RichardSantiago
Member of the Trade: Audiologica UK
First impressions (assuming it arrived)?
NAD M51 Direct Digital DAC Impressions
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Still waiting, sigh. They've offered to give me a special discount on anything else I want to buy (that they have in stock), so I'm thinking about what else I need that I could get. Yes I know you have them in stock 
but might as well hold out another few days if I can get a freebie or something.
but might as well hold out another few days if I can get a freebie or something.
MomijiTMO
Headphoneus Supremus
I want this DAC. Can't stop smiling over the Australian RRP. For once we get a good deal .
.
sjay
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do not audition this DAC, if you do it will cost you 1500-2000 smackers.
if anyone wants an NFB2 msg me.
if anyone wants an NFB2 msg me.
MomijiTMO
Headphoneus Supremus
Haha guessing you liked it 
.
.
sjay
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Quote:
yeah you could say that, i have one on loan for a week and its only been one day and I dont want to give it back.
I did a/b testing with my dad last night and he described the NFB2 as " very good" and the NAD as "spectacular"
it really is a very detailed, very musical little piece of kit for the money and a big step up over the NFB2.
its also dead sexy looking and appears quite solid and well made. I am not sure what firmware it is running but it took me under 3 minutes to get it going via my Jkenny MK3 spdif converter. I have not yet tried it without the converter but will get around to it tonight.
One thing I did notice is its kinda merciless on poor quality recordings, dont bother pushing anything under 320k through it and preferably use FLAC or better.
Haha guessing you liked it.
yeah you could say that, i have one on loan for a week and its only been one day and I dont want to give it back.
I did a/b testing with my dad last night and he described the NFB2 as " very good" and the NAD as "spectacular"
it really is a very detailed, very musical little piece of kit for the money and a big step up over the NFB2.
its also dead sexy looking and appears quite solid and well made. I am not sure what firmware it is running but it took me under 3 minutes to get it going via my Jkenny MK3 spdif converter. I have not yet tried it without the converter but will get around to it tonight.
One thing I did notice is its kinda merciless on poor quality recordings, dont bother pushing anything under 320k through it and preferably use FLAC or better.
MomijiTMO
Headphoneus Supremus
I think I'll wait for few more months before buying one. I like to see if the owners start offloading their other DACs. That's a good indication that it isn't FOTM. It's happened with one guy from SNA.
sjay
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Quote:
only 2 or 3 have come up for sale on SNA as far as i am aware since they landed here and keep in mind they were released late last year....i actually have the one that came up for sale on SNA a few weeks ago playing atm and i picked up the last one i could find in sydney today
However the sales guy said they are getting another 2 next month but 2 only as NAD appears to having issues meeting demand , i wonder why....
at the very least they are worth testing in your own setup to see if it works for you and worth the effort of saving up.
only 2 or 3 have come up for sale on SNA as far as i am aware since they landed here and keep in mind they were released late last year....i actually have the one that came up for sale on SNA a few weeks ago playing atm and i picked up the last one i could find in sydney today
However the sales guy said they are getting another 2 next month but 2 only as NAD appears to having issues meeting demand , i wonder why....
at the very least they are worth testing in your own setup to see if it works for you and worth the effort of saving up.
MomijiTMO
Headphoneus Supremus
You aren't helping me you know 
.
Just kidding.
The fact not many have come up for sale show that they are that good. (Bill sold his Metrum!)
.Just kidding.
The fact not many have come up for sale show that they are that good. (Bill sold his Metrum!)
dwk
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Finally got a new source (new Aspire One netbook with a real-ish cpu rather than Atom which makes for a pretty nice poor-mans-ultrabook), and had a chance to try out the USB interface a bit. IMHO JRiver over USB even straight out of the box on an un-optimized PC seems to be an improvement over my SB Touch via optical. Running into a Stax 3050 setup, I'm very happy with the results. I know that there has been a lot of discussion about the USB interface being substandard, but based on admittedly limited listening so far it's fully capable of very good results. This isn't to say that a very top notch spdif interface might not be better - I don't have one and at the moment have no intent in pursuing that - but I certainly wouldn't discount the USB solution before trying it.
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I'm probably going to go NAS > SBT + EDO + linear PSU > AP2 w/battery mod or PP > M51, controlled via the iPeng iPad app. There aren't many Linux-compatible converters AFAIK, although I might see what alternatives there are as the AP2 is pretty expensive.
