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Advice on adding a DAC

Boatmancalls

Boatmancalls

Member
Hi
Just new to this formum and looking for some advice. I have a Rotel 991 CD player, with Naim nac72/Hicap/Nap140 with mission 773 speakers. Was wanting to attach my nas (synology) to the system and add a Decent DAC for up to ~£700 (for the dac). Any experiences/ advice much appreciated.
 
Do you have a way to put music files onto your DAC i.e ripped CDs, downloaded stuff? If not then....

Having got music onto your NAS how do you envisgage playing it to your DAC? NAS’s only store
 
May I suggest to the OP there is more to be found out than you appear to be aware of.

PFM has some folks who may help but when I wanted to do your type of things I went elsewhere. https://hifiwigwam.com/forum/forum/21-computer-based-hifi/
PFM does not specialise in computer music whereas WigWam has a whole area. Others have asked your questions and the answers are there. Spend some time gong through that forum area rather than asking people here. It will be your understanding then.

Best of luck
 
For £700, have a look at the Bluesound Node 2i with a Beresford Caiman SEG DAC.

Later you can add the Dorado upgraded power supply (£70) and SEG-30 firmware chip. However the above combination will be great and provide a user friendly transport with quality external DAC. The internal DAC in the Node 2i is also very good.

Andrew
 
Boatmancalls said:
Hi
Just new to this formum and looking for some advice. I have a Rotel 991 CD player, with Naim nac72/Hicap/Nap140 with mission 773 speakers. Was wanting to attach my nas (synology) to the system and add a Decent DAC for up to ~£700 (for the dac). Any experiences/ advice much appreciated.
Click to expand...
It is not clear what you are you trying to achieve by spending large amounts of money on a DAC. How do you intend to control your music from the NAS or is this to be included in the DAC?
 
Dear all
Thanks for the advice. My (perhaps ilinformed) plan had be to use the dac as a hub for a few digital sources - pc (with NAS), Android Sony TV that runs Spotify and can link to my NAS & and perhaps the Rotel SACD -Player.
I have been playing with a £100 Topping DAC - which sounds remarkably good - but a bit bright and illdefined when music has a lot going on.

Once again thanks for the thoughts .. very much appreciated
 
If you buy a Chromecast audio you'll get something with a DAC built in and the capability to add an external DAC if you want to upgrade. You just connect it with a 3.5mm headphone jack to 2 x phono to your preamp, or you can use toslink. I think all the cables come in the box. They cost hardly any money.

Then install the Logitech Media Server on your PC, with the Castbridge app, your Chromecast will appear as a squeezebox player in the interface.

This will take care of the music stored on the PC -- you just need to have it in one place and set that place as the library. I use a hard drive, not a NAS, but I'm pretty sure it's possible with a NAS

It will also allow you to play spotify through the chromecast.

You can control it from a phone or table, or your PC.

The SACD player I don't know about.

Anyway this will get you started. If I were you (I'm by nature cautious), I'd buy the chromecast and create a little music library on your PC and see how it all goes. Then, when you're happy you can buy the rest -- the NAS, the external DAC or whatever. Or indeed if you don't like Chromecast, another LMS friendly media server.
 
I'm sure you already know but you can connect your NAS to a DAC via USB so there's no need to rely on the local network to get audio from NAS to DAC. I've got a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic connected to my Synology NAS and it's literally plug and play.
 
mandryka said:
If you buy a Chromecast audio you'll get something with a DAC built in and the capability to add an external DAC if you want to upgrade. You just connect it with a 3.5mm headphone jack to 2 x phono to your preamp, or you can use toslink. I think all the cables come in the box. They cost hardly any money.

Then install the Logitech Media Server on your PC, with the Castbridge app, your Chromecast will appear as a squeezebox player in the interface.

This will take care of the music stored on the PC -- you just need to have it in one place and set that place as the library. I use a hard drive, not a NAS, but I'm pretty sure it's possible with a NAS

It will also allow you to play spotify through the chromecast.

You can control it from a phone or table, or your PC.

The SACD player I don't know about.

Anyway this will get you started. If I were you (I'm by nature cautious), I'd buy the chromecast and create a little music library on your PC and see how it all goes. Then, when you're happy you can buy the rest -- the NAS, the external DAC or whatever. Or indeed if you don't like Chromecast, another LMS friendly media server.
Click to expand...
Hi
Once again thanks. I think, in reality that’s where I am now. The TV has built in apps like Spotify and can play music from my NAS as it’s connected to my home network (Playing from the NAS is a bit clunky from the TV). The TV has coax and optical out that I have coonected to my cheap Topping dac - and i’ll Be honest pretty impressed with the sound.

The bit i’m Concerned about is taking the digital signal from the TV seems a bit “low rent” and am I losing sound quality this way? Perhaps it makes no difference- but I never got beyond A level physics so at the limit of my understanding . I understand Spotify is limited to 320 Kbps, but hoping to find a lossless source.

After spending years buying fancy interconnects and finding it does actually make a difference - feels all wrong feeding my beloved Naim with a TV and a £100 DAC.
 
windhoek said:
I'm sure you already know but you can connect your NAS to a DAC via USB so there's no need to rely on the local network to get audio from NAS to DAC. I've got a Cambridge Audio Dacmagic connected to my Synology NAS and it's literally plug and play.
Click to expand...
Is this possible with every Dac, or limited by drivers?
 
Sonci said:
Is this possible with every Dac, or limited by drivers?
Click to expand...

Synology says only some DACs are compatible but people over at Synology forums have reported a variety of DACs working that aren't on the list. In my own case, I tried a cheap Trust external soundcard DAC and it worked even though it's not on the official list. You can click here to enter your NAS and see which USB DACs are compatible but it definitely isn't the definitive list. If you're thinking about trying a DAC that's not on the list and you can't borrow it the distance selling regulations should allow you to buy online and then return if it doesn't work out.

p.s. there should be no need for drivers - the DAC will either work or it won't
 
Boatmancalls said:
Hi
Once again thanks. I think, in reality that’s where I am now. The TV has built in apps like Spotify and can play music from my NAS as it’s connected to my home network (Playing from the NAS is a bit clunky from the TV). The TV has coax and optical out that I have coonected to my cheap Topping dac - and i’ll Be honest pretty impressed with the sound.

The bit i’m Concerned about is taking the digital signal from the TV seems a bit “low rent” and am I losing sound quality this way? Perhaps it makes no difference- but I never got beyond A level physics so at the limit of my understanding . I understand Spotify is limited to 320 Kbps, but hoping to find a lossless source.

After spending years buying fancy interconnects and finding it does actually make a difference - feels all wrong feeding my beloved Naim with a TV and a £100 DAC.
Click to expand...


I don't think that the source of the signal into the DAC is going to make a difference, maybe someone else will correct me. The DAC itself is just like any other piece of hi fi -- you just have to find one you like and stay with it till you find one you like more!
 
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