P a g e 10
Starting
Once the Nu-Vista DAC unit is correctly wired up, and plugged into mains, the Standby LED will light up. In
this mode the Nu-Vista DAC is consuming a minimal amount of power. To switch the unit on, press the Power
button (4) on the front of the unit or the remote control. The display will now light up and the POWER LED will
light up. The LEDs illuminating the Nuvistor valves will light up RED. This means the outputs are muted, and
will remain in this state for about 12 seconds, so no sound will be heard. Once the delay is up, these LEDs go
ORANGE, indicating the unit is ready for use, and any source material selected and playing will be heard. For
the first 15 mins or so, the Nu-Vista valves are still warming up, and their LEDs stay ORANGE. After approx.
20 mins the valves will have reached full thermal equilibrium and are at their best performance, which is
indicated by their LEDs turning BLUE.
Input selection
The Nu-Vista DAC has a total of seven inputs available. These are Optical 1, 2, and 3, Coaxial, AES/EBU,
USB and also I2S (I2S is reserved for a later to be release Nu-Vista CD player).
After a Factory Reset the USB input is selected and the volume is set to -42dB.
When the Nu-Vista DAC is taken out of sleep mode, it will default to the last input selected.
From the front panel you can cycle through the inputs by using the input selector wheel 1.
The remote control has direct access buttons for each input. Simply press the appropriate button to move
directly to that input.
Optical, coaxial & AES/EBU inputs
These are capable of accepting up to 24 bit 192 kHz PCM stereo, MQA 384kHz, and DoP DSD 64 data
streams. The incoming data sample rate is displayed on the front panel display for reference.
USB Input
The USB input is capable of accepting up to 24 bit 768 kHz PCM, DSD 256 (native DSD 512) data streams
and all MQA data streams.
Computer settings for USB
A good quality USB 2.0 cable is required to connect the unit to the computer. Normal USB standards stipulate
that this should be 5M or less; and we recommend keeping it as short as possible.
WARNING: Older USB cables are often heavy and bulky and must be supported to avoid damage to the USB
socket. Any physical damage caused to this socket will not be covered by warranty.
The computer should now detect the Nu-Vista DAC. A driver installation is only required on Windows.
• Linux kernel 2.6.33 or later (no driver required)
• Apple OS X® 10.6.4 or later (no driver required)
• Windows 10 Creators Edition or later (driver found on included CD or on Musical Fidelity website)
For playing native DSD on Windows a driver installation is required.
Any device that is compliant to the USB Audio Class 2.0 standard should also operate with the Nu-Vista DAC.
However Musical Fidelity are unable to provide support for operation with anything other than the systemlisted
above.
CD, MP3, WAV, AAC/+, OGG, FLAC, and any other audio file types played on suitable playback software will
now play through the unit.
Note: This USB input has a high-speed serial data processor, and by its nature, requires a very high volume
of USB bandwidth. It will benefit greatly from being the only device connected on its USB ‘bus’. Sharing the
same bus with other devices could cause unwanted artifacts such as dropouts or temporary loss of signal.
This especially includes the use of the unit on a USB hub/splitter whether alongside other USB components
or not. Adirect connection tothe host computer by shortest USB 2.0lead possible is very much recommended.