Dac to 252: which output to which input

Could it be that your dealer wants to sell you a rather expensive SL interconnect, which is available in RCA to DIN5, but not XLR to DIN5?

Goodness gracious, perish the thought!

Would be a bit off considering I called the number on the Naim support page. Is there a direct line to Naim Support in Salisbury?

They will probably tell you the same thing...

Then I’d have to believe them wouldn’t I?

I would not recommend trying to connect a balanced output of the DAC to a single ended DIN input. You may be able to wire up some kind of pseudo-balanced interconnect but they can be problematic and AFAIK are not recommended by Naim. Use the single ended outputs.

Surely at some point you need to convert balance to unbalanced - the Naim pre-amps (excluding the Statement) are unbalanced.

If you use the XLR outputs of the DAC then those are balanced.  You need to convert those to unbalanced.  The “correct” way to do this is using an output transformer or an active circuit.  You can’t just “throw away” half of the signal (though you can as Richard indicates wire some kind of pseudo-balanced interconnect but these are unlikely to be satisfactory.

So use the proper connector and the RCA unbalanced output on your DAC.

Naim recommend DIN over RCA for better earthing potential so ideally use those (see https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...m-use-din-connectors for further details).

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Thank you for the explanations and recommendations, this is a great help. I will stay with the single-ended output.

Interestingly, although the distributor recommends RCA to DIN, the local dealer says there would be no advantage in having DIN at one end if I had RCA at the other.

I suppose I will have to go compare RCA/RCA with RCA/DIN...

My pleasure William. Although.. there is a bit of advantage even when using DIN only at one end. By all means listen and judge for yourself.

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Have you got some kind of balun or how are you getting the balanced signal into the unbalanced DIN input on the SN2?

Have you compared XLR to DIN with RCA to DIN via similar quality cables?

William posted:

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Have you got some kind of balun or how are you getting the balanced signal into the unbalanced DIN input on the SN2?

I'm using the RCA input on the SN2 and not the DIN input. The Bis Vivat XLR to RCA cable is wired (I'm assuming) as described on the Chord Company site :

It is possible to connect either an RCA output or input to an XLR input or output.  This is done by connecting the signal pin on the XLR to the tip of the RCA.  The earth/return pin is connected to the RCA surround and the out of phase (mirror image) pin is shorted to the earth pin.  This configuration works well and allows the connection of a component fitted only with balanced outputs to an amplifier or pre-amp that only has RCA inputs. 

Have you compared XLR to DIN with RCA to DIN via similar quality cables?

No, but I have compared same quality cables with XLR to RCA vs RCA to RCA and the XLR to RCA is clearly better with the Pavane.

I also have a Bis Vivat RCA to DIN interconnect. Comparing that to the XLR to RCA, again the latter is better. I suppose that an XLR to DIN would be ideal, but in previous comparisons of the DIN and RCA inputs on the SN2, I could not tell the difference...