Naim DAC

Hello James,

I would wager a good deal of beer tokens on this sir.
Going on the 555 effort, they would need to improve their dac by a serious amount to compare to the T/P unit. I believe there is a 556? planned with another 555 psu for each of the channel, plus a dac cost around the £25K mark. Thats a lot outlay for a Naim sound.
Genuinely the twisted pair dac (diy kit from the US) is pretty good and with minimal work can be made to sound very good indeed. You really would appreciate its performance James.
And no we do not sell them!
Pretty sure a few guys on here have got the latest 90018 unit and have been 'tinkering' with it

 

Hi Tony,

Well, obviously the 555 was a "vanity" product made for plutocrats, rather than a serious CD player. Anyone spending that much on a CDP would need his head examining. The same goes for the Linn CD 12, and any DAC costing £25k. There is no need for CD replay to cost that much.

But the new Naim DAC doesn't cost that much, and seems genuinely innovative, on the face of it.

Mr Ranson has good ears, but I have no DIY skills.

 

Hello James,

You genuinely could build this yourself, if not Paul R could do it for you James. It is pretty straight forward build.
Really worth a go.

 

Hi Tony

It's a DAC I am thinking about putting together.

How would you compare the finished result in comparison to commercially available DACs? At what price point does it 'weigh in' in your experience?

 

Chris,

As this hobby is subjective, some may feel it is pretty special, others may look for a more 'NOS double crown dac sound' being as your a valve man, it may be a little 'too real' for a few thermionic guys. Think dac 64 done right a you will not be too far away.
We have actually used the Sabre chip-set (90018) in a few commercial prototypes with very promising results.
Others may feel they wish for a more 'rounded sound', however the twisted pair DIY kit offers people a chance of getting some great performance for low end outlay.
Personally I use another 32 bit configuration, though my taste for 'realism' is well documented!
Genuinely worth a go at doing it yourself

 

Sure.

It's probably best if I bring it over sometime, do a direct comparison against whatever you use at the moment.

Paul

 

Does it involve soldering & circuit diagrams? If so, I can't (be bothered to) do it.

[I can remove gallstones from your bile duct using an endoscope, but I don't suppose those skills are required.]

 

Hi Paul

That would be great if you'd be willing to do that? I can supply the coffee!

I'll send you a PM

Bub, I think it comes just as a board, you have to do the box, power supply, soldering, buy the parts etc. Paul will be the expert having made one I'm sure.

 

Hi Paul,

How much work is involved, what parts do I need and what is the cost, please?

 

600 bucks all in bar the case and transformers, sod all soldering needed to be honest it's a built board.
http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/digital/buffalo.aspx