Best affordable dac to go with nac202/nap200dr and node2i

Hi I just picked up a nac202 with napsc ps and just ordered a nap200dr. I’ve been running a naim nova for a little over a year and really enjoy it.
But I had a friend of mine bring over his 202/200 to compare it to nova with my room and my speakers that are Dynaudio contour 30s. And with my rp6 and CD player erc3 it was very nice improvement.
Bigger sound stage better placement of instruments and more dynamic.
So I’m changing to separates, right now I can’t afford a naim streamer to go with it so I’ll be running a node2i and was wondering what is an affordable dac that would pair well with it and naim?

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There’s a big choice of DACs available, and you should really try to listen to some different ones to see what matches your taste. If you want something to match the Naim amp, you could look at the NDAC, they are quite cheap now that they’ve been discontinued for a while. Upgradeable with external PSU if you want to take it further, but still very capable on its own. For something slightly different, but also a good match for Naim amps, try one of the Chord DACs.

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+1.

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Lots of recent discussion on the End Of My Tether thread. I’ve the same kit as you bar the streamer and I’m looking to move from CD for several reasons. Depends on your budget and needs really. Do you need a DAC with a pre or a headphone option? Worth using a Qutest as your jumping off point.

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I would suggest a secondhand Naim DAC - a serious bargain for the performance on offer.

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I have used a DAC V1 for many years with my 202/250/HC/NAPSC2/SBL. I didn’t tried anything else because it was ver good.
Recently i moved the V1 to my office, so i can use it with my headphone, I bought a Chord Qutest few month ago to test on my main system (52/4x135), and it was not so good as my Ndac (even without XPS), that was my personnal feeling/hearing, so currently i am using the qutest with my 202 system, and this sounds ok.
Frankly speaking i would recommend you to buy an Old Ndac instead of a Chord dac, but there is many differents opinions on the forum, and it’s a matter of personnal feeling.
To do that kind of choice the best way is to do direct comparison, and doing such, in my case the Ndac was the winner.

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I have been using an nDAC for about 5 years. Originally with my old Quad system and now with my NAC202, NAP200 with NACPS and have found it excellent. When I bought the nDAC I compared it with a Chord Hugo and preferred the nDAC as it sounded more natural to my ears with a more defined bass and didn’t sound as clinical. However it is a personal choice.

Cool thing about the Naim DAC with your 202 is that the Naim remote that came with your 202 controls the DAC, too.

Nick

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I bought a Chord Mojo a couple of years ago and only kept it for 4 or 5 months. While, on some styles of music the sound (as opposed to music) it produced was very impressive, but on other styles of music it made the instruments sound very lightweight. I found myself loosing interest in the music very quickly.

I recently bought an Ndac, sounds detailed, natural and very musical. That’s with no additional power supply, the interconnect that came with it, a £30 S/Pdif digital cable and an inexpensive streamer. (Squeezebox Touch)

As Richard said. “ a bargain”

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Slightly off topic.

I have an nDac which has not been updated to the latest firmware.

Is it worth updating, does the latest firmware improve the sound quality.

Most seem to agree the latest firmware update is an improvement. I do not recall any testimony against it. Nick

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Hi Sandman,

I used the nDac for many years and it is excellent with an easy upgrade path using an external power supply. However, I think the Qutest is superb, especially if bolstered by an SBooster PSU and SBooster Ultra II.

M

You mean 4.11.8 from Dec. 2015? For me it was a perceivable improvement over the previous version.

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As already mentioned, a second had Naim DAC is a great value. Apart from sounding very good to my ears, it has 8 inputs (thus, you can get consistent sound from different sources) and looks very good.

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I’m using the Allo Shanti PS with my Qutest. I have a TP (Israel) PS as well. I prefer the Shanti over the Teddy Pardo, the Qutest supplied wall wart, or a battery pack (nothing special) I have.

Yes. At the moment 4.10.6 firmware is installed.

Among other things, I run a Bluesound Node 2 into an nDAC feeding a NAC 282. The combination of Bluesound app and the convenience of controlling the nDAC with the NAC 282 remote make it a winner with all members of the household.

The combination sounds pretty good, too.

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Thanks for all the information guys! But for now I’ll have to wait until my nap200dr arrives and it looks like it may be a bit.

So I decided to purchase a schiit bifrost2 multibit dac, I’ve read great things about it. It should ship next week and I’ll start breaking it in on my marantz 5011 until nap200dr arrives.
I’ll let you guys know what I think and post a few pictures.

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Yes. It’s surprisingly good. I took a flyer on a node 2i to simplify streaming Qobuz and to get radio paradise in FLAC for my 272. Just using a Blue Jeans coax to BNC cable to the 272 DAC it’s more engaging and fun than the steamer in the 272.

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