When I’m streaming music from my Bluesound Node N130 via Toslink to the Nac-N272’s DAC, I can hear a faint crackling sound in the music every now and then. This crackling sound is not present when I select the analog input on my N272, and using both streamer and DAC on the Node itself. So there appears to happen something in the digital path in the N272.
Would the DAC in the N272 just be too old to handle the stream from the Node?
Is there anything in the settings of the N272 which might solve the crackling sound?
On the Bluesound forum I read that it would help to turn off clock trim in the Node for older external DACs. For me, this did not make any difference. It would be a pity if I can’t use the N272’s DAC, but I am super happy with its preamp (even without a xps upgrade) so it’s not a huge loss for me.
The 272’s DAC is not too old at all. It should be absolutely fine.
Do you use the 272 for anything else digital, like internet radio or local streaming? If that is all ok then I think you might be looking at a fault in your N130.
I will do some more testing with the N272. Other than internet radio, I can stream locally, and use the internal Tidal integration. Is it normal that the N272 is sluggish in loading tracks from Tidal before playing them (via the Naim app on my phone)?
I have never used Tidal so can’t comment on the sluggishness. But the point really is, do you hear the crackles if you stream a local hi-res file for example?
The other thing to check would be your digital interconnect between the N130 and the 272. Also try a different digital input in the 272 (I think it has two doesn’t it?).
I have been streaming from a Bluesound node icon to my 272. I have tried using the dac in the icon and using the dac in the 272 via coax cable and I get no unwanted noise.
Thanks for the tips. I’ll spend time today trying different things and post the results here. As far as the Toslink cable goes, it’s a brand new Audioquest Forest - not the cheapest and also not the most expensive.
A couple of years ago, TRPTK Studio offered a free download of the track Utvikklingssang from the album Elegy by Æon Trio. The track came in three hi-res formats: 192kbps 24-bit FLAC, 352kbps 24-bit FLAC, and DSD. Beautiful album by the way, I highly recommend to give it a listen!
I thought to use the 192kbps and 352kbps versions to test the UPnP functionality of the N272. Playback of the 192kbps version was crackle-free and I just sat back, enjoying the music. But when I loaded the 352kbps version I ran into a whole different issue: the N272 dropped the network connection. Fixing that was rather simple: I went into the network settings, clicked on the Name, clicked OK without changing anything, and the network in the N272 resets. Browsing back to that song however made it drop network again.
So that was the end of testing UPnP.
I will update again when I’ve done other tests.
I’ve tested with the N272’s internally integrated Tidal streaming service. The display tells me it is playing the music at 44,1 kHz, even though Tidal offers it at 192 kHz (in the Tidal app itself, not the Naim app). I didn’t hear any distortions. Is the N272 streamer down-sampling the tracks?
If anyone knows tracks on Tidal which should definitely be played at 192 kHz by the N272, I’m super curious. Also to learn new music
When I go back to the song I played via UPnP (see my previous comment), the display tells me it’s played at 192 kHz and I can hear it clear without distortions.
So it looks like an issue with the cable itself, or an issue with the output from the Node. Next on my list: getting my hands on a coax cable.
I think 44.1/16 (CD quality) is the best the built in Tidal can do on the 272 and the same for any product on the first gen streaming platform. I believe you can work around this streaming Tidal via secondary devices or UPNP sources such as (potentially - as I’ve never really looked into it myself) your Node but otherwise it’s the limitation of the older platform.
Naim streamers don’t downsample a Tidal 24/192 stream. They simply request the 16/44.1 version because that is the limit of what they can handle, and that is what Tidal sends.
If you select a 24/192 version on the Node it will send it to the 272 via SPDIF at 24/192.
44.1/16 is the most the 272 can handle from Tidal. There is an agreement between Tidal and Naim that if an old streamer asks for a hi res track, Tidal will serve the 44.1/16 track. So the 272 doesn’t have to down-sample and on the 272 you won’t find any tracks that Tidal serve that are actual hi res.
Thank you for the info about Tidal streaming rate, that’s super helpful. I have ordered a coax cable (also Audioquest Forest) which should arrive tomorrow, so I can check if the Toslink is the culprit of the crackling sound.
You won’t be able to play 24bit 352kHz FLAC on the 272, by coax connection either, the 272 only supports sample rates up to 24 bit 192kHz (this applies though all it’s digital inputs).
