Question Putting the TV sound through my Naim

shep1968

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Aug 20, 2007
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Hi all. I currently have RCA connectors going from my TV straight into the RCA input on the back of my Naim amp to get the sound to go through my speakers. I'll be replacing the TV shortly and RCA out are not on any of the tv's on my shortlist. I have the option of optical or ARC hdmi. I guess i'll be using the optical. Am i right in thinking that i can put the optical into a DAC and then into the naim? If i can i'll have two options. The cheapest DAC possible to do the job reasonably well or a DAC that i can stream into from my iphone as well so that i can remove my airport express and the DAC can do both the streaming and the TV sound.
 

shep1968

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Yes you can go optical via DAC to amp.
Your new TV may well not have SCART either.
But if it did, there would be a line out option equivalent to your current RCAs.
No scart either. Will have to look for a dac. Do you know if one they can do both jobs please or recommend a cheap one just for sound to the Hifi.
 
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If you own a CD player then check to see if it has an optical in, if so then you can use the DAC in the CDP.
 
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Hi all. I currently have RCA connectors going from my TV straight into the RCA input on the back of my Naim amp to get the sound to go through my speakers. I'll be replacing the TV shortly and RCA out are not on any of the tv's on my shortlist. I have the option of optical or ARC hdmi. I guess i'll be using the optical. Am i right in thinking that i can put the optical into a DAC and then into the naim? If i can i'll have two options. The cheapest DAC possible to do the job reasonably well or a DAC that i can stream into from my iphone as well so that i can remove my airport express and the DAC can do both the streaming and the TV sound.

Well you can do it a few ways, I haven't found any standalone DAC's that can accept HDMI and if they do they will be using the interface for I squared S.

It seems you have the opportunity here to kill two birds with one stone, one being the TV connectivity the other your streaming requirements which you're currently doing with your phone. Personally, id be looking a for a streamer with digital in's such as the Bluesound node. using your phone as a remote device instead

If you want to still use your phone look at topping available from Amazon.

Though your Naim gear will be crying out for better quality TBH
 

myrrhman

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I use an Arcam irDAC for the optical input from my TV, thence into my all analogue amplifier. Sounds fine to me, but I would imagine probably not up to the standard of Naim gear for SQ. The irDAC does have the advantage over Arcam's successor DACs of two USB inputs, one for laptop and one for iPhone / iPod, so you can have a wired connection rather than Bluetooth.
Be careful with streaming options, unless you have a huge number of digital files you might want a device that will read an external SSD drive, rather than using an Ethernet connection from a NAS drive. I believe Naim streamers allow this, whereas Bluesound does not.
 

shep1968

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I use an Arcam irDAC for the optical input from my TV, thence into my all analogue amplifier. Sounds fine to me, but I would imagine probably not up to the standard of Naim gear for SQ. The irDAC does have the advantage over Arcam's successor DACs of two USB inputs, one for laptop and one for iPhone / iPod, so you can have a wired connection rather than Bluetooth.
Be careful with streaming options, unless you have a huge number of digital files you might want a device that will read an external SSD drive, rather than using an Ethernet connection from a NAS drive. I believe Naim streamers allow this, whereas Bluesound does not.

99% of the time the dac would be used for the tv and would imagine that the £10 one that was shown above would be fine for that. Currently the tv is supplying the analogue conversion. I have the cdi naim system not the five figure naim kit!!

I stream rarely as I’m still a cd guy. I’m currently using an airport express. I don’t want to go down the external streamer box route, something cheap and cheerful would be fine as long as it’s the same sound quality as the airport express.A dac that can handle both the sound from the tv and be able to stream from my iPhone would be a winner. Budget isn’t unlimited but a few hundred pounds would be ok.
 
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iMark

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Most bluetooth DACs are one trick ponies: they don't have a digital input.

Personally I would't bother with an other streaming option than the Airport Express if you're happy with it. Especially if you have the little box with the separate power cable. The Airport Express works with uncompressed ALAC as the streaming protocol.
 

shep1968

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Aug 20, 2007
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Most bluetooth DACs are one trick ponies: they don't have a digital input.

Personally I would't bother with an other streaming option than the Airport Express if you're happy with it. Especially if you have the little box with the separate power cable. The Airport Express works with uncompressed ALAC as the streaming protocol.
Thats a good call although if i could get away with one box i would. I remember seeing a wireless arcam dac years ago that would do the streaming but wondered if it could handle the TV as well. The two box option is perfectl feasible.
 

iMark

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I remember that Arcam DAC too: the AirDAC (discontinued).
That would suit your needs.

I suppose the HiFi makers can't be bothered with updating protocols like better WiFi and AirPlay 2 and simply discontinue solutions that were great.

We had three boxes: a Yamaha R-S500 stereo receiver, an Airport Express and a Cambridge Audio DACMagic. It all worked well. But then I could buy the Yamaha R-N602 in the UK for a much lower price than here in NL. The Yamaha R-N602 is now the center of our system and it's the most versatile box I've ever owned. The DAC probably isn't as good as the Cambridge Audio but the convenience trumps that. Especially since we can control the whole system through our Logitech Harmony Hub by our iPhones and iPad.
 
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