2x555DR vs. 1x555DR on a ND555

Agreed.

G

I’m not a huge fan of Lang Lang, but I thought it would be nice to listen to it with my 4 years old young daughter.

God, this album sounds good.

I don’t know if it is the second 555PS added to the ND555, or the whole system.

But the dynamics, the attacks precision, all the micro dynamics, … Add to it well captured recording venue, … it sounded amazing :smiley:


Nice track :

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(Best Boris voice…)
There’s a very interesting question Clive and I’m very glad you asked it😉

If forced to choose only one then it would of course be the streamer for its far greater range of capabilities, especially Classical which is 70-80% of my listening and even more particularly, solo instruments and chamber music.

The reality is that I already made a ‘digital wins’ decision 25 years ago when my old LP12 and all my LP’s went into storage when I moved to Japan for work reasons. At that point it was a Roksan Attessa Transport and PinkTriangle DaCapo DAC as digital source that made the journey with me.
It had, on balance, more to offer with a wider range of music than my Vinyl source did. That only got better with CDS2, CDS3 and then NDS. ND555 just extends the capabilities a LOT further and is by a long distance the best yet.

But… the LP12 offers a special experience, a different view of the music and I appreciate having the option of what it offers. Most of all, I’m still finding that analog recordings from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s can still sound more authentic, convincing and involving on Vinyl. Caveat that 2.5 days in on a second PS and still suffering plenty of lumpy burn in, I haven’t had a chance to try too many of these recordings on digital yet.

Bottom line Really happy that I’m blessed that I’m lucky enough to have both options. :pray::blush:

I think digital sources are ideally suited to classical music owing to the lack of noise in quieter passages and the ability to store nearly 80 minutes of continuous music on one disc.

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Thanks DB. I’ve recently been using my Wireworld Matrix 2 to feed the ‘server’ side of the system ( switch, NAS and Unitiserve). I will try redeploying it on the main system in your configuration. I had used it in that fashion before to good effect, so I’ll revert again to that and see what it does.
Burn in continues to be very lumpy with occasional flashes of what it can truly do - which keep me optimistic. After another frustrating listening session this evening the thought occurred that burn in might be hastened by using the new PS as a single supply, i.e. powering both analogue and digital for a few days, so that’s what I have set up quietly playing on repeat now and overnight to try to kick it into shape.

FWIW I quickly reverted to a single supply configuration using my ‘old’ PS, before putting the new supply to work with both Burndies. The old one was quite obviously the more musical and engaging of the two, so hopefully the burn in theory is validated…
Interesting observation (?) :
With 2 supplies I wondered which, when turning power on or off, would actually turn the lights on or off on the head unit. Answer = the digital supply. Interesting too that the digital supply turns off instantly ( the illuminated logo switches off instantly) whereas the analogue stays illuminated for several seconds before the caps discharge.

The Digital circuits draw a lot more current and empty the reservoir caps quicker; the Analogue circuits are not so current-hungry.

I generally try to power both supplies on/off within a second or so of each other so that the ND555 is not sitting their part-powered. Not that it may be an issue - I just do not know if it is a good idea or not!

The PS take a few weeks to run-in from new and IMO sound comparatively horrible to a well run-in one of at least a few months. Give is a couple of weeks for the edge to go from the new one and it to open-out and you should be into a better idea of what it will do.

DB.

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I have my second 555DR implemented since 1 week and I can confirm that my ND555 has never sounded so good as now. There is a lot more space in the soundstage and more details presented in all frequencies. I recommend all ND555 owners to demo a second 555DR :blush:

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Yes, but they are not cheap. The outcome is worth saving up for imo.:+1:

You are absolutely right, that the price for the power supply is extremely high. For the price you get a starting Naim system like a Uniti Star with a pair of good Neat speakers and save some money to spend for a Tidal or Qobuz abo for a couple of years :joy:
Thats the premium we pay as the Naim nerds :wink:

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Could this improvement be partly due to the firmware update one week ago? Just teasing, am I?

Of course you are, don’t you :laughing:
For me, a second 555PS made such a difference that I hardly understand why Naim sells the ND555 with a single PS (well, we all know why, don’t we? … :wink:)

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The ND555 with one power supply sounds already great, but it is fun to see that a second power supply brings the ND555 to another level with improvements in all aspects. As one of my friends stated “I never have heard a system with such a deep soundstage. It seems that the musicians are standing in front of us”

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In terms of sound-stage, I heard a lot better. However, within its price range, the ND555 + 2x555PS is indeed among the very best.

And the 3.6 brought a lot . It’s such a pleasure to listening to my favourites concertos! :relaxed: :notes: :musical_note: :notes:

Pity the "random reboot" problem hasn't been solved...
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Hi Thomas
Would you be so kind and share with us some of your favorite concertos, you love to listen with the new FW 3.6?

Two of them, both nicely recorded. Of course, there are many others I enjoy.

But the more I listen to my favourite tracks the more I get mixed feelings about the firmware 3.6…

image

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5 weeks in on a second 555PS. Beautiful. Transformatory. Much truer depiction of a musical event. Moving, riveting, realistic, spellbinding, other silly, superlative, slightly ridiculous adjectives…
:blush::grin::smiley::crazy_face::grinning::wink::grin::smiley:

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tra la la not listening…

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(BTW, notice Joey’s electrostatics…)

I’m falling back on my memory of a demo of the ND555 run by Jason Gould. There was a second ps available, primarily to power an NDS. The system was 252/300 into Dynaudio something or other floor standing. At the end we got him to connect the second ps to the ND555. The preference in the room was split down the middle between one and two ps on this occasion with some liking the extra detail and resolution but the rest, me included, missing the the organic coherence of a single ps.
Back home I too found the plug and rack order very important to getting the best from an ND555. I wasn’t paying attention to these at the demo but they’re unlikely to have been optimised for two ps on the ND.
I’ve not seen anyone using two ps saying that coherence and timing has improved, it’s all about soundstage dynamics and scale, all of which are very desirable but not if I loose any of the swing.
So @MMky how are you getting on with the second ps?

I never was able to really grasp the meaning of “organic”.

If organic means “real”, then details, attacks, decays and 3D stereo image (distances) is what makes hifi sound “real”.

Perhaps, we’re so used to a compact and flat music reproduction that something sounding otherwise is disturbing.

Among other things, what makes Naim’s electronics sound appealing and “real” is the way it handles attacks and decays.

To our brains, the difference between a piano and a cello is, above all, the beginning and the end of each note, the piano strike or bow attack. Not the sound in between.

That’s why no coloration is less important than the ability to reproduce those “beginings” and “endings”. For that, the amplification needs to be weaked fast! And Naim is very good at it.

But that’s not all.

A realistic reproduction is not only about “speed”, details and the illusion of distances is also key.

And Naim tends to go in that direction with the Statement, and to a certain point with the ND555 (more details and the sense of depth)

IMO, of course.

EDIT : very capable speakers are also needed…

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