Standalone ADC - Not too expensive

[MarkOne]

I'm looking for a reasonably nice stand alone ADC with an optical output (not the sort of thing Amazon sells for £20, but not something quite as expensive as the RME ADI2). There seem to be very few options for this kind of thing. (I know, I'm aways trying to do slightly odd things)

This is for a home HiFi situation, where I need to take the analogue output of our CD player into an optical TOSLINK input

[Sam Spoons]

Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy a CD player with a Toslink output?

[MarkOne]

Well it might be, but I do quite like the CD player - It's a Naim CD6, yes I know it's verging on the beardy-sandal hifi brigade type of product but it is very well engineered with a really solid transport, so I think I'd probably be paying quite a lot for something equal to it.

[Sam Spoons]

The other approach would be to stick with analogue, assuming you have a spare analogue input to the amplifier? If the amp is of similar quality to the Naim CD then I can't see you gaining anything* converting back to digital outside the Naim and back to analogue in the preamp?

* Other than, maybe, an extra input?

[Wonks]

It's a Naim CD6

No amount of searching is showing anything on that. Plenty of other CD6 models from other manufacturers, but not Naim.

Did you get the name correct?

[James Perrett]

I would assume that it is a CD5 rather than a CD6. If you want a reasonably good sounding standalone ADC then take a look at the Zoom U-44. While it is normally an audio interface, it also offers a standalone ADC/DAC mode and costs around £150.

[MarkOne]

It's a Naim CD6

Did you get the name correct?

My head did... My fingers, apparently had other ideas... Sorry

[MarkOne]

What I'm trying to do is downsize the hifi and AV.

If our house sale happens we will probably be downsizing a lot and I won't have the room for 5.1, Dolby surround, floorstanding B&W 603s and 700W RMS power with a whopping great Subwoofer (and it is probably going to be a flat, so... Neighbours)

Having done some research (not least the Phil Ward review) I am drawn to the KEF LS50 Wireless speakers. TV sound is taken care of with the HDMI ARC input, I can plug my Cambridge Audio phono stage into the Analogue in which leaves me the optical digital in for a CD player.

I will then not need an amp at all, or any faffing with an input selector just the KEF app on my phone to select the input and do the volume. Mrs One will be happy with the removal of rats nests of cable too!

[Sam Spoons]

Makes sense

[Drew Stephenson]

If you're just taking the digital output from the Naim you're actually bypassing most of what makes it a 'Naim' - which is the analogue part of the unit.
Really you're probably as well getting a cheapish transport with a digital out and using that.

[Wonks]

If you're just taking the digital output from the Naim you're actually bypassing most of what makes it a 'Naim' - which is the analogue part of the unit.
Really you're probably as well getting a cheapish transport with a digital out and using that.

ADC = Analogue to digital converter

Analogue output from Naim needs to be converted to a Toslink signal to feed into the speakers.

Too much banjo music, Drew.

[Hugh Robjohns]

Yes... but Drew still makes a valid point.

The Naim's claim to fame is its internal D-A to feed a 'classy' analogue sound into a classy analogue amp.

Stuffing that 'classy' analogue output into a so-so A-D just to go through another D-A in the speaker seems slightly perverse.

I think if t'were me, I'd flog the Naim and buy something with a digital out... maybe a Bluray player...

[Sam Spoons]

Huh-hem...

I can't see you gaining anything* converting back to digital outside the Naim and back to analogue in the preamp?

* Other than, maybe, an extra input?

[Drew Stephenson]

Edit: I phrased that very badly, but yes, i was agreeing with Sam's opening point.
A half decent CD player with a digital should be available for a reasonable second hand price.

[MarkOne]

Thanks guys, some good food for thought there.

The Naim may well be looking for a new home soon, and eBay scouring will commence

[RichardT]

You could consider getting something that does streaming as well as play CDs. In fact, thinking about it, doesn’t the LS50w mk ii app do streaming anyway? So you probably don’t need a separate streamer. In that case, think about whether you need a CD player atall!