Mr.Sneis
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Anyone have internal pics or links to for the m51?
BoogieWoogie
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Quote:
Some one else sold his PWD MkII for the Nad 51 after comparing both.
You aren't helping me you know
Just kidding.
The fact not many have come up for sale show that they are that good. (Bill sold his Metrum!)
Some one else sold his PWD MkII for the Nad 51 after comparing both.
dwk
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I believe the HiFace2 is xmos based and supports linux. IMHO I'd try the Touch /w EDO app native to see what you think before introducing an external usb->spdif link. Maybe I'm being cynical, or maybe I'm just not as thrilled by 'the chase of perfection' as I used to be, but I'm suspicious of the growing 'group think' that usb->spdif is suddenly the perfect solution to everything.
For me, I'm interested in the capability to play around with some convolution experiments which is what led to the PC approach over the SB. My Stax also sound better to me with a bit of a low shelf added as well (restores a bit of the percussive drive in Rodrigo Y Gabriella for example) , which is much easier via PC playback than with the SB. It's a bit disappointing in that I really like the SB and we use them extensively around the house and it would have been more convenient to simply run off the SB.
Oh, well. It required getting another laptop @$350, but I think I now have a setup that's giving me what I expected and I'm likely to just sit down and listen to rather than constantly putzing around with. (well, aside from the convolution experiments that it)
For me, I'm interested in the capability to play around with some convolution experiments which is what led to the PC approach over the SB. My Stax also sound better to me with a bit of a low shelf added as well (restores a bit of the percussive drive in Rodrigo Y Gabriella for example) , which is much easier via PC playback than with the SB. It's a bit disappointing in that I really like the SB and we use them extensively around the house and it would have been more convenient to simply run off the SB.
Oh, well. It required getting another laptop @$350, but I think I now have a setup that's giving me what I expected and I'm likely to just sit down and listen to rather than constantly putzing around with. (well, aside from the convolution experiments that it)
speeddeacon
New Head-Fier
Quote:
I agree with DaveBSC. The Auraliti is essentially a dedicated media computer (running Linux) that allows an external drive with the stored media to serve the files to a DAC via USB. With all other functions removed, it is simply an optimized music server. At just under $800, plus the cost of an external drive, it is about as cheap as a MacMini or PC that must be optimized. It does require some sort of controller, such as a tablet with a third party app to view and control the media thus requires a LAN connection and wifi network. So assuming you are starting from scratch and don't already have an external hard drive or smart device, for $800 plus $400 for a smart device (iPad, etc) and $120 for a 2Tb USB external hard drive, you have your optimized media server for a touch over $1300. That's half the price of most of the other dedicated music servers. I personally like the idea of having an external drive that all I have to do is unplug and replace if it dies rather than have to repair an internal drive, but that's just me. And you are only limited by how big of an external drive you want to use rather than what the music server offers (typically 1-3 Tb max).
Of course you have to get the data, which have to be bit perfect rips, to the external drive somehow as opposed to the music server doing it for you. SO, unless you don't already own a computer that you use to rip already, you don't need the more expensive server, IMHO. The only inconvenience is when adding new music, you will have to manually add it to the external hard drive with the Auraliti.
I agree with DaveBSC. The Auraliti is essentially a dedicated media computer (running Linux) that allows an external drive with the stored media to serve the files to a DAC via USB. With all other functions removed, it is simply an optimized music server. At just under $800, plus the cost of an external drive, it is about as cheap as a MacMini or PC that must be optimized. It does require some sort of controller, such as a tablet with a third party app to view and control the media thus requires a LAN connection and wifi network. So assuming you are starting from scratch and don't already have an external hard drive or smart device, for $800 plus $400 for a smart device (iPad, etc) and $120 for a 2Tb USB external hard drive, you have your optimized media server for a touch over $1300. That's half the price of most of the other dedicated music servers. I personally like the idea of having an external drive that all I have to do is unplug and replace if it dies rather than have to repair an internal drive, but that's just me. And you are only limited by how big of an external drive you want to use rather than what the music server offers (typically 1-3 Tb max).
Of course you have to get the data, which have to be bit perfect rips, to the external drive somehow as opposed to the music server doing it for you. SO, unless you don't already own a computer that you use to rip already, you don't need the more expensive server, IMHO. The only inconvenience is when adding new music, you will have to manually add it to the external hard drive with the Auraliti.
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