282 pre or NDX source upgrade

Here’s an even more economical (I think) suggestion.

Pick up a used Hugo TT (plenty on the market for very good prices)… use the NDX as transport into the TT.

I ran that DAC setup on a 252 / 300 DR based system and it was excellent.

You say you could stretch up to 5k, believe after the sale of your ndx?
Possibly in the used market you could still get an Nds/xpsdr for that sum.
If Nds is your goal, I definitely vouch for it even with the basic but discontinued and not dr’d xp5, as that ll be much better than any lesser transport no matter how you power this latter off.

i can stretch up to 5k without the sale of my ndx. it would be preferable to trade in my ndx at my dealers place and get the other stuff (whatever it will be) from him. however i’m sure it will be more costly to do it this way vs buying s/h from various market places and/or other dealers and separately sell my ndx. so the nds+xp5xs for about 4,5k looks very appealing for me right now cuz i believe I’d still get something between 1-2k for my ndx. any other option such as purchasing any ps or dac for my ndx would probably be more expensive.

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Just an observation: it would be a shame to part with serious money for an NDS - until recently Naim’s reference streamer - and then limit its performance with the XP5XS when it would really shine with a more natural partnering power supply. I suspect you would be somewhat disappointed with the result.

hmmm, to be honest i wouldn’t know how it sounds with either a xp5xs nor xps dr nor 555dr ps until i can have a proper demo. so you’d rather go for a more decent power supply for my ndx and later upgrade to a better ps or streamer?

I did mine in stages, albeit there was only 2 weeks between XPS DR and the NDS! This arose unexpectedly as a very reputable dealer had a used and serviced NDS with a new display and was happy to take part exchange which seemed like a good opportunity. My NDX display was starting to fade which did affect the trade in price a little but I was happy with the price to change and the transaction was hassle free.

When I bought the NDS the dealer said that the XPS DR would be very good, and it is! We discussed the 555ps and the dealer advised against upgrading the XPS DR to a non DR 555 as the diference would be swings and roundabouts and whilst the 555 would improve in many ways it doesn’t have everything its own way. In short it seemed to be that you would trade weight and authority against insight. The recommendation was to wait and go for the 555 DR as the next upgrade.

Having said all this If I were to do it again I may have bought a non DR 555ps first and waited a little for the NDS and then DR’d the 555. I was however lucky to get an excellent condition XPS DR which was older but had been upgraded for a very reasonable price from a dealer which seemed to good to miss which dictated my path.

I’m not sure I’d go as low as the XP5XS, it doesn’t seem like you would stay with it for very long.

My experience is with the CDX2 rather than with a NDX but they are broadly comparable.
Initially I ran it - then brand new - bare and this was OK but it was only when I partnered it with an XPS that the music gained real depth and insight. After a few years - at the suggestion of my highly trusted dealer - I made the mistake of auditioning a 555PS. Once I’d listened for a few minutes ( actually a few seconds :grinning:) I realized what the CDP was really capable of and the value of the better power supply.
If you have 5k plus the NDX to play with the NDS with 555PS (non-DR) is within budget (pre-loved)
Otherwise a 555PS DR now and an NDS later is the way to go.

Used prices on NDSs have fallen rapidly. I just picked one up for £2700. I’m going for 555PS as well. I have an ND5XS through a Teddy Pardo DAC which sounds pretty good. Just waiting for NDS to arrive and get a 555PS before I sell the ND5XS and DAC. I’ve seen the 555PS non DR for around the £3k mark.

I have an 82 and Supercap 2 after having 2 hicaps. The Supercap makes a difference in my view.

So with the sale of your NDX for around £1000, I think you can get an NDS and 555PS within the £5k budget, just !

Not a bad idea to use them as a stop-gap.
Sooner or later either your player or the psu will give way to an important psu upgrade and help other user/s happy.
Though it must also be pointed out the psu would be better value and future proof ,whereas the player better sound as aforesaid.

