Arcam rDac

Dermondo

New member
Oct 4, 2009
132
0
0
Visit site
Hi all, at the moment I have a Denon 2311 and Sony 760 blu ray, when listening to cd's I use to amps dac's and plug my ext. HD directly into the amp also

While to sound is ok, I would demand more, I am now thinking of buying a Arcam Rdac to spice things up, so is this a worthwhile upgrade, any suggestions please and many thanks in advance.
 

roger06

Well-known member
Dec 23, 2007
374
0
18,890
Visit site
Can't see it improving things much, if at all. Home cinema amps just aren't that good when it comes to stereo music. Even if you plugged in a good CD player I doubt it would sound great...
 

Ambrose

New member
Feb 19, 2008
53
0
0
Visit site
Hi,
I had some improvement, especially in lower end with Arcam AVR280 AMP + Marantz DV6001 DVD Player and adding RDAC with Monitor Audio RX1 speakers.
They sounded quite good for AV setup IMHO, at least with hard rock music/pop.
However both AMP and DVD player are better than average for being musical.
£300 for RDAC might not be worth it, best to audition and also depends on speakers used to a degree.

I will audition same setup again soon with some other speakers so will report back.
I am also planning on using Wireless RDAC for streaming from Ipod Touch so will serve me in 2 ways!

Roger, How does the Naim + Dyn 52SE sound? I always fancied this combo although I did audition the DM2/6s with above and wasn't that great to me. BTW I used to have CD5i / Nait 3 + Spendor S5/e which boogied!!!!

Ambrose
 

roger06

Well-known member
Dec 23, 2007
374
0
18,890
Visit site
Ambrose said:
Roger, How does the Naim + Dyn 52SE sound? I always fancied this combo although I did audition the DM2/6s with above and wasn't that great to me. BTW I used to have CD5i / Nait 3 + Spendor S5/e which boogied!!!! Ambrose

Just lovely!

I'm a big fan of clarity and mid-range so the combo works a treat for me. I listen to a lot of female vocals and the system lends itself very well to that...

I'd not recommend it if loads of oomph and bass is your thing.

I originally used QED (XT300 ? 400? (can't remember)) speaker cable as was told this was better than the Naim NACA 5 stuff - but when I bought a load on eB@y it brought the best out of the speakers.

My only real criticism is that drums on almost all tracks seem 'hidden' for want of a better word...

I reckon the speakers would tolerate an amp upgrade.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I think the rDac is great, you should see if your local dealer does a home trial.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Roger,

Please could you tell me what generation Apple TV unit you are running in your setup? Im looking to try and integrate an airplay setup into my system, but all my research points to how unreliable a method this is due to Apple firmware/hardware/software causing all sorts of issues of late.
 

ifor

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2002
114
12
18,595
Visit site
Walkzinho said:
Roger,

Please could you tell me what generation Apple TV unit you are running in your setup? Im looking to try and integrate an airplay setup into my system, but all my research points to how unreliable a method this is due to Apple firmware/hardware/software causing all sorts of issues of late.

I can't reply for Roger, but I'm running an ATV3 with an Arcam rDAC. In your research might have happened upon posts by me stating that the Arcam rDAC is incompatible with a toslinked ATV3. If you did and this is of concern, I can reassure you that this is not the case. I did indeed have a unit which didn't work with ATV3s, but it worked with absolutely everything else that Arcam threw at it in their lab. It was a one off. The replacement unit works perfectly with my ATV3.
 

Twill

Well-known member
Oct 6, 2007
124
0
18,590
Visit site
Sorry to hijack the thread further, but roger, it says Nas > ATV in your signature, and I thought the ATV couldn't play music straight from a NAS?

Interested, that's all.
 

ifor

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2002
114
12
18,595
Visit site
Twill said:
Sorry to hijack the thread further, but roger, it says Nas > ATV in your signature, and I thought the ATV couldn't play music straight from a NAS? Interested, that's all.

I think it can if the NAS is the repository for an iTunes Library controlled from a computer on the network.
 

Juzzie Wuzzie

Well-known member
Of if (other than ATV3) the ATV was hacked. I have Apple Airport Express --> Naim Nait 5i-2 --> Neat Iota and think it is a fantastic set-up for music. Walk in the door, iPhone 5 + TuneIN + Radio Paradise + Airplay. Perfect.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
ifor said:
I can't reply for Roger, but I'm running an ATV3 with an Arcam rDAC. In your research might have happened upon posts by me stating that the Arcam rDAC is incompatible with a toslinked ATV3. If you did and this is of concern, I can reassure you that this is not the case. I did indeed have a unit which didn't work with ATV3s, but it worked with absolutely everything else that Arcam threw at it in their lab. It was a one off. The replacement unit works perfectly with my ATV3.

