You might be aware of this but the USB inputs of the nDAC are designed to plug in an iPod or USB stick, they are not regular USB digital inputs. You can plug in e.g. an iPhone and play Apple Music but it will not give you high-res. High-res playback from the USB inputs is only supported for files stored on the iPhone or USB stick.
I have played around with Apple Music high-res and bought a Topping D10s that I used as a USB-> SPDIF converter as well as a camera adapter for the iPhone. So the chain was iPhone to Topping via the camera adapter and then from the coax out of the Topping into one of the coax inputs of the nDAC. This gives you high-res from Apple Music but is terribly inconvenient and there is no way to control playback remotely.
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I know there are many threads of this before. But this kind of issue are placed on a very changeable table. Therefore I think it was good to ask the question. There could have been changes since last time one asked.
Sonos only supports up to 44 1/24 but not sure if AM uses aac or ALAC no way to tell as Sonos app doesnt give that info. Airplay will be losssy Airplay 2 like it is for everyone else.
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@kingslymole - Yes, I’m afraid the older Uniti range will have to have some sort of intervening box / connector. I’m using a last generation UQ2 (the Atom was released six months after I bought it!) and I’ve connected it to an apple TV3. As far as I’m aware, there are three options, but hopefully others will correct me if I’m wrong as I’m very new to this…
- Apple Express. Play from iPhone to Apple Express via Airplay, connect Airport Express via cable out to DAC / digital socket on Uniti / streamer - for CD quality only.
- Apple TV2 or 3 (older version, with the sound out socket). Play from iPhone to Apple TV via Airplay, connect ATV via cable out to DAC / Uniti - for CD quality only.
- iPhone cable connection to a DAC, and then plug into a Naim amplifier - for CD & HD quality.
@Lysekil - yes, I tend to agree, especially as this tech is changing at quite a pace, and some of the threads are very long!
@toscana - thanks for the detailed explanation as to how you have connected it all up - very helpful. I have a friend with a spare Topping DAC that he said I could experiment with so I may give that a whirl when I next pay him a visit.
The Topping D10s can be used as both a DAC and a USB/SPDIF converter which is really helpful. I have tried both options, i.e. iPhone->D10s->analogue out into amplifier and iPhone->D10s-> coax out into nDAC-> analogue out into amplifier. Both options work but it is a lot of additional boxes and cables for very little, if any gain. And as mentioned before there is no way to remote control playback (except for maybe via Siri which I have not tried).
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I wasn’t aware, thank you for that. Then better option would be a DAC with an asynchronous USB input, such as Chord Qutest with input direct from iPhone/iPad via camera adapter? Still no remote but that is little concern.
Correct. And depending on the iOS device you plan to use you will probably need some version of the Apple camera adapter to connect it to the USB input of the DAC.
If I were in your shoes, I would probably buy a cheap DAC (the D10s costs about 120 EUR) first to try out this setup and see how it works on a day-to-day basis before investing in e.g. Chord Quest.
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Hi Toscana
Can you tell me if your Topping gives a fixed volume output when you use the coax out to the nDAC?
I got a Topping a couple of months ago and found that although I can play Apple Music via camera connector > Topping > optical > Nova the output is not fixed volume and depends on iPhone/iPad volume controls which is odd as I’d expect it to be fixed volume output as some others have reported.
I am no longer using this set-up on day-to-day basis as it is just not very practical.
But i quickly hooked up the D10s to the nDAC and the iPhone seems to default to maximum volume but I can change the volume with the buttons on the iPhone, i.e. it is not really fixed.
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That’s why I’ve barely played with the Topping - it’s simply not that practical and to me the sound quality probably didn’t match other services which is either a limitation of the Topping, the connection method or Apple Music itself, the latter being hard to determine. I believe in another thread a user said their Chord DAC gave a fixed level output which would be better.
I have been using Qobuz for a while, using wired internet connection. It is quite fast (200MB/second), according to Comcast, but subject to fluctuations, I suppose. Still, I never experience streaming bumps with HD movies, but – Qobuz sometime just stops for a few seconds, or plays 3/4 of a second, stops a second, plays 3/4 of a second, stops, etc. And, when that happens, my Atom sometimes literally crashes and reboots itself. I am not an engineer but this has the feel of a firmware problem. I don’t listen to Qobuz on my computers enough to be sure that this skipping and dropping out never happens on a computer. But, regardless, why should the Atom not be a bit more graceful buffering whatever is happening? I mean, it defies belief that the buffer holds about 3/4 of a second of music. On the other hand, it is imaginable that Qobuz has funky data on its servers, in which case I am not the only one who has experienced this.
Anyone have any ideas? I guess I can just go back to listening to what’s on my NAS.
The buffer on the Atom is 50MB, enough to hold a few minutes of 16/44.1 audio. Either yours has a fault or you have a network issue, or maybe both. Internet line speed is rarely the issue 2 or 3MB is enough for streaming audio unless other traffic is an issue. Latency can sometimes be a problem.
Your Atom crashing doesn’t sound right. I would try a factory reset. While you’re at it, log out of Qobuz, turn off you router, then start everything up from scratch.
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I occasionally experience this kind of drop out with Qobuz on my NDX2 and also had the same issues with a MOON 390. If I switch over to Tidal it will stream normally - switching back to Qobuz the issue sometimes continues, sometimes is resolved. I have noticed that it seems to be most frequent after
21:00 hrs Paris time.
Thanks, Chris. All good suggestions. Oh the joys…
I use Qobuz daily on an Atom and a Nova and to be honest I’ve forund it seemless on both, I have a good internet speed with Virgin, but occasionally I have had to reset both units by holding the power button in for about 5 seconds and it reboots the streamers and any glitches are instantly sorted,
As a newby here I like Apple music and the lossless’ is in most cases pretty much CD quality. We are an almost 100% Apple household though. I just plug an iPhone/iPad into an input on my NAC62 via Apple’s little lightning/USB C dongles which seem to have very reasonable DAC’s built into them. Its a simple solution but it works for me. I’ve not tried using the audio out on my little macbook air yet so can’t comment as to whether its DAC is up to the job, or whether i’ll need an external one. All this said, I still love vinyl best, perhaps its just my age 
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I do fully agree on your last point, vinyl is still the best!
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You are playing through the Qobuz app? It does the same thing on my Nova and did on the Atom before that. If you play through the Naim app you won’t have the problem.
As far as through the MacOS, Qobuz plays fine. Also, when playing through the desktop Qobuz now has added autoplay. Another benefit of using desktop Qobuz is it controls the bit rate setting into the Topping. If you play Apple Music via desktop the bit rate setting does not adjust for the source. You need go into audio settings to change the bit rate. And when you play something (on AM), the set bit rate displays on the Topping and not the bit rate of the source. But if you play the desktop Qobuz the source is correctly displayed on the Topping.
So to sum: via mobile (iOS) play Qobuz via the Naim app. If using desktop (MacOS anyway) use the Qobuz app to avoid needing to match bit rate with setting.
A question for Android users.
I think there’s an Apple Music app for Android.
Can you use Chromecast to send Apple Music hi-res audio to the latest generation streamers or Uniti devices? Saw an old Darko video about Apple Music where he suggests Chromecast works for hi-res but as with Qobuz app not gapless.
I can’t see a Chromecast option in Apple Music on iPhone.
Yes you can Chromecast but no idea if this hires or not as no way to see what the stream actually is being sent to the Naim kit as it doesn’t show this via Chromecast. Can’t do a listening test as I only used it during my trial before they added lossless to Andorid and no longer subscribe. It’s not a given as Amazon doesn’t stream hires via Chromecast at all.
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