That is what I’m looking for something that sounds revealing and musical (toe tapping).
I take your point about bad recording, as long as they are listenable and aren’t shrieky like “Shrek”.
What does “PRaT”, mean?
Pace, Rhythm and Timing. The stuff of toe-tapping that epitomises Naim, and that for me Chord too.
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So this Chord Mscaler can be insert between any DAC and a NDX?
It can be, but the full effect isn’t until use double up the sp/dif connections to DAVE. If I were you I’d borrow a Hugo and see what you think. I think it’s one of the all-time bang-per-buck pieces of kit.
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I think your meaning a Hugo M Scaler here, I don’t have a DAC yet. I need a DAC first.
Suppose I can check the following DAC out-
Hugo 2
Hugo TT 2
DAVE
The rest of your system is that all Naim?
I did mean Hugo the DAC as a starting point or TT. Dave is pricey, and adding an Mscaler even more so.
I would completely forget the denafrips on those terms (no return possibility)
The Chord Qutest DAC is the one I would recommend on trial basis.
I’ve been doing a bit of reading up, watching some YouTube videos.
A couple of things I’ve picked up, firstly there seems to be everything in these DACs even the ‘kitchen sink’. For example Hugo TT2, DAVE has a DAC, Pre- amplifier and a headphone amplifier. The Mojo (probably not worth considering) and the QUTEST are only DAC only. Your probably saying why does it matter, there is a DAC there. In order to have these other features within the budget set to make these DACs is probably spread across these three devices. If Mr Rob Watts just made a TT2 or DAVE just as a DAC without anything else for the same money surely the sound quality will be better than what it is at the moment. Why add all these extras? If I buy any of these I’ll never use any of the other functionality, my only use will be as a DAC. I’m paying for something I don’t need.
My second point is just for awareness, not to cause an uproar here. In one of the videos an interview with Mr Rob Watts, he says he doesn’t listen to his competitions DACs and finds R2R DACs inferior sounding. As well as this he seems to be relying too much on how things measure rather than how they sound. I found not listening to other DACs a bit weird, as a business you can’t afford to not know what your competition is working on and not knowing where you stand in the business can be a downfall over time. Just my two cents… 
I haven’t cross of Chord, thought I’ll bring this up, I’m still going to listen to these great DACs. 
Pretty much all the Chord DACs, including the Hugo 1 can be used as a preamp, it’s just a case of having a suitable analogue output stage and a digital volume control. It’s not that they have a miniature equivalent of a traditional analogue preamp in them. So it’s not really an ‘extra’, as all DACs obviously have an analogue output stage.
Even a Naim streamer has a digital volume control, albeit disabled by default. Lets face it, virtually all preamps and digital sources have features that are redundant for many of us because we happen not to use them.
You won’t but others do. He doesn’t build Dave for one person only 
As for R2R DaC he has heard them and I listened to a few carefully he is right they have resolution issues and timing issues too
My friend runs the Terminator into a modified NAC72, with a tablet as a transport running Tidal connected to the Terminator (not sure what connection he uses) via a bridge that re-clocks (sorry, don’t remember the brand). Anyway, it does sound very good. I prefer my NDX2 as a network player since it just does upnp and internet streaming in one box (2 with my XPS DR) through the app, so is a tidier UI for me.
The Denafrips Terminator is built like a tank and sounds great, so it’s a pretty interesting option.
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Any chance of a photo of his gear some time?
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I’ll ask when I next see him. He is just around the corner - 5 minutes away.
Thanks Mike - it sounds like an interesting system.
The bridge is a Singxer SU-6.
How would you rate your combo- NDX2 / XPS DR Vs your friends Naim NAC72-> Singxer->Denafrips Terminator? Is it a lot better? Or on the same level but different sounding? Does it still have the Naim- PRaT?
Another DAC I’ve been reading up on is the dcs Bartok, just like Chord they too have everything plus the kitchen sink. At least you can either specify the headphone amp as an extra . So from my rough estimate the DAC in the dcs is probably worth-
£14,499 (dcs bartok- dac, streamer, pre- amp , headphone amp)
£11,499 (dcs bartok- dac, streamer, pre- amp)
Not available as such but my thinking…
Say the streamer cost £3,000 and pre-amp the same £3,000. If I do the maths the DAC is probably worth- £5,500 approx. Lets round up to £6,000.
So you’ve got a £6,000 DAC and you end up paying £11,499 another £5,499 for items you’ll never going to use if you just use the DAC. So my set up will be NDX -> dcs bartok -> amplification. Only if dcs put that £5,499 into creating a standalone DAC, surely it will be even better. 
If you buy the Bartok, why keep the Ndx? The Bartok has a better dac ( if you like its presentation) and a better streaming platform vs the Ndx.
As you said, why pay or use something you don’t need.
If you want to keep the Ndx, better try a standalone and only dac, like Chord Hugo, Dave…Mytek Manhattan, or even Naim Ndac .
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FYI,
Denafrips does have a uk dealer, Willow Tree Audio.
I’ve no idea if they are any good but was considering a denafrips dac myself recently and found the website.
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Yes, great question and a little difficult to be precise with the different speakers and rooms and amps. He uses a March Class A power amp - currently into B&W Magico’s and a pair of REL subs - it has plenty of slam. So, I think similar levels of enjoyment with a different presentation. I think his system has more punch and mine is perhaps cleaner with a wider soundstage. Both have excellent detail from the DAC. He feels the B&W are a bit boxy, he also has a pair of Halbert SL5 anniversaries which have more detail and less slam. His 72 is also modified with a couple of boards he got from someone in the US who specialises in that.
In many ways, I think both are great. Practically the big difference is that the NDX2 is a full network player, whereas the Denefrios isn’t, so you need to connect something to control a streaming source. I like the simplicity of the NDX2 in that regard.
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