This is a bit of a proactive question, but I recently pulled the trigger on a used nDAC which should be in my possession in a week or so. I’ve been keen to add one to my system for a while and I’m looking forward to experimenting!
I’m will using Roon to stream FLAC from a local computer (via wifi) and MQA from Tidal (no Qobuz in Canada unfortunately). The starting point for my system will be: Bluesound Node (2021) > DC1 (BNC/BNC w RCA adapter) > nDAC > SNAIC > Nait XS2 > NAC5 > Focal Chorus 726s.
Questions:
Bluesound Node (2021) - Since, I’m bypassing the Bluesound DAC with the digital connection I assume I don’t need to touch any settings (ex. MQA external DAC is irrelevant). Is this correct?
Naim nDAC - I’m confused about where I should start with the signal ground. My only other source is a Rega Planar 6. Does this mean I should start with “chassis” and experiment from there? My longer term objective is to add a CD5 XS or CD5si to the mix as well.
Any thoughts about the setup or other advice would be greatly appreciated!
Chassis is fine in this setup. If you added a Naim CD player to the XS2 as well, then floating would be the setting to use.
The signal ground to mains earth connection should occur at one place in the system and Naim CD players provide this, so the Naim DAC should be set to floating when one is added. The exception here would be if you connected the digital output of the CD5XS to the Naim DAC (instead of connecting its analogue output to the XS2). The DAC inputs are pulse transformer coupled and so galvanically isolated - the Naim DAC would still stay at chassis.
Thanks for the responses everyone. I received it today and my immediate impressions are very encouraging.
One more question. Checking the firmware version I got a 2 / 1,3,4 / 1. Looking at Naim’s chart I can’t figure out for the life of me what version I have. Any advice would be very appreciated.