[Paul Meakin]

Quote:

Grado RS1i and Audio Technica W1000x. The mix is perfect with V1 connected to the Mapletree Super II. Maybe a lil too dynamic for my taste when the RS1i is connected directly into the V1. But its still early, I'll let it burn in. I also added BitPerfect to iTunes and its great. Only thing, I cant run it in "integer" mode. I checked: I'm running OSx10.8 and the V1 is on the list of the ones BitPerfect recognizes ( I sure hope so because Naim promotes it on the data base). I wonder why I can't....

 
The V1 seems to exert better control as it burns in; I wouldn't say that it's necessarily less dynamic, but it is doing better with very complex music. It sounds less smeared and confused when the going gets tough. Mine has been running almost continuously since Wednesday, so pushing towards 100 hours now.
 
I can't help with Mac playback as I'm using a PC with JRiver MC18. Presumably you've spotted the set-up guides on Naim's website?
 
PS; nice headphones!

 

[auee]

I have a question on pricing. In the UK it sells for 1250 pounds which is equivalent to $1912.00 at today's exchange rate. However, the list price in US is $2395.00. What factors account for this price differential?

 

[Paul Meakin]

Quote:

I have a question on pricing. In the UK it sells for 1250 pounds which is equivalent to $1912.00 at today's exchange rate. However, the list price in US is $2395.00. What factors account for this price differential?

If the reverse situation (US imports to the UK) is any guide, taxes and shipping, notably import duty, will make up a substantial part of the difference.
 
e.g. Audeze LCD-3 $1945, UK price £1750 (c. $2675). That's a price increase of 37.5% over the US price; 22% of that is purely taxes. And then there are shipping costs, and the importers have to make a living. What is left is not much to run a business on with all the other overheads to take account of, e.g. salaries, local warranty, accountants fees, income tax, premises, electricity, insurance, internet, phone bills, etc...
 
It's actually relatively common for US goods here to leave the numbers unchanged and just switch the currency symbol to £ i.e. approximately a 60% increase.
 
The US price of the DAC-V1 only works out as around a 25% increase over the UK. That's one of the lower differentials I've seen.

 

[Baxide]

Quote:

I have a question on pricing. In the UK it sells for 1250 pounds which is equivalent to $1912.00 at today's exchange rate. However, the list price in US is $2395.00. What factors account for this price differential?

It costs more to ship a UK made item to the US dealers and then sell it there compared to shipping it to a UK dealer.

 

[Fidelity182]

Yeh, the Niam's are Great ! 
Clean sound.

 

[Yippedidou]

Yeh, the Niam's are Great ! 
Clean sound.

That's exactly spot on... Clean sound is right!

 

[TheHawk]

I've had the DAC-V1 running continuously for about 24 hours. I'm quite quite disappointed so far. I'm using a brand new MacBook, Audirvana Plus, A Nait XS, and Naim speakers. I'll give it more time to break in.

 

[Julian H]

A good friend of mine has the V1 on home demo from Monday. Hoping to take over my HD800s sometime next week for a listen 

 

[Julian H]

Quote:

I've had the DAC-V1 running continuously for about 24 hours. I'm quite quite disappointed so far. I'm using a brand new MacBook, Audirvana Plus, A Nait XS, and Naim speakers. I'll give it more time to break in.

Why disappointed Hawk? Thats a shame. Look forward to hearing back from you. The one I will hear next week should have been on for around 48hrs when I get to hear it. Hoping it sounds good by then!
 
Julian

 

[Paul Meakin]

Quote:

I've had the DAC-V1 running continuously for about 24 hours. I'm quite quite disappointed so far. I'm using a brand new MacBook, Audirvana Plus, A Nait XS, and Naim speakers. I'll give it more time to break in.

 
Give it 75 to 100 hours of playing time (not just powered on) before making a final judgement. Sorry to hear that you're disappointed, though.

 

[Paul Meakin]

Quote:

A good friend of mine has the V1 on home demo from Monday. Hoping to take over my HD800s sometime next week for a listen 

It's supposed to pair quite well with the HD-800s... hope you enjoy trying it out.

 

[Julian H]

Hi Paul
 
Not too well, I hope. It can't be better than my main rig...

 
Are you going to the meet next week?
 
Julian

 

[TheHawk]

There is a gentleman on another forum who says the DAC-V1 was sounding dramatically better after four to five days. I'm hoping things improve. For sure there are some magic moments here and there, where I'm hearing things in a particular song that I never noticed before. And that's pretty exciting. Once in a while I'm actually startled by a sound coming through the speaker like never before. I don't know how to describe it. Perhaps a note is faster than I remember it. An instrument revealed in more detail. I'm not good at describing sound. It is unlike anything I've heard before. It has the Naim 'signature', but it's different from any Naim source I've owned. I remain optimistic.
 
I downloaded the BitPerfect samples from Naim, to perform the BitPerfect analysis. The DAC recognized all of the tracks that were 24 bit, but not 16 bit, during the test. They were shown as being 'played' in the Audirvana transport window. So 44/16, 48/16, etc. all had the error message "no test audio found". All 24 bit test tracks passed with flying colours, and were "bit perfect". I have sent an email to Naim, asking why their 16 bit test samples don't get recognized during the BitPerfect test. There must be a reason Naim includes 16 bit test samples. I must be missing something here.
 
So, moving forward, all I can do is keep playing music through this DAC constantly. It has been playing for about 42 hours now.

 

[Paul Meakin]

Quote:

Hi Paul
 
Not too well, I hope. It can't be better than my main rig...

 
Are you going to the meet next week?
 
Julian

Hi Julian,
 
Having had a look at your profile, I think your wallet might be safe this time.... the V1 is apparently different from the Headline rather than better.
 
I'm not going to the meet, I was in two minds about it and so left it too late to register.
 
Paul
 
Edit; plus as I recall none of the headphones that I'm really interested in were looking likely to be there, i.e. LCD-2/3, Fostex TH-900.

 

[TheHawk]

Paul and Julian...thanks for your comments, by the way. Once in a while I turn up the volume to see how the DAC is sounding. Only time will tell. By the way, do you guys have any idea why the 16 bit test samples ended up with the message "no test audio found" while I did the BitPerfect analysis?