Got my eye on a xpsdr and powerline at the moment, would really like to add a ps to my ndac hopefully that will bring a nice benefit to the system, the powerline would be iceing on the cake.
When we discuss about BNC digital cables hereā¦. I have seen some offers for BNC cables (75 Ohm) from some manufacturer (like Vovox from their studio line) who are described as āWord clockā cables. Are they also useable for connecting streamers and dacs? Are they recommended?
Hi, I am not aware of them, any properly made 75 ohm coax cable with BNC connectors will be fine. SPDIF is a consumer standard and is designed to be tolerant. If you suffer from common mode RF interference or currents from your source - you might find different cables āsoundā different. I find the key thing is not strain the cable at the connectors.
I have used the Naim DC1 and Gotham 75 ohm cables (as well as my own) to good effect.
S
Can I ask when adding a xpsdr to the ndac will the ndac still need to be supply power from the mains, so basically are ps and ndac both plugged in the mains.
Yes. The XPSDr will power the analog section of the nDac leaving the digital section powered by the nDacās internal power supply.
I had a feeling that would be the case, thanks for your reply.
No worries. It took me time to afford the XPSDr but itās worked out exceptionally well for my setup.
- The horses
- The cats
- The daughters
- SWMBO
- Me
- The rabbits
- The fish
The fish & rabbits are now deceased.
Looks like youāre next!!
Can I ask what benefits the xpsdr brought to your ndac, just trying to work out the pecking order for my next steps.
At the moment a new to me 250dr is probably top of the list followed by the xpsdr, then maybe a supercap dr but that is only a slight possibility, need to do the first two steps then see how we end up.
Boring perhaps and not wanting to take away from anyoneās upgrades, but I just wanted to report here that Iām actually perfectly happy with how things now sound on the streaming side, it does everything Iād like it to do in the context of my whole system, and sometimes it even surprises me.
No need to apologise, good to hear you are very happy with your setup, at the end of the day thatās the most important thing.
Thanks, I got a considerable free upgrade recently when I took the turntable psu out of the power strip, leaving that to the Naim boxes. Power strip and turntable now each use one of the two wall sockets of the dedicated mains. This brought the whole system to a new very enjoyable level.
Might have to give that a try myself, at the moment my TT and phono stage are still plugged into the normal house socket while everything else use the dedicated mains, donāt know why but have always thought to keep them totally separate, not really sure why, probably read it somewhere
For me with my system it just brought more of everything from what I recall. Soundstage, clarity etc. The sound was larger if that makes sense. It did take a bit of burn-in as I remember at first thinking adding it was an expensive mistake but after about 2 weeks Iāve never looked back and love it. Sure a 555PS would be better but I didnāt want a PS 2 times the price of my SN3. I was looking for a balanced system and I think Iāve achieved it.
To be accurate, and the Naim white paper shows this, with respect to the NDAC powersupplies, the internal power supply powers the DSP chipset, memory, interfacing electronics and system automation stages, where as the external auxiliary power supply powers the digital master clock (inc for DSP), digital clock and i2s synchronisation, DAC stages, current to voltage converter and analogue filter (only these last two items are purely analogue) ā¦ so the external powersupply powers the sensitive digital timing and analogue audio elements. The digital signals (i2s, clocking and clock selection) between the two separate parts is passed through opto isolation.
Thanks for the detailed explanation SiS. I still dream of Naim releasing a new standalone DAC. One can dream I suppose
Yesā¦I guess they feel the price difference between a basic DAC and Streamer for the same SQ performance is too small to justify two seperate products.
Hi HiFiman,I have both the Nait 2 and Nait 50(2 weeks old,still breaking in) like yourself,but I seem to prefer the Nait 2 with old jazz recordings,which is what I listen to most of the time. How do you feel about both? Also,will the Nait 50 keep breaking in much? Thanks
Oh yes, even though the Nait 50 is excellent out of the box give the Nait 50 a few more weeks and things will come together. I love both amps but the N50 is the better all round performer, I could easily live with either amp and call it a day.