This is exactly what I did for my NDX2/282/HCDR/250DR. I’d bet that the XPSDR+SCDR together may give just the 555PS alone a run for the money as upgrade for my NDX2. In addition I got the lift for analog source, whereas a 555PS alone would have no affect.

My comment in the right situation the NDS can sound wonderful, and was effectively the reference streamer for a few years until the new streamer products were developed and launched…
However the NDS transport section is its weak link, along with the other legacy streamers. If you plan for the majority of your streaming limited to local NAS based UPnP streaming and you have a good quality home network the NDS will be great… if you however aspire to streaming from services such as Tidal and Qobuz (via Roon) then you will need to look at the current Naim streamers…(the NDS does natively support Tidal, but most find it sounds inferior to local streaming on the legacy streamers)
The Hidef PCM streaming options from Qobuz (available via Roon on the new streamers) are mouth watering and much new content is available to stream this way… and often provides a worthy lift above CD masters… it’s worthy of exploring…they sound delightful.
Apparently native Qobuz playback on the new streamers is being developed too. I don’t know if this will extend to the legacy streamers, and if it did because of their older more limited transport it is unlikely to support Hidef playback

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I usually do Tidal and local NAS based UPnP streaming at the moment, maybe 60/40. I have not come to the point in using Qobuz just because it was not there.
When saying “NDS transport section is its weak link” are you just referring to the lack of support for other streaming services such as Qobuz or does that also incorporate sound performance compared to the transport sections of the new streamers? Is it worth just out of technical reasons and obviously being future proof to better go for a new streamer like the ND5XS 2 or NDX2 instead of an old NDS?

What SImon is saying is that the transport section in the new streamers is much improved.

Due to the way the streamers are affected by noise which among other things is caused by the streamer doing processing Tidal on the older streamers doesn’t sound anywhere near as good as local streaming which is less affected by this.

I found on my NDX that Tidal wasn’t viable, sounding flat and not involving at all. The NDS is much better in this respect and the difference between local and Tidal is closer but still Tidal is inferior.

This doesn’t preclude owning a legacy streamer and having a good Tidal or Qobuz experience. It’s possible to install a proxy on a NAS or other device which deals with the Tidal or Qobuz processing and sends the music to the streamer as if it was local or UPNP streaming. This solution uses BubbleUPNP server and a suitable control point application like the Linn one or Lumin instead of the Naim app.

An alternative is to run Roon. Whilst the older streamers don’t support Roon directly it’s easy enough to run a piece of software or hardware called a bridge which sends the Roon generated music to the streamer as a PCM stream. This is what I use and Tidal is now on par with local streaming.

If you don’t want to employ the workarounds then maybe a newer model is more appropriate, such as an NDX2 bare. However an NDS still sees off the NDX2 sonically so you need to determine which direction will suit you best.

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An NDX2 with 555PSDR comes very close to the performance of an NDS. Plus with the added benefits of a stable Tidal connection, Qobuz capability, & better screen. I’d go for the NDX2 with a PSU when funds allow, either XPSDR or preferably 555PSDR.

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Yes but the NDS can be used without an app… :wink:

:roll_eyes: The app works for me. You can always struggle with the NDX2 Zigbee®- compatible remote control if you wish.

The NDX2 zigbee controller is fantastic… great feature… I use it nearly all the time… you don’t need line of sight and there is no conflict with other devices and works obviously well in bright sunlight and over a distance.
I love the way the remote lights up when moved… and doesn’t feel like a brick like my 552 remote

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Yes absolutely a protocol break proxy (or more accurately a reverse proxy) will turn web streaming services into local services such as upnp. A great tool to max SQ with such services with the legacy streamers. Some home computer know how is needed to setup however.

Not a great deal though. It took me five minutes and I’m pretty clueless. As the OP has a nas, and assuming Bubble is compatible, it would give a big lift in Tidal and Qobuz SQ for free.

One could almost say…um…err… it looks rather nice.

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