Very, very interesting! One learns something new every day… I am not sure I understand the cabling setup if I was to follow that path, the Dave has only one pair of RCA outputs, am I correct in my assumption that in this case the wiring would be:
Dave to NAC via RCA-to-DIN interconnect
NAC to Loki RCA input via the DIN-to-4xRCA interconnect cable
Loki RCA out via the 2nd pair of the DIN-to-4xRCA cable cable
Then if I want to listen to the system totally bypassing the Loki I would switch to input 4 for instance, and if wanted to hear the Loki I would switch to the tape input/output?
If you really want to use EQ you might consider using Roon instead, as it has a highly configurable digital EQ You can easily turn it on and off at will without messing up the signal path, and you can save different configurations for different uses such as headphone listening, speakers etc.
Digital EQ can, if done carefully, be a very effective tool for taming rooms with poor acoustics, fine tuning headphones etc. There can still be a price to pay in sound quality, but you can disable it whenever you feel it’s become intrusive.
An old fashioned graphic equaliser is, by comparison, a blunt instrument.
I will read up on the DSP capabilities in Roon, as a principle I like to leave things as real as they get, as pure as possible, to the extent that I have been resisting the option of a separate pair of subs that would help tame the sounding waves in my room… but sometimes I wonder if perhaps I am not taking this “ideal” too far by not tapping into things like EQ and DSP to help improve on the room acoustics or badly recorded albums…
Like I said earlier, one learns something new every day from people more knowledgeable , that’s the beauty of this hobby.
Hi @Richard.Dane, I finally got a cable to test this out. The cable is a din-to-4xRCA and is marked with arrows at the RCA side indicating the in & out directions.
I connected the Chord Dave to the 552 via input #2 (CD) and connected the Loki+ device via input #6 (Aux 1) on the 552 with both pairs of the din-to-4xRCA cable connected to the Loki+ using the in and out jacks of the Loki+
I can hear the music playback just fine via source #2 (CD) but I cannot hear the record bank no matter what I do. I made sure it is not muted and pressed the “mon” button on the Narcom but cannot figure out how to hear the output via the Loki+.
I am sure I am doing something wrong here. Any hints?
You may wish to try with the RCAs the other way around, just in case the i/c is wired for a DIN source or is not wired for Naim.
You should have input 2 selected on the Record bank (make sure not muted) and input 6 selected for the listen bank if you wish to listen with the Loki in circuit. Also ensure that input 6 is enabled in socket selection.
Thanks! this is the first time I actually use the record bank on the 552, I followed your instructions and it worked, I had the input earlier sticking to CD and when I moved it to input #6 it worked…
