I’ve had a bit of reconfigure and I would like to move my Core to the main HiFi rack and have the option of a direct feed to the NAC N-272
It looks like the output on the Core is a BNC connector, do I assume this goes into a BNC input on the 272? Can someone recommend a cable for this purpose please?
Many thanks
Mike
Naim DC1.
Do I need to get BNC to BNC or would a BNC to RCA do the same job?
Mike
Ideally BNC to BNC as it will maintain 75ohms and potentially sound better.
There is no point in getting a BNC to RCA cable when a BNC to BNC option is available. Having said that, why get one at all? Your Core and 272 will both need a network connection in any case, so you are cluttering up your rack with an additional cable you don’t really need. You are also losing the convenience of controlling everything from the 272, as you will need to go to the Core to browse and select music, then to the 272 for input selection, volume control etc.
Thanks Chris, maybe I am being naïve, but I assumed possibly wrongly, that a short hi-quality interconnect would be better than going via RJ45 Cables to the network switch and back again?
That would s an assumption that is unwise! You might prefer it direct or you might not. There is no agreement here as to whether one or the other way of using there sounds better.
But it’s less convenient to use a direct connection, as Chris says. If you just want to try it out, ok, but in that case I suggest trying it with a cheap generic lead, otherwise you risk buying a posh lead and then just sticking it in a drawer.
Also if you use upnp, you can put your Core anywhere on your network. It doesn’t need to go on your main stack with the 272.
By the way, you can connect the Core both ways at the same time and just select which you want to listen to in the app, if you want to give it a try.
Whilst not a Core, I connect my Zenith Mk III both via the network and directly to my 272, latterly 222.
I have never been able to distinguish a significant difference between the two, keeping the direct connection in case of a network hardware failure.
ATB, J
Thanks All for your replies,
Currently my core is in a different rack to the hifi. I’ve had a complete re-jig and have an extension which now houses my hi-fi and as it was built from scratch I had a dedicated spur of a quality mains cable installed which is “before” the RCD on the DB. It’s hard to tell whether it has made a noticeable difference as while the extension was being built, my setup was in storage for 6 months (to protect it from dust and the prying eyes of builders).
I love the sound in my new setup, I do need some acoustics curtains to improve the sound deadening, but I am now looking at my digital options and where I go next. A direct feed from the core seemed like a relatively painless trial but not so sure now….
However, I can not fit my CD player into teh setup so I am looking forward to trying back ro back tests of CD vs Core vs TIDAL
Mike
I’ve had my Core connected with both ethernet cable and DC1. In the first instance to a Node and then later an ND555. I could switch inputs quite easily to see which one was the best. To my surprise Ethernet gave the best results. I ended up using my Core to EE8 via BJC and then EE8 to ND555 via Catsnake.
I found rips from the Core to sound marginally better than Hi-res via Qobuz. They seem to have a tad more body to them.
As you have the Qnap, you don’t actually need the Core at all. The Core will sound no better than using Asset on the Qnap. Problem as to where to put it and how to connect it solved!
He already has his Core Nigel, so I’m not sure you are helping him.
I don’t know, £1,400 in the back pocket is always handy.
The challenge I have with my QNAP, is I was one of the unlucky ones that was caught by the DEADBOLT hack and my entire NAS was locked down and subject to a ransom in bitcoin to get the files unlocked - I was too tight to pay the c£1000. QNAP tech support were unable to resolve it, so after over a year of trying various options, I gave up and backed up the whole drive onto an external HDD in case a solution is developed in the future, and then formatted the NAS and re-installed Asset.
So my CORE, whilst my original plan was to ultimately get rid of it, became by primary source of ripped CDs. I am slowly re-ripping onto Asset, but this is slow process - and soul destroying having done it once, when I had a dual CD-ROM setup on my iMac, whereas now I only have one
Why do you need to re-rip if you have the music files on a Core?
You can setup a Core to use a NAS as the music store.
Prior to doing this you’d copy all rips from Core to NAS (using a PC/MAC etc.)
Then Asset would serve ripped content, and future rips would go direct onto NAS.
We have this setup - our Core doesn’t have any internal storage and is used only as a ripper.
I thought that Naim stored them in an incompatible metadata that other devices couldn’t fathom - or was that just unitiserve? Eg Asset wouldn’t be able to recognise albums etc
That depends on whether you used the Core to rip in WAV or flac. If WAV, you have problems. If flac you will be fine.
It’s possible to convert WAV to flac and then use software to sort out the metadata, but it sounds a bit too tricky for me.
Both Core and Unitiserve store metadata in a way which most non-Naim servers cannot read if you store as WAV, but it’s not a problem if you use FLAC. For some strange reason the Core does not allow you to convert WAV to FLAC. There is a third party converter called Songkong which is able to do this conversion without losing the metadata. If you want to save the hassle of re-ripping everything that could be the solution.
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