End of my tether

I’ve retained none of the original packaging (the perils of flat living at the time) and time really is at a premium these next two weeks so I’m thinking we’ll muddle through the festive period and go from there.

Big ask to expect Mrs. H. to drive to Sheffield as the alternative much as she loves the place (having been a law student there back in the day).

So, first meaningful update for a while.

TV had been on Aux 1 of the 202 for a couple of weeks now. The difference/improvement in sound is tangible and consistent. Listening tonight to His Dark Materials, and there was nothing of any significance to complain of bearing in mind the audio out from the TV to the 202 is really cheap interconnect all the way. One up from bell wire.

That’s probably just as well given that I’ve not been able to isolate the TV signal by using a DAC.

Tonight I really got stuck into this. At the suggestion of @JonathanH I powered up the Schitt DAC and ran an optical cable from the DVD player. It already outputted PCM via SCART to the TV to the 202. Disconnected the TV to pre connection and ran DVD optical to DAC to 202 (using the audio cable previously connecting TV to 202.

Didn’t need to change any DVD sound settings. It outputted PCM via the DAC beautifully first go. This means

  • the DAC works.
  • it’s not the Chord optical cable.
  • it’s not the audio cable.

Therefore it appears that the issue is the Sky box. The optical output is clearly lit up; the optical cable connects nicely and all Sky sound settings have been tweaked but… zilch.

I think where this leaves me is that either I have a faulty optical output on the Sky Plus or it does, contrary to many assertions above, require some setting to be changed as regards HDMI sound. Very odd.

Won’t be changing the box as Christmas is coming and there’s lots to clear/watch. Therefore, given the significant restoration of TV sound in the past 2 weeks I think we move on and next move the CDP to a different input on the pre.

I’m out 3 nights this week but Tuesday night looks good. Watch this space.

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What you could try Mike is pull the HDMI lead out of the back of the Sky box, restart the Sky box so it forgets about the HDMI, connect your optical cable to the Sky box etc as you describe with your DVD and check if that now feeds audio to your HiFi.

Best

David

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Good point. However, I’m unexpectedly in tonight and I’ve packed the Schitt away so I’m going to try the Hi-
Line on a different input.

So, tonight I have switched the Hi-Line to the Tape input on the 202. Still listening but I can’t say there’s an obvious difference.

Interesting that switching. TV from Aux 2 to Aux 1 definitely produced a difference but this, as yet, hasn’t.

Just a thought: Is the sky box set to output PCM on its optical port? If it’s outputting Dolby digital the Schitt will fall silent as it will be unable to decode it.

Hi Mike,

In your initial post you emphasised a loss of base/mids and no PRat. You mentioned that your system used to “sing” but not any longer. You also mentioned that an NDX2 had been considered as a possible replacement for an ageing CDX2.

I had assumed you were refering to your primary CD based replay system CDS2/XPS2/202/HiCapDR/200/Speakers. More recently the thread has focused on problems of streaming and TV.

Have you sucessfully sorted out the original problem of base/mids/PRaT, or is that still a work in progress ?

Mike can answer for himself of course, but basically his problem remains and he has been exploring whether the fact the TV was directly connected to his Naim preamp was a contributory factor. The answer seems to be that it was possibly a factor but not the main problem which is as yet unidentified.

It’s all taking a while because he has a lot more to do in his life than sort out the HiFi!

Best

David

Ah, thank you David. Makes sense.

And for sure it’s difficult to find the time to discover and plan a logical approach, and even more time to work through it, especially at this time of year just a couple of weeks prior to Xmas with so many other things to attend to.

I hope Mike has at least a “basic” setup in place to tide him over this period.

Mike, your Sky Box is really good value for money, but I guess the trade off is the build quality , then you feed the signal into a good quality of bit of kit.

It’s a bit of lottery .

Covered earlier. Yes it is.

Full system running. TV sounding good enough since moving from aux 2 to aux 1. Running various tests to eliminate stuff as suggested by dealer but 202 recap will have to wait until early 2020 and life keeps intervening.

Clear info provided by @Richard.Dane means I’ll be getting my 202 to my dealer ASAP after the 2nd. Frustrating that it’s not not working during the one period of the year I have loads of time to listen but c’est la vie.

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Calling my dealer tomorrow. If he’s open and can loan me a pre then the 202 can go fur a recap on Friday when I’ll have a lift.

Once the 202 is back of things improve then job done. If not then remove the XPS2 and that will confirm if it’s the XPS2 or CDX2.

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Have you considered that the SQ problem might not be caused by a single black box that is in desperate need of a service, but the culumitive effect of all your black boxes simply being a few years old and not at 100%.

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Yes, absolutely. However, the 200 broke and had a full service. The HC2 DR is a relative youngster. The XPS2 was recapped not long after the 200 was fixed. That leaves the NAPSC, CDX2 and/or 202. I can’t see it being the 1st. The process suggested by my dealer should narrow it down further but the issues with the TV sound also point towards the pre.

We shall see.

202 going to my dealer tomorrow. He’s no pre to loan me but has offered a Nait 5. A little reading suggests I can’t add a HC2 DR to this? I’m happy to run it as a stand-alone for a few weeks until the 202 comes back from Naim. I have some questions if anyone could help.

1 - there are 3 link plugs I need to make sure come with?

2 - my speaker cables go into Naim speaker connectors or whatever they’re actually called. I’m not clear from looking at an online manual. Does the Nait 5 take the Naim speaker connectors?

3 - my assumption is that I’m not going to need different cables i.e. that the Hi-Line will go straight into the CD input and the Aux 1 input for the TV uses the same type of DIN input as other amps/pre amps like my 202?

4 - vague idea I read somewhere the Naim logo doesn’t light up on a 5. Is that right?

5 - will my remote for the 202 work with the Nait? I’m just thinking about balance rather than volume.

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You certainly can. Just follow the Nait 5’s connection guide as if you were adding a Flatcap 2.

Given the history Mike, i’d be tempted to leave the Hi-Cap out of the equation and just run the Nait as is.

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