Yes maybe a bit drastic but when it comes to Dac’s the Dave is close to the top of the pile at least for people with our sized pockets.
If my main source was digital then I’d take a good look at digital amps at least a digital pre one less link in the chain?
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Fairly straightforward then. The NDX2 impressed more than it did last time we heard it whether from Tidal or the Zenith. Streaming off the Zenith via the Qutest was more Naim like than Naim. 15 year old, who has a Q B was very impressed as was I but it was a bit too brash. Moving through the filters certainly improved things but I suddenly had a sense of having outgrown the sound of my CDX2. Mrs. H. started to develop a headache.
Added the TT2 and initial impressions were that all the musicians had stepped back. Again a move through the filters improved things and by the time we found one we all liked we’d also got used to the sound and were ready to bring things home.
No Ethernet in the living room so I’ve just got a cheap Vonets extender arriving tomorrow which ought to pick up our wireless network and run Ethernet into the Zenith.
Next question then is what order would you have the boxes. I’ve two columns of 4 Hutter shelves. XPS2 remains uncollectable from my dealer so that leaves me with
CDX2 Empty shelf
202 HC DR
Empty shelf 200
Empty shelf Empty shelf (formerly XPS2)
Inclination is that the CDX2 needs to come out anyway but with or without where would you put the Chord and Zenith?
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Anyone?
I’d put the zenith away from anything with transformers. My TT2 doesn’t appear to be sensitive to noise but I like it on its own shelf. Of course you will need two additional shelves for the inevitable future arrival of your Innuos Phoenix and Chord M Scaler 
. Glad you found something to your taste
I’m thinking of putting the DAC under the 202 and the Innuos under the DAC. Vonets device has arrived from Amazon so the first task will be to get the Innuos on the network and visible.
As @dayjay suggests keep both away from power supplies as much as you can, e.g. HCDR. Also note that the Zenith’s power supplies are on the right hand side looking from the front.
Pleased you have made a good choice with Zenith/TT2; as I mentioned before, this was the demo system Innuos were using at this year’s Bristol show.
I also use my TT2 with optical from my TV, and it deals very well with AV film soundtracks as well as voice.
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Already cursing the Vonets repeater. It’s the VAP11N-300 and it arrives minus a bundled power supply and with no indication it needs a power supply. Likely outcome then appears to be that once configured I plug it into the Ethernet port of the Zenith and nothing happens. Anyone know if the non-DAC USB port on the Zenith is capable of supplying power? I don’t have any indication it does nor a DC adapter.
Appears I’m not going to be getting sound any time soon. Need some way of turning wireless into Ethernet in the living space so I can get this up and running. Sadly no chance of running a cable to the router as it’s upstairs.
My router is upstairs but running a cable downstairs to a switch was time well spent. There will be gasps of horror but at a push you could do ethernet over mains which is cheap and easy. If your device runs off usb though any 5v usb charger should run it?
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Mike - A quick look at the device on Amazon shows a USB connection for power. Do you have another USB supply such as a mobile phone charger you could use. If not give the Innuos a go (via the backup USB socket)
Long term a cable run will have to be the solution but I don’t have the skills (poor eyesight) and there’s no-one else around to do it. I can imagine the gasps of horror at Ethernet over mains but I’m trying to avoid it if I can not least because of the realisation I’ve run out of sockets. There are only three. The power cable with the Zenith can be put to one side as I’ve spare leads on my Musicline Powerigel but that’s one socket gone. The 200 runs a Powerline off socket two and I’ve just realised that both the DAC and repeater will now have to run off socket three.
I’ve managed to find a DC adapter which does 6v into 1 amp so that bit is hopefully solved for now. I’m now debating how the Vonets should be set up. The instructions are poor but video suggests you connect to the mains and then connect Ethernet to laptop if you want the laptop to connect to a wireless network when it doesn’t have a wireless card.
It’s not at all clear but I’m guessing that in this case I’d plug the Vonets Ethernet into the Innuos and then go to the Vonets configuration page?
