UnitiServe Digital output cable

If you can get to a Naim dealer, the brand's own DC1 is great. Online, I would suggest Flashback Sales, who do a BNC to BNC digital cable. Minimum length for best sound seems to be 1.5 m.

I always used the Naim DC1

Ahhh - Just noticed that my UQ2 doesn't have the locking type digital interconnect - I'm thinking I will make do with optical until I get my 272 and then take the plunge with the DC1....

Thanks both for your responses

OK, I missed that too. But, if you're planning on using a direct connection from the US to a DAC, why choose the 272, which is really designed for streaming via UPnP. You won't need a digital cable...

Hmmmm - Interesting, I assumed that the digital feed would be better than over Ethernet? Am I mistaken?  

I would say there is no direct correlation to SQ whether by SPDIF via coax or UPnP media transfer via Ethernet. With the former the source of the media stream will have a reasonably significant impact to the overall SQ from the DAC - largely irrespective of the  'jitter removal' methods which has been the norm for most DACs for some time now. With the latter the origination of the media stream over ethernet is mostly - but not entirely - devoid of the quality of the Ethernet media 'sender', but is largely dependent on the receiver's hardware and implementation of the UPnP media receiving module/circuitry.

Simon

As Simon says, no direct correlation. I've stayed with S/PDIF because I prefer to keep DAC and preamp separate. The 272 is a good all-rounder, with a top-notch preamp, but its DAC section is not up to the performance of the bare nDAC. But that wasn't your question...

Whichever streaming route you choose (S/PDIF or UPnP), you could put the funds you've allotted for a digital cable towards a proper linear PS for your UnitiServe. Substantial gains to be had there.

Thanks both - I wasn't aware that NAIM did a separate power supply for US?

They don't, so discussion of such is off limits here. A little googling will locate a few contenders (avoid the Israeli unit, which runs off an SMPS.)

Where are you located ?

I'm in the UK, West Midlands

OK. In the UK you have Longdog Audio and mains-cables-r-us, along with Billy Vee Sound Systems.

Thanks Jan-Erik, Billy Vee is 2 miles down the road from my London flat...That could be very dangerous!

One interesting thing to try out is to disable the streamer in the 272 and use spdif out from the userve. then compare this with using the streamer in the 272 activated. Disabling the streamer in the 272 should give some extra sq but very few has tried this comparison.

Claus  

Billy Vee 2 miles away.... very tempting... 

How do you disable the streamer ? I tried feeding the 272 in both of the modes you describe, from my UnitiServe, and couldn't tell them apart.

I imagine you just turn off the upnp input.