Stacking order ( once again)

Tipicaly the brains on the left works best as the transformers are on the right of the power equipment. 

The nDAC is super sensitive to location.  Do you have to place something on top of it?

Thank you, then i will swap the brains to the left side.

What do you mean with „ do you have to place something on it“

In the first example ( no 300) there is nothing on the Ndac.

In the second ( with 300) is it better to swap  Ndac with 252 and place the Auralis on top of the 252.

( Hope you understand me, because english is not my mother tongue) 

It sounds like you have ordered a double width rack - you would have much more flexibility with two single stacks, which you could add extra shelves to as your system grows. With your level of equipment, getting the setup right makes a big difference, so I would not compromise on this.

No i ordered 2 single stacks, so i could order an extra shelf,but i dont like the look of a 3—4 shelf rack and ordering 2 extra shelfes to get 4—4 is a waste of money, because i dont need 1; i know, third world problems.????

But do you realy think the Aries a streamer only, without a PS in it, will affect the sound of the Ndac or 252.

themrock posted:

But do you realy think the Aries a streamer only, without a PS in it, will affect the sound of the Ndac or 252.

When you break it down to specific details like that, it always sounds a bit far fetched to think it would make a real difference. All I know is that careful attention to detail with racking and cable dressing appears to make a significant improvement to the sound. Of course, we all have to make our own judgement on the aesthetics of a big pile of boxes which someone appears to have dropped a large plateful of spaghetti down the back. 

Having a Naim CDS3, which is not self powered, above a 252 will affect it, so there is no reason the Auralic wouldn’t have an impact. The answer is to try the Auralic on top, and then to put it on something else, like a little table, or on the floor, and then see if you can hear a difference. 

2 extra shelves will give you the ability to put a bit more space between a sensitive component and a power supply or noisy digital box, it won't be wasted. Assuming these racks are any good with Naim gear, that I don't know about but let's assume they are for now. If you have a 300 to accomodate you have 3 Burndys that should hang free of the floor for best results, the extra shelf could be handy there too.

When I replaced my 250 with a 500 the 500 power supply was affecting my 552  (in the adjacent stack) until i moved the latter up a shelf to get it further away from the ps. It depends how sensitive the 252 is whether you'll have a similar problem (which manifests as a loss of PRAT, boogie, liveliness, pick your term but if you had it before you'll miss it sooner or later).

This is my system with lots of spacing. The improvement was amazing. I have a 282 instead of 252.

Phil

Thank you for all the advices, but is the stacking order correct, if we ignore the Aries?

In terms of the Aries, i will do a listening session tomorrow.if i can hear a difference.

themrock posted:

Thank you for all the advices, but is the stacking order correct, if we ignore the Aries?

 

In terms of the Aries, i will do a listening session tomorrow.if i can hear a difference.

The left brain stack with extra spacing as Yeti and I recommend. It is not recommended to put one box on another, such as the Aries streamer on the nDAC. If you can’t manage extra spacing everywhere at least get more above the 300PS as that is the noisy one (because it is more powerful it interferes with anything near it). Keep the 300 burndies off the floor even if just with inch long bits of pipe insulation. Use pipe insulation anywhere to avoid cable contacts (just a inch makes a big difference).

Phil

My dealer advised that the nDAC radiates upwards so the best place would be at the top of the rack.  I couldn't manage that in my set-up so next best option was bottom of the 'brain' stack with a fair bit of space above it, achieved by longer columns.

That sounds good, so my stacking order is okay.

And the pipe isolation is a good tip, thank you.

So i took your advices and added a 1 shelf for each rack.

So the stacking order will be

Auraluc Aries /////////////  Aries PS

Ndac              ///////////  Xps

252                ///////////  Supercap

300 Head   //////////// 300 Ps

Burndys which would touch the floor, i will isolate with pipe isolation.

So its on your final decision, is the stacking order now okay?

I think I would go....

252///////nDac

space///////Supercap

Aries///////300PS

300///////XPS

and put the AURALiC power supply on the floor. This will maximise isolation for the sensitive 252, make the S-XPS Burndy easy to arrange, and maximise the chances of keeping the others off the floor. I might swap the Supercap and 300PS if it makes the burndies higher off the floor. 

Darke Bear suggests extra space round the 300PS which being the one to produce the most current has a bigger effect on things near it. I doubled all my spacings partly with longer legs and partly with shelves used for vinyl TT PS as shown in photo above. The vinyl alternates with the digital sources, only one being used at a time! I had a spare shelf to balance the heights of the two stacks. I am sure the 252 benefits as my 282 has from being well spaced from other boxes as HH suggests.

Phil

Hungryhalibut posted:

I think I would go....

252///////nDac

space///////Supercap

Aries///////300PS

300///////XPS

and put the AURALiC power supply on the floor. This will maximise isolation for the sensitive 252, make the S-XPS Burndy easy to arrange, and maximise the chances of keeping the others off the floor. I might swap the Supercap and 300PS if it makes the burndies higher off the floor. 

Ordered today the Nap 300 DR, will get it end of January.

A question to your stacking order, will the Supercap not disturb the Ndac, because mixing brain and browns?