[Sam Spoons]

What about a Brennan B2? https://www.brennan.co.uk/ I keep thinking about buying one then something else gets in the way...

[Martin Walker]

What about a Brennan B2? https://www.brennan.co.uk/ I keep thinking about buying one then something else gets in the way...

Wow - never heard of this maker before, but just spent the last 15 minutes marveling over their product designs yet amazing prices

Thanks for the link Sam Spoons!

[Wonks]

I have one (a 1TB B2) but am experiencing issues now that I didn't notice before. Some albums are playing back very distorted and I'm not sure why. Not sure if it's some older CDs with anti-copy protection that's upset the FLAC process, but sometimes it seems to be one or two tracks on an album rather than the whole album. Distortion occurs on both the analogue out and the Toslink connection.

There's a lot that I still thinks to be sorted out with the software, especially the mobile browser interface. If I want to use the Sonos speakers, then I have to use the very limited and never to be updated (apparently) phone app. It's half good, half a PITA.

[Sam Spoons]

Thanks Martin, but that's good to know Wonky, I would only use it to store my CD collection and replay over the analogue line or speaker outs. I have found a few issues with my recently digitised (into iTunes) CD library, not so much distortion as dropouts and glitches so would have hoped that the Brennan would be more reliable.

[James Perrett]

I have found a few issues with my recently digitised (into iTunes) CD library, not so much distortion as dropouts and glitches so would have hoped that the Brennan would be more reliable.

This is an old issue. Traditionally, the only safe way to extract audio from a CD is to use Exact Audio Copy or Plextools on a PC with a drive that reports audio errors properly. This is because many CD drives don't report errors when extracting audio and, even if they do, most software doesn't know what to do with those error flags.

There may be certain other programs that can handle audio errors properly nowadays but I've stuck with Plextools.

[Sam Spoons]

Thanks James, I only have Macs and can't see myself setting up a Windoze machine just to digitise my CD collection again... I'll just re-digitise the dodgy tracks as and when I discover them.

[Martin Walker]

Thanks for all the feedback Wonks - I have since read a few online reviews grumbling about the Brennan mobile browser interface.

I've currently got over 600 albums in 44.1kHz/16-bit FLAC format on my studio PC, and they only occupy 160GB, but it would be nice to be able to move this collection around, or even listen to it on the move.

Actually, a USB stick would probably do the job, but not everything reads FLAC format - some players will only do WAV, or even only MP3 (although 320kbps files are pretty damn close to uncompressed to my ears, I still don't like the concept of using 'modified audio' if there's any way round it).

Just checked up - my Sony UHP-H1 Blu-Ray DVD Player will play both AIFF, FLAC and MP3 files from a USB stick (good start)

However, my car player USB socket is designed to support USB sticks, USB hard drives, and iPod players, and only supports MP3 (32kHz to 48kHz up to 320kbpps), and WMA (never used this format myself).

For the time being, I suspect buying a 250GB USB stick and saving my collection in FLAC format would enable me to quickly and easily plug my collection into either my studio PC or on my sitting room hi-fi system, and that would only be around £25 (cheapskate!)

It would be nice to be able to view the album cover artworks though, so perhaps a slightly more exotic device would let me do that (my mobile isn't a smartphone model, and I only use it for emergency calls).

Martin

[James Perrett]

For the time being, I suspect buying a 250GB USB stick and saving my collection in FLAC format would enable me to quickly and easily plug my collection into either my studio PC or on my sitting room hi-fi system, and that would only be around £25 (cheapskate!)

I reckon I can out-cheapskate you Martin! Only £14 from here

(Removed link because these particular USB sticks turned out to be very unreliable. The £16 ones are fine though - JP)

I've been buying USB sticks from these people for a few years now and they've always been fine. I've just recently bought a couple of these 256GB ones. The only downside to them is that they are slow to write so give yourself a day to fill it up.

Edit - see my next post at the end of the thread for an update to this suggestion

[Arpangel]

Aren’t Naim CD players basically Phillips machines underneath?
If you actually like the sound of the Naim, which is a CD player, and you obviously care about audio, going for streaming will give you a completely different sound.