Naim DAC-V1 - Ex Display

In an effort to keep our show-room displays up-to-date and as fresh as possible, we are currently rotating some of our ex display units. One such unit is our well-looked after Naim DAC V1. Our display model is in mint-condition and includes the original accessories, packaging, manuals and manufacturer's warranty. This unit is pristine and is an excellent opportunityfor someone looking to bring the high standard of Naim Audio into their listening room at an exceptional price

Naim DAC-V1 D to A converter

Naim Audio has a special place in British audio, thanks to it's founder and inspirational leader Julian Vereker, a hugely talented mechanical and electronic engineer with a passion for, amongst many things, music. Founded in 1973, Naim has always had a firm philosophy of music first, measurements second - each Naim product is extensively auditioned as part of the product development process to make sure that it delivers clear, emotional music making ability. Naim products are designed to bring the closest facsimile of a live music event into your home listening environment, to give you maximum pleasure from your music collection.

For many music lovers, the source of their music is no longer just from traditional hi-fi equipment such as CD player, radio tuner or turntable - increasingly the computer and other digital sources such as NAS drive, laptop, tablet, set top box or games consoles form the primary music and entertainment focus - the Naim DAC-V1 has been designed to extract the best possible quality audio from all of these sources, enabling the music lover to enjoy their digital music at it's absolute best.

Most electronic equipment designed to work with computers allows the computer to dictate the clock signal, the accuracy of timing (jitter) of which is absolutely crucial in obtaining superb quality audio. Rather than relying on the distant clock located in the computer, the DAC-V1 has it's own super accurate clock located right next to the digital to analogue converter chip, making timing errors (jitter) all but banished. This results in a pure, distortion free analogue output signal that delivers the music soundtrack in a much more natural, transparent and fulfilling way.

Virtually zero jitter is not the only talent exhibited by the DAC V1 however, all of the traditional Naim design traits have contributed to the overall sonic excellence of this product - you will find a 210VA toroidal transformer (with a capacity large enough for most power amplifiers) together with large reservoir capacitors and multiple voltage regulated power supplies under the hood. The non-magnetic alloy chassis and sleeve both look beautiful and have a shielding purpose, protecting the delicate digital and analogue circuits within from harmful electromagnetic radiation. Internal build quality also displays classic Naim construction techniques of neat, twisted cabling and multilayer circuit boards with a mixture of surface mounted and leaded components, each type selected for highest possible sound quality and reliability.

The DAC chip employed for this design is the two channel stereo Burr Brown PCM1791A, a low power 24 bit resolution CMOS device offering sampling frequencies up to 192kHz. and features advanced segment architecture to achieve excellent dynamic performance and resistance to any residual clock jitter. It's output is oversampled sixteen times by a digital filter to reduce unwanted sidebands and offer pristine, noise free audio at it's output. An Analog Devices Sharc ADSP 21489 digital signal processor combines hardware filter accelerators, sound mode memory configurations and dedicated audio peripherals making it the perfect choice in this high end application.

The left of the front panel is dominated by a large volume control, allowing the DACV1 to control the volume of any digital source connected. Below is a quarter inch stereo headphone socket, which is supplied from a dedicated, discrete circuit zero feedback class A amplifier with plenty of voltage and current capability to drive even high impedance headphones comfortably.

A bright and clear green backlit OLED display forms the centre piece of the DAC V1, showing which input has been selected along with volume level and menu options. Below is the well known green back lit Naim logo, which also doubles as a mute push button. On the right hand side are six, green back lit push buttons allowing digital input selection from either asynchronous USB or any of the five SPDIF inputs. Inputs one and two are on phono sockets, whilst the third is vai a BNC socket, and the remaining inputs four and five are via optical Toslink.

A sliding ground lift switch provides solutions to ground contamination and interference, and can be set to the best position via listening. Two sets of analogue outputs sockets are provided, a pair of stereo RCA phono sockets fir connection to other brands of equipment, or a five pin DIN socket for connection to a Naim power amplifier, such as the NAP100.

An IEC mains inlet socket and rocker on/off switch are provided on the rear panel, we have found that the Chord C-Power works very well, lifting the audio performance further towards complete reality of a live performance.