Hi everyone. I am new to Naim and super went down the rabbit hole over 2 weeks ago. Background story: I bought an Atom then got a deal on a Nova. The I was on the forums and saw that pairing a 250 to either makes a difference. So I got a 250.2 for the Atom and a 250DR to the Nova. This all worked out well but then I saw a 272 for sale and saw that people said that it is way better in sound. I am waiting for it to be delivered. Then I saw a super deal for an NDS with 2* 555PS DR. I am waiting for that.
Now I thought that I can play the NDS like the Nova through the 250DR but was told that I needed a pre amp. There goes the all in one box idea and am now getting into a complete sounds system. But the thing is that I am not sure what to do because I only stream (Tidal and Internet radio) and use my RME UCX that is connected to my computer for Youtube and games and thought that I can just connect this all to the NDS. But I guess I can’t? Or at least I wouldn’t be getting the best SQ if I was using the digital volume.
So question is can I use the 272 just for the volume control and use the NDS for all the audio processing? Thanks in advance everyone.
You can use the 272 just as a preamp but you would be best trading it for a dedicated preamp, which will perform much better. I would look at something like a NAC282 with a HIcap as a minimum here…
As a temporary measure before getting yourself a dedicated preamp, you could get the best out of the 272 by using the NDS with a single 555PS and using the other 555PS (with suitable Burndy cable) on the 272.
What a mess! If it’s not too late, cancel the NDS and 272, stop reading stuff on the forum and find a decent dealer who can offer you proper advice and demos. You should end up with a system which actually works, is well balanced, and is enjoyable to listen to. It’ll probably save you a load of money too.
Hey Richard, Yeah I hear you. The thing is that I have all this equipment and I think I want to see what I can do with what I have. I could probably sell some of the components to do what you are saying but I really want to try something with what I have.
Hi James thanks for the advice. I heard good things about putting the two PS to the NDS. Question, would the 272 just serve as a volume control for the NDS and how would the PS help on the 272 if it is just for volume. I would be connecting the NDS to the 250 DR. I tried looking for info on how to connect the 272 to the NDS. Again waiting till all the equipment comes in.
Hey Chris, yeah unfortunately I can’t cancel the NDS and 272. It’s on its way. Yeah I was reading all forum stuff. But honestly I got a good deal on the NDS and two PSs. I really liked the Nova with the 250DR with Harbeth P3s. This is what I am hoping with the NDS is that it will be a good system overall. Hopefully no more buying after all of this.
Yeah hungryhalibut. The thing is that at least if I don’t like or need some of the hardware I can always sell it off. I always went with the idea of collect and select.
Welcome the madhouse. The NDS will work fine in to the 272 and yes you can use that as a pre-amp. Yes you can change the 272 for a dedicated pre-amp one day. Yes with the correct burndy you can try the second 555PS in the 272 rather than both PS on the NDS. The NDS should come with an interconnect DIN-DIN for connection to the 272. All good fun. Enjoy.
With the correct cables you will at least have a functioning system.
These boxes are fussy, and need to be carefully set up on a decent rack in irder to sound as they should (but you read the forum, so you know that!)
Also consider that the reason these older streamers are bargains is largely because of their limited abilities when it comes to internet streaming, not least Tidal and iRadio support.
If it was me I would keep the NDS with the two 555PS DR and buy a NAP 282 with a HiCap DR to use with your NAP 250 DR. That would support your tidal, (not TIDAL Connect which is supported with the 2nd generation streamers) and internet radio.
I would sell off the Atom, Nova and NAC 272 and NAP 250.2.
From there you could latter update the NDS to a current level streamer, upgrade the NAP 282 and HiCap DR to a higher level PreAmp & Power Supply. Then of course upgrade the NAP Power Amp.
…following the upgrade path of many before you.
Best of luck with all your decisions…
…and don’t forget you will have fun upgrading all the cables, interconnects and miscellaneous gear as well on your travels. The forum has many threads with stories of those who have traveled the upgrade path before you. The search feature can be your friend and share the stories of those who have traveled before you…
Yeah I will be picking up a Fraim this weekend. Yeah the old streamers are a deal but the ND 555 is quite pricey. I love the Nova and the Atom for its ease of use. It just connects and goes. I use them primarily for Tidal and Internet radio.
Hi seakayaker. TBH I don’t want more boxes. Says the guy who picked up a bunch of boxes. I was really hoping that I can just have the NDS and the 2* 555PS DR but I was told that I should get a preamp.
I am keeping the Nova for my girlfriend to have in the living room. The NDS and everything else is going inside my home office.
Tell me about it. The upgrade path is limitless with limitless money. I kind of want to stay with streamer and nice sound. I think my setup coming up will do me just fine. It’s now a matter of getting it all and setting it all up.
I did read that the 272 and NDS can be finiky with Tidal and iRadio. Crossing fingers that it is seamless.
The 272 and NDS are legacy streamers and you’ll need to implement Kurt’s cloud solution for integrated lossless iRadio streaming or run minimserver on your network to stream lossless radio stations via UPNP.
Hi ElMarko, Thanks for the post. It seems like my wishes on decent sound got a bit more complicated. I didn’t know it would be so much of a hassle. Now I almost want to run my Atom or Nova through the NDS to make things simple.
Yeah as people have said thing can get a little messy and costly quite quickly. I could try running a minimserver on my QNAP but that will be another project to figure out.
I’ve done the separates path in the past and prefer my 3 box setup. The $$ were reasonable and the solutions for lossless streaming integration I posted above were not that hard to implement. I have a QNAP NAS on my network for my local files (Asset UPNP). And I added minimstreamer for lossless radio UPNP using a m3u file for the stations. Also added bubblesoft app to do lossless Qobuz streaming through the Linn app (Kazoo). I’m not tech savvy at all and the information posted here by inmates is pretty easy to follow. If you don’t have/want a NAS, Kurt’s solution above is easy to implement. You’re just adding your stations through vtuner with the urls he provides in the thread. Not too bad. But yeah, you’ll have to expend a little effort. I think you’re wasting your time with the NDS if you’re not going to use it as your streamer, same with the 272. Maybe try a NDX2 and SN3 to get up and running easy.
Sounds good. I will try out the NDS with the QNAP solution since I have it anyway. They say the DAC is really nice on the NDS. Again the ease of Tidal and Internet Radio is what I enjoy most and can’t wait to hear the quality out of the system. Thanks for the heads up.