A good point.
May be worth emailing Naim support with the SN of your NDac and enquiring if and when it has been serviced.
It may already have been serviced, so this is all a moot point.
Maybe class A Daran can do it. It’s just the capacitors I think.
I’ve had a chat with Darren, and he says it probably doesn’t need a service at the moment.
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I’ve swapped the only Powerline I have from SN3 to the Naim DAC, and to my surprise there’s a pretty decent uptick in SQ from before.
Not quite sure why this is the case, but it’s palpable.
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Have you ensured both Powerlines are fully connected? Its easy to get wrong as the jaws on the Powerlines are set as stiff as regs allow to ensure they clamp on as hard as possible. The trouble is, if you don’t push beyond the first resistance, they won’t be properly connected and may even be arcing. See the FAQ:
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Thanks for the reminder, Richard. I only have one PL, bought when I first got my Nova, and I remember being a bit unsure of how to know when it was correctly connected.
I’ll have a proper look at the DAC and double check.
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My thoughts exactly when I first used a Powerline on my nDAC. My only thought at the time was “source” first
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I have MSB LINK DAC3 since last 20 years. Made in Taiwan no problem tilldate. Very good sounding DAC like analog sound. But there is no USB input, so I went for Topping D10S. After listenening for one hour the fatigue sets in. So I use D10S as USB interface. USB in to Coax out into my MSB coax in. MSB then goes into Naim 32.5/140 combo and wow what a change in sound. Will keep MSB till my last breath. There is also upgrade for upsampling kit to 24/192 but I am happy with 16/44.
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I have tried my best to get on with the Naim DAC but it’s really not doing it for me. Next to zero improvements when playing CD via Marantz SA8005, and marginal uptick with Bluesound Vault.
Swapping my one Powerline from SN3 to DAC did add something, but I prefer it connected to my amp overall.
So, I’m back to looking for something in the sub-£1K region. The usual suspects are still in the frame - Qutest, RME, Schiit & Topping at various price points.
One last throw of the dice for the Naim DAC was adding an Audiolab 6000CDT for CD playback but I thought that was a bit needless with the Marantz and Sony UHD still in the rack/on my shelf.
I’ve been very happy with my nDAC last 14 years of use. Step up from SN1 dac initially, added an XPS2 after a few years and last year a pre loved 555 and it gets better and better . . Current amp also a SN3.
Not tried any others to be fair.
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Stop it!! I’m perfectly happy with my ND5XS2 - DC1- nDAC/XPS-DR I don’t want to think about a 555PS
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Adding a 555 Dr to an Ndac puts it into Chord Dave price range. I would try one of those before committing to a 555.
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My plan is NO plan!!! ‘must stay away from hifi, must stay away from hifi’. lol
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Based on my limited experience, the difference is small to negligible when DACs are used with CD players. Noticeably huge difference when playing digital audio files (FLAC) from laptop or streamer instead of CDs.
My experience is with a Chord QBD76 and Musical Fidelity M1 DAC.
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Update:
In one last throw of the Naim DAC dice, I reconnected the Powerline to it and replaced the coax cable I’d been using with another spare I had lying around.
Mmmm. . . so, now I can most definitely hear sonic improvements when streaming from Bluesound Vault into the DAC.
Not quite sure why an identical and ordinary QED cable (and Powerline) have made a difference to what I’d previously heard but it’s there.
I’ve been listening for a few hours today and I’m liking what the Naim DAC can do. That is with the Vault more so than the Marantz CD player.
The more complex the music - Druqs by Aphex Twin, some Jeff Beck 70s stuff and Madlib’s mixes & mashings - the more apparent what the Naim DAC presents comes to the fore.
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The NDAC, in common with the older Naim streamers, is quite sensitive to setup, so I wonder if you might be able to optimise it further. Do you have it on its own shelf on a proper rack, cables hanging free? These things seem to matter.
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@Charles64 , @ChrisSU beat me to the punch. What he’s saying is true. FWIW I have the Naim DC-1 cable.
Thanks guys, yes I have it on its own shelf on a dedicated rack with cables hanging freely.
I’m now curious as to how I might (cost effectively - ha! Is there such a thing here?!?) optimise the DAC further.
I did have a DC-1 previously with a Zenith and SPDIF converter, so I know there’s gains to be had with it.
Other things?
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