Just as well I’m off for the month.
Before I forget completely can I just say thank you for your help both. Understandably at this point a lot of people have given up on me/this thread but I now feel I’m right on the edge of reconnecting with my music collection (literally and metaphorically) and whilst initial connections are not ideal I just need that last bit of help to get up and running.
Look forward to further responses and in the meantime I’m reading up on setting up the Hugo 2 TT.
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Mike - from a quick look at the manual It looks like you need to plug the Vonets into your laptop to configure it. It looks like the main thing to do is to get it configured to connect to your existing wireless network to allow it to provide the WAP functionality to the connected device which will eventually be the Innuos.
It looks like you’re on the home straight. With the kit you’ve got on loan and time off to audition, it will hopefully get you back to a good place where you find what works best for you and you get back to enjoying your music again.
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Thanks James. Nothing is unboxed properly yet - priority today was to finally get the tree up - so I’m going to leave this until tomorrow now when Mrs. H. will be running tribunals from the dining room and the 15 year old will hopefully be revising for his GCSE mocks (which I’m still guessing will turn out to be the real thing).
Got a nasty feeling my home PC has only 1 Ethernet socket and no wi-fi whilst my work laptop has wi-fi but no Ethernet socket. Anyways… a four mile walk in the morning; a shower and a full day at it I think.
One for TT2 (or indeed 202) owners. I’ve a choice of DAC or Amp mode. DAC mode offers a fixed output of 2.5V RMS. Is that too much into a 202? Do I need to operate in Amp mode and reduce the output?
Try both and see which you prefer but I found DAC mode too hot into my 282. One of the things that lead me to selling the Naim and moving full chord as it meant I had two preamps in the system with only digital inputs
Interesting. When you say “hot” what do you mean by that?
Got halfway there with the Vonets when I found a 6v DC adapter and realised it could also be configured from a phone or tablet. Video seems to want you to just set it up as a hot spot but doesn’t get to explain bridging beyond rebooting.
Manual and video couldn’t be less clear really. When setting up the hot spot it asks for a reboot and then web page freezes. In the end we did a hard reset so there’s no wi-fi hot spot been created and I can start again tomorrow.
If it works this could be a brilliant little device but right now it’s holding up my unboxing everything so it’s little frustrating at this point.
For my taste the output of the TT 2 is too high for a Naim pre in DSC mode. You end up with very little usable volume and it sounds too in your face for me. Others like it and you may too but I preferred amp mode with the volume down a little. Into a chord amp as a pre was a revelation though
Ah, interesting. My primary concern was whether it could do any harm and needed to be reduced for that reason. Presumably not. I’ll start in DAC mode and see what happens.
Anyways, a good nights sleep is needed.
Good nights sleep and I’ve edited my earlier post. No, I don’t want the Vonets to be a repeater. I clearly want it to bridge. Once it’s created it’s own hot spot it’s not clear how it bridges as the reboots keep failing.
It occurs to me this morning that if I go back to basics I possibly need to press the WPA-PSK button on my Sky Hub to give it access? Thinking back I had similar issues when trying to get the Sly Q hub to connect.
FYI Mike and I’m not sure if you know but the Qutest has 3 voltage settings 1, 2 and 3 mine is set on 1v RMS and this works really well with Naim pre amps.
I did know but thanks for mentioning. However, the DAC I have here is the Hugo TT2. DAC mode outputs a fixed voltage which or may not be okay. Amp mode outputs a voltage which can be varied albeit that it’s not wholly clear from the manual as to how other than selecting low gain mode.
I may be reading things incorrectly in terms of your network, disregard if I am. You have Sky Q, do you have Sky Q mini boxes as well as your hub ? If you have they act as extenders and also have an ethernet connection available ?
I haven’t used Vonets but I have attempted solutions with BT extenders and Devolo powerlines, with limited success, I ended up hard wiring a solution, it proved less expensive and far more effective.
Good luck and congrats on a couple of bits of fine hifi.