Extending my n-Vi

Rob - I' ve found the same with my n-Vi with both an Airport Express and Squeezebox - the internal CD player is better. I'm not sure whether it is down to the internal DAC or the streaming method - its good but CD is still better.

I use mine with an external power amp as a simple two box system - you can buy a special 5 pin to 4 pin cable from Naim to connect them together. I've been using a 140 up to now with good results - i feel it drives my n-Sats better than the internal amp. I've got a 250 arriving this week and have had a n-Vi 5 pin to XLR cable made up to suit.

You can then keep the n-Vi running the other 3 channels whilst having a bit more poke up front for stereo duties.



James

quote:

I probably can't do anything about the jitter - but there is no reason that the DAC should be sub-par to the one used to play discs. Will the SuperNAIT improve this situation ?

The n-Vi's digital inputs (optical or coaxial) are designed to handle both PCM and bitstream (Dolby Digital or DTS) signals–as a result, PCM signals will probably incur a performance penalty relative to a PCM-only (-optimized) device such as the SUPERNAIT (anecdotally quite a bit better with PCM in my system, for what it's worth).

Thanks james n,
that's exactly the kind of info I was hoping to hear. I am even more interested to hear how you go with the NAP 250 coupled to the n-Vi as this is what I was eyeing.
Would you you be kind enough to post again with first impressions once you have the system up & running ?

Thanks David Dever,
to be honest, when I use the Apple TV it's more of a "playing in the background" - and I use CD when I have sat down for a proper session.
However, navigating my collection sure is sweet using the Apple TV - I am just annoyed that Naim seem to have implemented two different paths for decoding PCM (which is, after all, what comes off a CD).
So a SuperNAIT does a better job - I guess I am not surprised. Do you know which of Naim's CD players it would be equivalent to ?

cheers,
Rob

quote:

Would you you be kind enough to post again with first impressions once you have the system up & running ?

Sure will Rob - i have a newly serviced 250 sat on my desk that arrived this morning so can't wait to get home and fire it up.

James

It's good

Well the 250 has been in for an evening. It's a 96 vintage olive which has just been fully serviced and is in mint condition. Perhaps it could be seen as a bit excessive on the end of an n-Vi but then i figured that its going to be in my system a long time and won't be a limiting factor in upgrades.

Anyway, 6 weeks back i changed my Motive 2 speakers for a set of n-Sats. An n-Sub followed and out of interest i dragged my old CB140 out of retirement and into the system. I thought that to be a good improvement over the n-Vi's internal amp - freeing the music and removing occasional harshness from the sound.

A 20 year old 140 compared to a recently serviced 250 isn't really a fair comparison even though the 140 sounds in fine fettle. The 140 has got great rythmic drive and really moves the music along. Substituting the 250 initially seemed to reduce this. Listening further this wasn't the case - the drive was still there just with so much more space around all the instruments. The way it deals with complex rythms is also fascinating revealing interplays i'd not noticed before and it digs out more bass from the n-Sats making me turn the sub down a notch. I'm sure it will improve more over the next few weeks too as the new components burn in. The 5pin to XLR cable was made by Flashback for me and this is a nicely made component more in line with a Snaic cable than the rather thin standard Naim item with its plastic XLR plug.

So altogether a great success and i'm pleased with the potential of the n-Vi. Having been initially frustrated by my expensive glitchy player its actually turned out to be a very talented all rounder with not only decent CD playback but great DVD pictures and a well equipped digtial hub. In fact the whole system has now reached a point where i'm very happy with it and am just enjoying buying new CD's and digging out the all old stuff.

James

James, keep the 140 for centre speaker duties...

Unfortunately the n-Vi only outputs the front L&R channels as its really a stand alone box and just has the front outputs for integration into an existing system. I'll be keeping the 140 though. Grown quite attached to it so i'm sure it'll get used again somewhere down the line ...

James

Thanks James,
I am encouraged by your posting, and am now looking forward to getting a 250 of my own.

I bought a Beresford DAC and attached it to analog-2 on the the n-VI. I can say that the improvement (when playing from my Apple-TV into the n-Vi via optical) is HUGE ! I have not yet heard any jitter ! The quality is the same if not better that the built-in n-Vi CD player.

The DAC is stereo only - so I ran two optical cables to the Apple TV (one from the DAC, one from the n-Vi) so that I can easily swap cables to get 5.1 audio.

As a DVD player, CD player, and 5.1 processor I have been very happy with the n-Vi. Now I am over the moon - since the Apple TV makes navigating my collection so easy & fun.

I can't wait for a NAP 250 to drive my Quad 22L's ...

I have read elsewhere that Apple TV has an awful DAC. Does anyone know if the signal from the optical output of Apple TV is before or after its internal DAC? Anyway to bypass that internal DAC?

The optical out is the digital signal so if you use this then you are bypassing the ATV's internal DAC.

James