Indeed the 82 requires the best ps you can put on it to tame the harshness.I agree with Tony - a dedicated power supply on your 82 would be beneficial. On an 82, I would probably look towards a Dual TeddyCap (essentially 2 HiCaps) which should provide a worthwhile improvement - you might be able to find one s/h, or alternatively an Avondale TPR4. Get that sorted, then see how you get on with the Chromecast again. If you are still looking for more, then maybe see if you can find a nice Lampizator DAC - I bought a s/h one and rather like it.
I’ve got an 82 and Chord Dac in my system after demo’ing the DAC through several sets of speakers at the dealer including various B&W models. To my ears all of the B&Ws were top heavy, bass light and close to the point of being harsh. Agree with the point made by DavidS about the 82 benefitting from a decent power supply. All of the above leads me to the conclusion that you’ve got, irrespective of the source, a system tuned to creating the toppy thin sound that you don’t want. The latest Chord Dacs are detailed and neutral to my ears, not harsh. My advice would be to correct the underlying problem (the speaker / amp combination) rather than over compensate with a dull DAC. Keep the Chord Dac and replace the speakers.
So. A guy asks for a component for his system which 'fits-in'.
All we get is your amps need upgrading, your speakers are sh*te. etc etc and backed up with diagrams/charts.
There are some valid points, especially with regards to Naim (I had Naim amps for 26 yrs).
But all he wants is a dac which suits his system. Can't we just get with the task in hand? Instead of dissing his whole system.
Sometimes I despair of this forum.
I don’t know why you feel that way as they are valid comments based on experiences. Easy to blame one component when the core issue lays elsewhere.
I thought that it was the flat-earthers among you Brits who outlawed tone controls.
I have an NOS DAC - modern made, that is not doing anything. I will be happy to send it in, for a donation of your choice to an animal charity of your choice. It is 120 vac, but it's easy to get an adapter.Try and get a listen to any NOS (non oversampling) dac , these often seem to have a warmer sound.
Personally I’d look at the amp and or speakers. You don’t list a Naim PSU, so I assume the 82 is powered from the 180 aside from the NAPST or whatever its called? That era of Naim was far from their warmest to my ears and the B&Ws have metal dome tweeters, a genre of which I am seldom a fan (it is the bottom of the tweeter range I always feel isn’t quite right, very often a bit of ‘grain’ lurking around the crossover to my ears, I tend to prefer speakers with soft-domes by quite some margin). By saying that I don’t know these specific B&Ws. I’d certainly argue that if a reasonable CD (i.e. not brickwalled pop/rock) sounds harsh via something such as a Chord Mojo or better your problem isn’t with the DAC. I tried Lordsummit’s Mojo here against my allegedly £2.6k DPA PDM3 (I paid £300!) and it ran it damn close. Its a great little DAC and not hard or harsh at all to my ears via my system, and I do really notice/focus in on these things with digital. None of that ‘bad digital’ glassy sheen to it.