really wide, timing is so crisp, the groove installs immediately! It's awesome! That's the sound I like! I am really dissappointed of the Unitiserve! 3 of 6 CD weren't recognized, No! cover found.... Dbpoweramp does that much better! An ripping quality is the same compared to ripping quality of my iMac. No doubt there! Conclusion: I will buy 10-15 usb sticks and put my most listened tunes on it! For the rest i continue using my logitech SB and Apple TV2. The money will be spent on an XPS2, which really does some good on my nDAC!! Regards Chris
Posted on: 25 December 2011 by MartinCA

I had a DAC/XPS combo too and spent ages trying to decide how best to feed it.

 

These are the options I thought about. Every option is a trade-off between price/utility/quality/function, none perfect for me.... 

Memory sticks - pretty good sound, but a hassle

PC iTunes/Airport Express?  Tried it - quality rubbish (though some people had better results than me)

Macbook/Toslink?  Tried it - OK - not as good as memory sticks. 

UnitiServe? - better sound than memory sticks but expensive as a ripping solution

NDX? - great but expensive and has a redundant DAC 

UnitiQute? - neat - but redundant amp

HDX? - expensive, US does what I want for less

 

But in the end I went for a UnitiServe.  I am very happy with it. 

Some people will say there are better ripping/storage solutions (eg Vortexbox) but really I got it primarily as a streamer, with added ripping/storage capability.  I expect that downloaded and HD music will supesede CDs in the next 5 years so I also envisage the US being my way of storing my CD collection.

Some people will say that the dig out is not optimal - but it is still VERY good and better than memory stick. 

 

But - had the ND5SS been out at the time, I probably would have gone with that.  It is easier in a wireless environment - you'd need a separate wireless bridge for the US.  (I ended up running an ethernet round the house to the hifi which took me a couple of hours but was well worth it).

Also I gather that latest MiniMacs have improved optical outputs with much less jitter - might be worth looking at.

Posted on: 25 December 2011 by Guido Fawkes
I would not say the Vortexbox is better than the US.
I would say it serves the same function and the SQ is equivalent.
The advantages of the US are it's Naim hardware and software and has Naim support.
The VB is flexible in that you can choose hardware to suit

The new Mac Mini is a very good solution as it's optical out is vastly improved from previous Mac incarnations.

A PC/Mac with a Juli@ sound card is yet another option

Lots of options
Posted on: 25 December 2011 by aysil

Martin, this is an excellent post with a good summary of all the alternatives!

I agree, there is not a just perfectly matching partner in the Naim range for the nDAC. In spite of the fact that nDAC has been one of the best selling products, there is not a reasonably priced stream client without redundant dac and amp in the range.