Thanks for that. My TV isnt anywhere near my hifi, is it possible to set it up by just connecting it to the TV temporarily and then moving it over and plugging in the toslink?
 

ifor

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2002
114
12
18,595
Visit site
Walkzinho said:
ifor said:
My TV isnt anywhere near my hifi, is it possible to set it up by just connecting it to the TV temporarily and then moving it over and plugging in the toslink?

If the ATV3 in connected to the network wirelessly (could suffer dropouts if you are unlucky) you could do that, but it's not exactly convenient. How far apart are they? I have successfully used cheap 10 metre toslink cables from eBay or Amazon with Airport Express.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
ifor said:
If the ATV3 in connected to the network wirelessly (could suffer dropouts if you are unlucky) you could do that, but it's not exactly convenient. How far apart are they? I have successfully used cheap 10 metre toslink cables from eBay or Amazon with Airport Express.

I'll put you in the picture with what im trying to do.

Im using the rWAVE wireless dongle at the moment, and because I use iTunes and will always do everything is 16/44 by default. All my music is 16/44 .WAV or .AIFF (I dont rip, only download) so the whole 24bit debate isnt on my radar. What I would like to do is to have the option of upgrading my DAC, whilst maintaining the mobility of my laptop. I currently plug in the dongle and move around the lounge/kitchen ect as I do a lot of working from home. Space is also a premium so im sticking with a laptop for the foseeable. The only way to do that is to either stick with Bluetooth (which is perfectly good btw) or go down the Airplay route, i'd prefer the latter as I dont like the dongle sticking out all the time and my options for DAC's are limited, with Airplay I could get that Naim DAC i fantasise about. My Macbook would always be within a 5-10m proximity of the ATV, so hopefully dropouts will be kept to a minimum (although with OS 10.8 and onwards is plagued by network dropouts!).

I want to use an ATV purely to use as a method of picking up the 0's & 1's and send them via toslink to a new DAC. I feel that the Arcam DAC isnt particularly well suited to my system at the moment, I need something that has a tighter control of bass and to unleash the Naim/Rega's.
 

ifor

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2002
114
12
18,595
Visit site
Walkzinho, so how far is the DAC from the TV? As I understand it you plan is to get an ATV first, so that you can do away with the dongle, and then consider swapping the Arcam rDAC for something different. Correct?
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
You are correct, that is exactly what im trying to achieve.

If I were to run a wire it would have to be a good 8-9m long and in an 'L' shape, following the skirting board all the way to the rack.
 

ifor

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2002
114
12
18,595
Visit site
Walkzinho said:
If I were to run a wire it would have to be a good 8-9m long and in an 'L' shape, following the skirting board all the way to the rack.

That is exactly what I have done with a 10 metre toslink (£7.99 on Amazon) to connect an Airport Express to a Denon AV amp. It works fine, but there is no guarantee the rDAC or any other DAC will play happily with a 10 metre toslink cable. You seem to have two options:

1) position the ATV close to your TV and get a 10 metre toslink,

2) position the ATV close to your DAC and HiFi and get a 10 metre HDMI cable (£4.54 on Amazon) to connect the ATV to your TV.

With respect to changing the DAC, I originally had home loans of the Arcam rDAC, Rega DAC and MF M1-DAC and the Arcam sounded best in my system, but it might have been more burned in than the other two. I think it's very important to try them in your own system. I'm looking forward to trying Graham Slee's forthcoming "Big DAC".

Apologies to the OP; we really have hijacked this thread.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Thanks for the info ifor, most helpful/

Its just occurred, could I mirror the screen using my Macbook just to set it up and then disconnect, leaving connected up to the hifi?
 

ifor

Well-known member
Dec 3, 2002
114
12
18,595
Visit site
Walkzinho said:
Thanks for the info ifor, most helpful/

Its just occurred, could I mirror the screen using my Macbook just to set it up and then disconnect, leaving connected up to the hifi?

I'm not quite sure what you're getting at. Unfortunately both my iMac and iPad are too old for mirroring so I might not be able to help anyway.
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts