I use a mac mini with audirvana and a usb regen 2. It’s a very capable transport and far more flexible than a streamer. I did try a pc when I first got my hugo and it was just awful.
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Agree with you. If it is about Hugo / Hugo 2, I would remain with addition of Mutec MC3+USB only. I had the same once I had the Hugo.
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I do not know which components of the NDX2 are actually powered by the XPSDR. If these are the internal DAC or the analogue stage (or both) then there should be no benefits as these components are bypassed when using an external DAC. Better check with Naim what does an XPSDR actually do.
Or buy a DAC that is immune to such things. Both the Hugo and Mojo are built for portable use with computers and smart phones yet both suffer from interference from them ridiculous really. Sounds like a design flaw to me.
USB if the DAC is properly designed to reject noise can sound as good as any input . My new RME is designed this way and is fantastic regardless what you feed it and regardless no need for 3rd party usb nonsense or expensive transports.
Yeah, the Hugo is better than many but not totally immune via SPDIF… it’s USB is poor in my opinion. The DAC I have owned that was possibly the most sensitive to coupled noise in the SPDIF was the NDAC/555PS I ran for several years… with that I could usually hear network changes, and I could clearly hear the effects of inter frame timing from media servers, and WAV vs FLAC decode… both of those aspects affect the streaming front end which back then was the NDX.
If you use a QED Reference USB cable or iFI Mercury with Hugo then it sounds pretty good to me. I think the Hugo 2 USB input addresses these concerns and even a USB printer cable will work nicely. You can also use 2Go.
The USB input on DAVE is similar to the m2Tech hiFace.
Blu2 does not have a galvanically isolated USB input because it is unnecessary - Blu2 is galvanically isolated from DAVE - from the gospel according to Chord.
Excellent advice, Mr Rooster, it is a state-of-the-art DAC with Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). Though you really need mScaler (more FPGAs) to get the very best from it. Linn uses FPGAs too. FPGAs are wonderful things.
Yes I was told by it’s designer that the DAVE usb interface was hugely improved … when I owned a DAVE for a short while however I used its SPDIF interfaces, I couldn’t get usb to sound right… perhaps it was my Mac transport… and I didn’t try the mscaler which provides another decoupling layer I guess.
Just on FPGAs there are possibly two main paths… the highly customisable FPGA processor , and the more modular SHARC (Super Harvard Architecture) processors… of course Naim use the latter.
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Tiberio, i would not use state of the art for Dave, based on other members experiences in a lot of different forums. Very very good : yes. To my taste : no
As there better : yes.
State of the Art: full Wadax , full DCS, Metronome Kallista, Top Totaldac, Msb Select… And some others…but not many.
Have I listened to all these: no.
But many many have compared them, and generally top DCS and Msb are among the very best.
You have Whatsbestforum, Audiophile Style, Hifi sharks, Head Hifi…some guys are stratospherically fortunate and have compared them.
But best doesn’t mean the most enjoyable and musical. Best on hifi criterias : silence, dynamics, bass, textures, soundstaging…
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I would not call MSB state of the art. I would say it makes very fine equipment. It uses a discrete ladder DAC. It does not have signal to noise, distortion or dynamics lower than a Chord DAC - this is not what MSB aims at in any case so not a criticism. It is also very honest about its sourcing of components (Oppo made its universal transports and it clearly labeled them as such). I like MSBs modular approach (Linn now does this in its Selekt range of budget hifi). In fact, there is a lot I like about MSB, I don’t like the price.
However, I think we are looking at the most enjoyable. So my take would MSB, dCS, EMM Labs and, no doubt, others you mention (not brands I know) all measure well. So if money and time were no object it would be worth auditioning them against Blu2 DAVE. They would have to be extraordinary to come across as more musically enjoyable than DAVE.
Problem with other guys comparing them is they don’t have the same ears as we do and may reach different conclusions. Indeed we have different conclusions about DAVE.
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There are some reports around the web from owners of Chord’s DAVE & MScaler product claiming that the Sean Jacobs (no affiliation) DC4 power supply gives markedly positive improvement to their perceived performance.
I run my headphone amp directly off the NDX2 using the analogue RCA output. You can switch between the RCA and Din outputs through the app and use the variable volume output when using headphones - it works really well. My headphone amp (Heed Cannalot) can also have PS upgrades like the Headline, so it does give a few high performance options.
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Maybe it’s a bit off topic, but I see that many in this forum enjoy Chord DACs.
Therefore I was wondering how you compare the sound of an NDX 2 to a Chord DAC (like the Hugo or Dave). What do you prefer about Chord DACs? I must say that I’ve never tried one.
In my case this would mean making internal modification to Blu2 or DAVE. Not something I would ever do. Chord Electronics has a reputation for making sate-of-the-art SMPSs (Chord’s reputation was in PSUs long before they made DACs), Personally I prefer well made SMPSs to more noisy LPSs, especially as they work much better in my cottage - no mechanical buzz, for instance.
John Franks of Chord Electronics area of expertise is ultra-high-frequency power supplies. John developed the concept of linking power supply rails together using a strong magnetic flux within a specialised, high-frequency transformer (impressed me). John’s designs are in use by Abbey Road Studios, Sony (New York), Toshiba (Japan) and George Lucas’s studio, Skywalker Sound (impressed me even more - I’m the impressionable type).
As all the Chord kit I’m familiar with sounds superb, I’m more than happy with John’s SMPSs. Please don’t go on demos at shows; Chord kit seldom sounds anywhere near its best at shows (something it needs to fix).
I know Sean has a good reputation and makes the CHC SuperCap, which according to some significantly improves the sound of another manufacturer’s kit. An easy way to try Sean’s DC4 would be with Hugo M Scaler as it uses an external PSU. So you could easily substitute Sean’s one for the supplied one. This would invalidate the warranty.
It’s not something I’d have any interest in trying for myself, but if somebody hereon does then it’d be interesting to read. How easy is it to revert to the Chord PSU with DAVE?
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To me, Chord’s DACs sound more real than any other digital source I’ve tried. So much so I have decided this as good as I’ll ever need.
It cheats in a way - think of one of those dot to dot drawings in a puzzle book. You draw straight lines from dot to dot and a picture appears, but looks a bit unnatural (still very good though). Now imagine you have a million little dots and painstakingly draw the connecting lines, that picture now looks like one of John Constable’s (well as near as makes no odds). That’s the illusion of realism I get.
However, it is personal taste in the end. The NDX2 is a fine player in its own right.
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Thank you for the explanation @TiberioMagadino.
Considering the DAC you have, it has to be better than the NDX 2 (hopefully).
At the moment I’m more than happy with my NDX 2 (one might not like it of course), but I’m always curious to compare different things and understand both pros and cons (or simply a different philosophy/approach). In the end it’s always down to a personal preference.
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You know a lot more about your products than I do- and I can understand why you would not consider such a mod to your Chord products. This for all I know, could be this one guy’s opinion posted in different forums.
I just wandered around the web as I was looking for some high current voltage regulators for a project I had in mind, and SJ’s name popped up and so did DC4/DAVE- you know how it goes.
Ignore my post and carry on please!
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That I do agree with Mr rooster.
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