To be fair adding a second ps at £7.5k new, is never going to be a great valve for money upgrade, especially when alot of whats inside both boxes is not used now.
Especially if you find its not all an upgrade and you find something missing? But its refreshing to hear a very honest opinion, as most will after spending out this sort of dosh, be it on a second power supply, or whatever, say its made all the difference, even if they can’t really tell, as how many times i hear it said, you need to leave it weeks to settle in etc, by that time, no one can remember what it was like.
If an nd555 really needs two psus to sound good, that’s £30k?
There must be a better sound for £30k
And as others have mentioned, there’s lots of the 555 psu that the nd555 does not have access to.
Surprised that naim have not made a nd555 specific psu rather than make use of something designed for a cd player.
I wouldn’t be so sure.
Different, yes. But better…
If you want better, not only different, you’ll have to spend a lot more.
There is one thing that is common to all serious HiFi brands : you get what you paid for.
The ND555 + 2 PS is a marvel in its own way.
I wrote this little review that might be of some interest, especially if you think a second PS is not worth it.
In fact, I was this close to sell all my Naim gear and move to CH Precision. The firmeware 3.4 arrived just in time
Of course you need a pair of speakers that are able to show you what the ND555 is capable of and, of course, a room that doesn’t destroy to much of the music your speakers reproduce.
There is, is one answer to that question, the second question, why would naim do that, when they sell these ok.
But i have said many times, a dedicated twin power supply for the nds, and nd555, would be nice to see, and show the commitment to its owners going forward, rather than the make do compromise that is available
Its like having a double decker bus, but you can’t use the top deck x 2 lol
I think that is what I was trying to say. The current cd555 psu is a compromise on a product that is not intended to be compromised!
Or maybe, naim are saving the proper no compromise for a Sratement source.
I agree on the preference for LP - the best rendition I ever heard was on a crackly LP at Sound Organisation, London Bridge in a mid-80s LP12 through a Naim 32.5/SNAPS/6 x 135 into Isobariks. The clap of thunder sounded like it was 15 miles away. Despite spending a fortune on my own LP12 Naim Shahinian system, and buying LOG 5 times on vinyl, inc a MoFi pressing, nothing has come close. The DSD version through my ND555/2x555DR isn’t too shabby, surprisingly not too far behind the MoFi pressing.
Who knows / maybe you need the full SL look to hear the difference between 1 and 2. Or a super awesome room. And speakers. Anyway / I don’t like the SL speaker cable either…
The reason I do Naim is for the PRAT - if I wanted HiFi I’d go do something else…
It was designed to use both outputs to the cd555, rather than specifically the nd555 or ndx2.
Its full potential can not be used in the two latter models ( nor may it be required?). But it is a compromise. The non compromise would be to have designed a specific psu for the nd555 rather than appeal to those that already had one with their cd555.
As @Dunc has said, its a double-decker bus that naim only allow you to access the lower deck. But they will sell you another double-decker as well.
… was designed to use one or two outputs. The CD555 can be powered with one or two 555PS.
As for being specifically designed for the CD555 only, I very much doubt it.
Considering Naim’s strategy (the long term step by step upgrade path) it is very unlikely Naim didn’t think about using the CD555PS in other products.
But, of course, only Naim can answer that question.
As for the compromise I still don’t understand. The 555PS is high quality power supply no more. Designed for sources (like a CD player, a DAC or a streamer).
Anyway, the ND555 is a nice piece of kit, that is even better when using 2 power supplies. Other brands, like MSB, share the same strategy.
As for its intrinsic source qualities, I believe it fits well in the 30k range.
Of course, there are other nice options on the market, each one of them with its own qualities, and limitations.
Well it was at the time though - Network products (The HDX and NaimNet) followed a few years later. The ND555 (as did the NDS) follows the same principles in splitting the analogue and digital supplies as the CD555 did. The analogue split rail 22v supplies feed the voltage conversion and filters. For digital, the split rail 10v supplies feeding clock and DAC. The remaining 15v rails feed the streamer and digital section rather than motor and servos of the CD555. Good planning by Naim
Continuing though - hard to go back to one PSU - so after last nights testing, back to two. I suspect there’s something else throwing things off balance when I put both on. Time to debug…
FWIW when I auditioned the ND555 with 1x and 2x 555PS I was very attentive for any loss of organic cohesion and there was absolutely none in my room and system. Absolutely no downside whatsoever to 2.
I suspect Naim don’t yet have the stomach for a new PSU, even if they have ideas for an uprated design tailored to current products. A new model would need to comply with whatever regulations apply at the time, such as the energy efficiency regs that meant putting a SMPS in the new Unitis and streamers to reach the required low power standby consumption. The relays that switch from the SMPS to the main PSU seem to be causing problems, so I suspect there is more work to be done here.
Thus the odd situation where it’s still called the CD555PS, when none of them are being sold to power a CD555.
Yes, that’s an interesting point Chris. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it etc. I’m sure Naim have more pressing developments to deal with. That 372 isn’t going to design itself and as for the Aro replacement…