The nDAC will not accept a USB stream, so going the Allo route will require the acquisition of USBridgeSig (incl. case) + DigiOneSig + Shanti PSU, a total of around £800 (incl. postage and preinstalled software).
Connect to the nDAC using 75 ohm BNC-BNC (Amazon “Basics” for a tenner).
Dependent on the actual model of your iMac the Uptone Mac Mini DC-Conversion Linear Fan Controller, available for the Audiostore (vortexbox.co.uk), may be of interest.
I use a macmini via Allo DigiOne Signature with linear USB power supply into an nDAC.
I had previously connected the nDAC to the macmini via TosLink using the MacMini’s headphone socket and a suitable adapter (which cost very little and I am sure works with an iMac- easy to find out).
The path I followed was:
bare nDAC fed via TosLink.
nDAC fed via Allo DigiOne Sig. with cheap switching PSUs.
nDAC fed via Allo… With linear PSU.
XPS2 on nDAC.
I think the biggest improvement was adding the Allo DigiOne transport.
Well, apart from replacing a cheap DAC with the nDAC.
Is yours an iMac with Toslink output? I use the optical output from my MacBook into the nDAC to good effect. Otherwise the V1 gives you a more straightforward path.
Had a Dac v1 yes it’s musical but no regrets selling it for a chord Hugo 1
The Hugo is musical too with a good transport but with a much bigger soundstage …
In fact I remember my first day with Hugo couldn’t get much sleep as I stayed up till 3 am listening to music and enjoying it !
To be fair the Dac v1 is a very musical and enjoyable Dac too
Knowing what I know now … a great Dac needs a good transport so buying new and for the naim sound I’d look into the new naim streamers and then later a chord Dac
Or a streamer like allo or google chrome cast audio which sound great with a chord Dac
The DigiOneSig board (actually two boards) is a “Hardware Attached on Top” (HAT) and needs to be mounted on a Raspberry Pi, or similar SBC. You can then connect RPi to your network by Ethernet or wireless.
A DAC-V1 would be simply delightful. By all means try lots of others, we have, but the DAC-V1 has this marvellous ability to sound naturally musical, a rare trick that most other dacs (including the Qutest from our experience) fail to achieve.
Which ever option you choose, do enjoy your music. If you use iTunes on your iMac, the Bitperfect app is a delightful and very inexpensive upgrade (£5 last time I looked).
V1 owner for like 3 years now with no intention to look elsewhere. Absolutely natural presentation, even with electronic music. Superb usb input from Audiophilleo. Dead quiet. Never tiring, big body music. Simply music.
V1 owner here too, connected to old 27" iMac via USB no issues at all. Now using it directly with Roon, I have previously used Audirvana and even iTunes through it.
Using it with NAP100 which makes a very nice compact computer sound system with only one wire connection.
Throughly recommended for high quality no hassle sound system.
Until the display fails and the replacement cost of £350 occurs… Sure if bought new one can look well after the display (auto switch off) — but when buying a discontinued product second-hand one cannot be sure that the display was treated carefully…