Completed my final streaming set-up this year with a Farad 3 LPS on the EE8 switch and then swapping out my beloved NDX2 with a new ND555. The amplification was completed this time last year with swapping out a 252/250 for a used 552/300.
I recently stumbled across a “barn buy” LP12 as well, so probably finished, or close to finished, on the vinyl front too - will see what 2024 brings on that final chapter.
A new baseline, rather than a fully complete upgrade, comprises my five-box 300 system (NSS333, NAC332 & NPX300, NAP350) replacing a NAC282, HiCap and NAP250. I have yet to decide whether to put a second NPX300 onto the 333 or the 332, or give it a miss. I have also made a few tweaks to improve the sound even further.
Adding a Powerhaus S6 was a major step up - better control and a lower noise floor for example - initially with a Chord EpicX mains cable then further boosted by a SignatureXL.
On the other hand, replacing NACA5 speaker cable with Chord EpicX gave a surprisingly modest return. Similarly, AUVA70 isolators for the speakers gave a marginal improvement but no more than that.
An Innuos Zenith arrived to increase my local storage and become my main local NAS. So far my gut feel is that music ‘pushed’ from the Zenith to the 333 (play initiated with the Sense app) sounds better than if ‘pulled’ from the 333 (play initiated with the Naim app), but I need to do some proper A-B comparisons in the new year once everything else has settled down.
The latest arrival, Innuos PhoenixNet, is still running in, and is almost certainly a keeper. I set it up with a Sonos Connect box as an easy way to get a constant signal passing through it. Half an hour out of the box, brand new, music streaming through the PhoenixNet & Sonos into the 333 with bog-standard CAT5 and an optical cable was sounding better (fuller, more rounded, more musical) than the same music streamed directly to the 333 connected with an EpicX cable but bypassing the PhoenixNet.
My second, office, system revamp is complete. It is essentially a return to the past because I have reunited all the boxes of a 25-year old all Linn system which have not been together for a good 20 years or so. They are still performing very well and sounding very good, with a nice new Solidsteel rack to help ground the sound, a Powerhaus P6 doing a good job of removing noise and AUVA70 isolators under the speakers. Although the AUVAs have given a big boost to the speakers’ bass I am keeping a B&W sub in the system, because I do like the way a well integrated sub supports its speakers and helps underpin the music.
I suppose running both a Naim system and a Linn system is quite unusual, and they do sound different. The Linn is leaner, more clinical while the Naim is fuller and more musical. Within the context each of them is placed, it just works!
In the first situation, do you use an Spdif cable or still Ethernet?
SPDIF through a USB to SPDIF conversion; eg one of the M2Tech devices or Chord Electronics Explorer Mk 1, or, of course, through a USB input DAC.
ATB, J
Ethernet to the switch, not using the dedicated socket.
Ah yes. Thanks for the clarification. I was scratching my head how I’d missed that particular output option!
I don’t think I’ve read anyone having a non-ethernet connection between a Zenith and a 333.
Thanks. Because the other way, using usb to Spdif, you would use the 333 only as a dac. That would be surprising.
So, when the 333 receives a signal on its ethernet port it is the streaming circuit that processes the data rather than the DAC?
I would say the streamer and the dac of the 333. But if the player is the Zenith, connected to 333 in USB / SPDIF, then only the dac of the 333 is used.
I use both - my Zenith has an Ethernet connection to my LAN and a direct connection through a Chord Explorer Mk 1 to my 222 just as an alternative means of playing the Zenith’s content.
ATB, J
Do you prefer the sound of one over the other?
That would be my guess.
Some for instance have Uniticore into Nd555 in Spdif and prefer it to both Nd555 and Core connected to a switch. I find it surprising, but maybe you should try both connections.
I haven’t noticed any significant difference, just prefer using the Naim app to manage the listening experience.
The direct connection is a backup for any LAN failure but I’ve yet to have one 
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Overall I rate the NC system superior to the OC I had previously.
ATB, J
Correct, the Ethernet port connects to the streaming board, and the data is buffered and processed before being passed on to the DAC. Strictly speaking, it is passed to the SHARC DSP, which also takes the SPDIF signal, then to the DAC chip itself. The SHARC processor is pretty much part of the DAC as implemented in all Naim streamers.
So what is the Chord explorer? Google is failing me
@clog This is what is not running with my system. Sense app pushing is giving cracks in LS when toggling forward. Nothing on your side?
Zenith and phoenix here as well - very very nice !
Would you run that past me again, please. I don’t understand what you are saying.
Trick question, it is in fact the Meridian Explorer, I should know as I have both versions. 
There were both Mk I and Mk II versions, the Mk II omitting the optical output. Discontinued, so, only available used now.
Sorry for the confusion, I must be getting old 
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ATB, J
Noted. Thanks for the tip.
Looks like a nice neat solution. I tried a topping d10 with my pulsar but it would not get power from the phoenix lite usb port, only from the motherboard ports
