It was a good build part from loads of very small pieces, that form the cobble floor and inside the box , you have a choice of two interiors, I went for the vintage one
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System update. All Naim kids know how much fun it is streaming to legacy Classic kit over wi-fi, so I thought I’d test the waters with an alternative while the house building work is ongoing (the dust - OMG).
Enter stage left a Bluesound Node N130 bought secondhand, and paired with my friends Topping DAC E30 playing into the analogue input on my UnitiQute2. My goodness, what a pleasant surprise. For local streaming duties it sounds preferable to my UQ2, and operationally the software is an absolute delight, if a little ‘busy’ in design for my liking. Also enjoying the (unexpected) uplift in SQ when using Airplay instead of Bluetooth for podcasts.
A few minor (initial) operational issues aside, such as setting up the file sharing on the Mac, and also the Node didn’t like being operated via legacy BluOS on a very old iPad Air (fine on my iPhone SE2, and my wife’s iPad Air5). Other than that it has been a joy, and I can understand why BluOS gets so widely praised. I’m now starting to wonder how much better the Node would sound used as a transport into a really swish DAC.
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Thank you for the interior view, it looks like a cool build, another on the list to buy!
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Following this thread as so many others do but never seen a turntable from SME, thought it was quite a big brand, in the UK?
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There are at least 3 SME owners here. The last is @Cohen1263 , but he didn’t updated his profile.
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There’s a story there Rooster. All I can say for now is that I no longer own it.
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Just curious why you used the E30 vs the UQ’s digital input? Are you doing AV Fixed volume control? Lovely looking system!
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Solstice again ? Or which one? If I don’t bother you.
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The excitement builds
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No way I’d go back to the Solstice Rooster. It has to be an Radikal/ LP12/Keel/ ARO with my DVXV1t. I still have the cartridge and the Superline/ Supercap so it’s an easy switch. The LP12 in the above guise is a great deck and in Peter Swain there’s a dealer who really knows how to make the deck sing. I doubt that it will go wrong either but if it does I trust Linn to deal with it. I will report back on the SME debacle after the dust settles. But I didn’t lose any money and it has given me a the “push” I needed to move toward active.
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Brilliant well said
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Going to ask the same, I was thinking of pairing my UQ with my CDx2.2 ( it has digital only output) .
At the moment it is acting as DAC for my rather good Blu Ray player and Sky Box
I know Topping make good DACs , but why not use the DAC in the UQ?
Best wishes
@el_soldado and @Ian2001 A couple of reasons why I didn’t use the UQ2 internal DAC. Firstly, I don’t have a decent coaxial cable, but I do think the Topping came with an optical cable, which I may try feeding the internal UQ2 DAC. Secondly, the main reason being I just wanted to tray a completely different source out of pure curiosity, and I still had the DAC on loan. The pairing do make an eyebrow raising duo when you factor in the price.
The Topping improved the Node quite a bit. Mainly opening up the soundstage even more, and also calming a little sibilance I was getting on some tracks.
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Thank you
Best wishes
Ian
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Here is a fun (or maybe not) variant; your system. From the garden. At night. I accept that it may be a challenge for those with systems that are upstairs and where you don’t have a balcony.
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There you go. Sorry, left speaker not very well visible since I took this photo a week ago or so for a different reason.
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This kind of photography will be difficult to manage for me without a drone 
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Excellent!
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Very elegant indeed!