Qute and ndac connection argument
Posted by: Lilyliu on 04 October 2012
The only way to connect a Naim Dac to a Qute is by the RCA outputs of the dac to the analogue inputs of the Qute, correct? We've had a bit of discussion over here and need someone to help win my wager...
Thanks!
Chas
no, you can use a 5 pin DIN to 2 RCA cable to go from DAC DIN output to Qute RCA in.
Did you win?
I'm not going to add a DAC to my Superuniti, connon 
but just for my education, would that be the same with the SU?
Russ
Yes, the SU would be the same.
as the unity lite got one, naim have reduced cost of qute are they going to dump it because of no upgrade options
...
... which would be completely sensless, What would the DAC's function then???
Qutes got a Digital output so i dont know what the argument is?
presumably the naim dac is better than the qutes so might be considered an upgrade assuming you have an pre/amp knocking about.
it also has an analougue input section so could take a feed from the dac, which would be useful i guess if Money is not an option and you have lots of digital products, more than the qute can handle. I aknowledge this might be umlikely.
Yes, the Qute has a digital out for an external dac, yet that's only for the pre section of the Qute. It will do nothing using the Qute as it is.
Yes, very yes, the ndac is far better than the internal Qute dac- it should.
So as it stands, I was correct all along. You can only connect the ndac to the Qute to its analogue inputs. Hence, no room for turntable et al. if you wanted to use the big dac.
Actually, there is a second analogue input to the Qute, the mini-plug on the front. SQ isn't bad if you get a decent quality cable. Interestingly, the front input is higher sensitivity (=higher volume) than the RCA analogue input on the back.
I knew that, yet it serves me no current purpose. I have plugged a few "fun" devices in- iPhone, etc.
We're taking sq levels of the ndac or my table. That, the headphone jack, is not.
The new lite does have two analogue inputs. However, the rumor mill is saying sq not quite that of the Q. Time will tell.
Uh, you're entitled to your opinion, but if you've only plugged in an iPhone, etc. to the front panel, you're hearing the poor source, not the quality of the input. It's hard to find a decent RCA-mini cable, but Chord makes one. I have used a high quality SACD player into the front input, and, while it sounds different from the RCA jacks on the back, it's not necessarily inferior.
To be honest i am struggling to see what your argument was? You can either output a signal to the dac or receive a signal from the dac. Whats left that you wanted to do?
I think the OP wants to bypass the internal DAC of the Qute, using the digital out of the Qute to the nDac, and then listen to the analogue output of the nDac through the Qute. But alas, you can't do that.
Sorry for any confusion. Yes, I wanted to bypass the Qute's dac and use the ndac, only in my case I already have a table plugged into the only useful analogue input. My friends thought you could stream it, which is obviously not the case. The digital out of the Qute does nothing to help this case- some of you are equally confused. So I'm stuck.
I am getting a Unitiserve to use with this Qute, which I've heard already and love. However, even with the Serve I still cannot incorporate the DAC. Pity. Love the DAC as well. Some other dacs give an optical out to use, or a toslink, which Naim abhors. Oh well....
Thanks!
Chas