DAC dilemma

Hi Laudio -

I used the Naim DAC with a Nait XS for about a year, having upgraded from the original MF V-DAC.  It was a huge upgrade in sound quality, and went a long way to making my PC-based digital source sound good.  

The Naim DAC has a PS upgrade path that will allow it to grow with the rest of your system -- it need never become obsolete or out-of-balance with downstream upgrades, giving it the potential for being a "component for life".

Good luck!

Hook

I second what Hook says re the Naim DAC. I did review several other DAC's including the ones you mention and found the others always had something missing. I also think that they took away some of the "boogie" factor. My system is;

Naim 282+Hicap-DR, 250.2, Naim DAC+XPS-2 (non DR), Allae Speakers, Mac Mini (feeding DAC with ripped CD's stored on NAS). CDX (for when I need to play a CD quickly without ripping). Rega P3 and phono stage, Rega Ear headphone amp.

The XPS-2 was originally on the CDX but moved to the Naim DAC for a great improvement. The HiCap-DR is about a week old and still improving things greatly. So you can see that the Naim DAC can easily grow with any system. I think that I will be keeping it for a very long time.

Hi Laudio, I agree with the other two, the DAC can be outstanding. The Naim DAC has the potential to sound the best digital analogue source in the Naim portfolio currently ... But to get there it does need careful set up, partnering and quality powersupply to get it to sing magnificently. Frustratingly it appears it can also be quite easy to get it wrong with the NDAC if not set up or partnered correctly - a bit like tuning a turntable :-)

Simon

> 

Monster optical cable between PC and DAC.

MGK-226 interlink

Van Damme Copper speaker cable

I would think these components are unfamiliar hereon; I'm not sure what their contribution would be to the overall sound. 

With a Naim amplifier it is usual to use NACA5 speaker cable and an interconnect such as Chord Chrysalis, but not sure if these would improve your system. What I can say is they are familiar components that are known to give first class results.  

Your PC is feeding a V-DAC and this DAC has no form of jitter reduction through its S/PDIF interface (not a criticism as it is much lower priced that the Naim DAC and is good value for money). Unless your PC has a top notch sound card (Juli@, Lynx or equivalent), I'd recommend trying the V-DAC asynchronous USB input - this will give you a little extra electric noise, but less jitter (in theory) so you may find it improves the sound. You could try it with any old USB cable to see the effect and then if you find it worthwhile use a cable like the Wireworld Ultraviolet which is a very good USB cable (not worth paying any more in my view). 

The Rega and, of course, Naim DACs are better, but you may be able to optimise your PC source for low noise/jitter which will benefit all downstream components. 

OK after a long comparison between cables i concluded the following:

Monster I250 vs MGK226

the MGk is brighter, but also takes the digital edge off the treble. Voices are presented more foreward and there is lesser bass, but the bass is very tight.

Because the Monster Cable is warmer it seems more softer in the treble, but it adds kind of an edge to the sound. that is very annoying. Voices are projected slightly further to the back. There is more bass, but not that tight.

*The differences described above are very small, they can come across as huge the way i write about them, but they are definitely not* 

I will post the usb vs Optical comparison later if anyone is interested. Short version:

1. Audioquest Forrest

2. Noname USB cable

3. Monster Optical cable

So Guido Fawkes was right!

I have the opportunity to buy a rega dac. Does this work wel with my system?

I had a rega dac with a sonos connect as the source going into a nac 202, while I thought it sounded good with the typical rega analogue sound when I added a unitiqute and used the builtin dac for the sonos the improvement was huge, especially with seperation and bass. 

The rega dac is a brilliant stepping stone and I got one while saving for the qute. It also has quite a good resale value as I recently sold it for £420 after 6 months. 

It is two months old now. Naim will release a new budget model on the market later this year,but there  nothing to find about it tho.

So you guys think its not a good idea to buy the rega second hand?

It is a fine idea if within your budget. It is a lot of fun and like the dude said above it is a brilliant stepping stone. If however, you are hoping it will be nearly as good as Naim's effort for 1/4 of the price then you will be disappointed. I have heard both in controlled conditions and there is no contest at all.

Since the price raise here in holland, the naim dac is out of reach. So my dillema is as follows:

- Wait for the budget model naim dac

-Buy the rega DAC

Could you post an impression of the rega dac?

Who knows if there will be a budget model Naim dac but they do have other DAC implementations such as UnitiQute and 172XS available.

I enjoyed the Rega DAC a lot with a 72/HC/140. Now for the bad news....I heard the Rega in the same set-up with a Nait XS / HC and the integrated did not compete at all with the pre/power above. This is not to say it is not good with the integrated but more that it was hard to accept the change when you were used to something else. I appreciate this may not be helping but you did ask!

It's been mentioned elsewhere but i would replace the speaker cable with NACA5 first as that may tame the highs and improve the bass, then look at reviewing some DAC's after.

Out of all the budget DACs I think the Rega is head and shoulders above, I got the m-dac, rega dac and M1 DAC on loan from my local audio-t and really didn't like the others at all.

€315 for 3 meter speaker cable is to expensive. I never heard SO much difference between speaker cable that it is worth the price. Maybe i am wrong tho. 

I will compare the Naca at my dealer with my own speaker cable, if possible.

wowser that's expensive, new naca5 is only £20 per metre and that is also terminated with banana plugs on both ends. There's normally secondhand naca5 for sale on ebay. I got mine off ebay secondhand with naim plugs on one end and bananas on the other and cost less than half the price of new.

If you buy it secondhand someone else has already burned it in for you as well

Laudio, if you are up for it there is a couple of Naim DACs on a popular auction site, I think at least one of them has a warranty

S

 You can take the plugs out of the covers if the spacing doesn't work for your Dynaudios.

Don't forget to insulate the exposed bits.

I received my Naca5 today and as you told me it is a huge improvement! I am very happy with this cable!

Comes down to cost at the end of the day. I have a Naim DAC combined with a non-Naim PSU and that sounds great into my NAC 252 and Shahinian Obelisk 2's. The source I'd an US-SSD but all that costs an eye watering amount. One of my other systems is a Rega and they make some great stuff that lasts and is reasonably priced. Never tried the Rega DAC but if it is anything like their other stuff for value it is hard to beat. I recently added an ND5XS + XPS to that system and that sounds fantastic. The other option mid range is the Teddy DAC. I use his mono block power amp. Good stuff and good value. Comes down to personal preference and budget really.

Moderated Reply: Please ensure you follow forum rules re. discussion of 3rd party power supplies.

Hi Laudio, 

The one thing missing from the Naim DAC is DSD. It's a feature appearing on more and more higher-end DACs such as Chord. I haven't heard it yet but from what I hear (sure, pun intended), it's very good. 

I hope it's a simple software upgrade but I highly doubt it.

Arun

> I hope it's a simple software upgrade but I highly doubt it.

Not a chance ... Chord doesn't use a real DAC, it creates a virtual one using FPGAs, which is really neat if you can do it. 

Naim will have to do some reengineering if they want to support DSD streams. 

Doesn't sound any better than PCM though (DVD-A vs. SACD round 2)

On the plus side the Naim DAC sounds better than the Chord, but both are very good.