Experience sharing: Nait 5i with Music Fidelity V-Dac

Posted by: Iver van de Zand on 20 August 2011

Dear Forum members,

 

Just wanted to share my recent experience with streaming audio.

 

I have two Naim systems: the main system is SuperNait with CDX2 and Sonus Faber Cremona Auditor loudspeakers; the second system is/was Nait 5i with CD5i and Wharfedale Evo 30 loudspeakers.

 

A year ago I started to get interested into streaming audio. After reading many forums, reviews and articles, I decided to "rip" the majority of my cd's into iTunes. I didn't use a dedicated rippring program, but used the iTunes embedded conversion engine and ripped everything into ALAC Lossless. Apart from my CD's, I also bought a number of 320kbps MP3 files. The library now composes of 20.000 records, all tagged with meta data, artwork, groupings and others. The music is stored on a simple LaCie 1TB external HD connected via Ethernet to my home network. The next step was to buy a Apple Airport Express to be able to test with streaming audio. Even though I consider myself "quite familiair" with ICT, setting up the Airport Express is not easy. I was pre-warned reading all the forums on the Airport Express, but still took me quite some testing, tuning and tweaking to get the thng working. Once it works, it does its job very fine; hardly breaks or waiting while streaming the ALAC music via iTunes.

 

My first experience was ok, and I definately liked the new way of "surfing" through your music via iPad and iTunes. It feels a bit like a "re-newed acquaintance" with all my music. Very nice !

 

So a few weeks ago, I decided to use the second Naim system to further explore streaming. I sold the CD5i and purchased a Music Fidelity V-Dac. The system now is:

 

- Naim Nait 5i  Amplifier

- LaCie 1TB NAS

- Apple Airport Express

- Music Fidelity V-Dac

- iTunes Library on my Laptop with 90% ALAC Lossless and 10% MP3 of 320kbps stored on the NAS

- Wharfedale Evo 30 Bi-Wired luidsprekers

 

The Airport Express is connected to the V-Dac via a Monitor Audio tosslink. The V-Dac is connected to the Nait5i via Monitor Audio interlinks (also tested an Oehlbach but not satisfied).

 

First impression is that the V-Dac (or comparable Dac) is giant step compared to the internal D/A conversion of the Airport Express. The sound is better placed, stage is wider, much more analytic and there is more "air" and warmth in the sound-quality. I did listen to the V-Dac before and now having one myself, it immediately became clear that the DAC has to be definately played-in. Experience of others mention up to a week of running- in-time. Comparing my new streaming system with the previous CD5i makes the CD5i still sound a bit warmer and more open, but differences are not too big. I am happily surprised, and given the limited overall investment I had to do (€ 300 for V-Dac and Airport Express) I am now open to further explore. The next step is to buy the dedicated V-Dac power supply which is another € 150. If the results keep progressing as they do right now, I will also consider to embedd streaming into my main system.

 

Before proceeding with my main system, I will upgrade my network and NAS with GiGaBit switch/router and a QNap or NetGear Nas. I have spent so many (!!!!!) hours in getting my CD's ripped and tagged; I absolutely want a decent NAS with Raid functionality. Streaming audio wireless comes also to an end; I will stream wired in the future. My experience is that whenever starting up a microwave, downloading a movie etc while streaming, immediately brings silences in the music which I don not appreciate.

 

P.s. I am absolutely not technical, can somebody explain me why a DAC needs to be running-in ? It's all electronics inside, isn't ? Why need they running)in ?

Posted on: 20 August 2011 by Guido Fawkes

> I sold the CD5i and purchased a Music Fidelity V-Dac. 


Was it a CDi? the MF V-DAC is no where as good as the DAC inside the CDi in my humble opinion. Used with the airport express the MF V-DAC will suffer from the AE's high jitter, it has no defence against it. Even MF admit this and are redesigning the V-DAC. The MF V-Link is a fine product, but the MF-DAC does not share its sophistication. Yes it sounds better than the DAC in the AE which costs about 0.5 Euros to manufacture. If you wanted a better sounding DAC then Chord Electronics make a great DAC for less than 1,000 Euros. However, I have a better suggestion. 


My strong recommendation would be to replace the Nait 5i and MF V-DAC with a Naim UQ - this has a superb DAC and a lovely amplifier. It is perfect for computer audio. Couple a Naim UQ with a pair of Eclipse Time Domain loudspeakers and you'll hear a marvellous if somewhat idiosyncratic sound.  


Another thing to remember is that the Nait 5i is not designed for bi-wiring - again you'll hear a significant improvement by ousting your bi-wire in favour of a single run of NACA5 with F connectors. My recommended loudspeakers from Eclipse cannot be bi-wired as they don't have a cross over and use a single very high quality drive unit.  However, I still think the EVOs or any other speaker will benefit from single wiring with NACA5 if your are using Naim amplification. 


Well, of course, it is only my opinion, but why not give it an audition - what have you got to lose? 


All the best, Guy 

Posted on: 21 August 2011 by Iver van de Zand

Thanks Guido !!

 

I will start with getting the bi-wire of and try with single wire today. I'll drop a note hear with the results when I auditioned it.

 

The information about the AE's jitter is new to me. Is there - given the current set-up of AE and V-Dac - anything else I could consider ? I more than agree that the UnitiQute is a superb solution, but budget is "allocated" otherways for th emoment :-) so I need to deal with this situation.

 

Iver

Posted on: 26 August 2011 by Iver van de Zand

Hey there,

 

I have now used the Music-Fidelity V-Dac together with streaming audio through Apple Airport Express and Nait 5i, for a couple of days. Preliminary findings are:

 

Pro:

- more open sound stage

- better sound-staging

- way more "rhythm" in the music

- there is more "air" and brightness

- especially the midrange is sounding better

 

Con:

- S-tones are very hard sounding

- there is still booming in my bass

 

The results do satisfy compared with streaming directly from the Airport Express into the Nait 5i. The V-Dac brings a lot of good things in the chain especially given the price.

 

What is a surpirse to me is the fun of streaming music and discovering my collection "again" through the iPad control of iTunes !! This makes me wanna do more with streaming, so I am now in the market for a descent NAS. Guido's suggestion for the UnitiQute makes me thinking of the next step afterwards !

 

Cheers

Iver