Completely spot on! They are booming like hell and muddying the low frequencies, unless I add a digital filter to reduce the 45Hz frequency. And I bring them over 1 meter into the room which is not really reasonable…
Indeed it’s clear that I will replace them. No point (and no budget ) to improve the front end. The search is on (after 10-day school break ) to figure out what I want from a speaker that works in my room…
So, it’s been a busy week in terms of listening. Following the suggestions of the dear forum, I went on the search for a dealer stocking Neat SX3. Thankfully I found one who is also a Naim specialists and also had the Sonus Faber Sonetto I at hand for comparing with something I am familiar with by now. This visit ended up in some very educational last few days (but I am still not closer to deciding my ideal speakers… )
Part 1: The store visit
The (very friendly and helpful) dealer had set up a NDX2 → SN3 system to try out different speakers:
We started with SX3 which are tiny by the way! Unfortunately their sound was not that fulfining. I suspect the fact that the listening room was pretty large didn’t help either. So we quickly moved on to other speakers.
Sonettos I were as I remembered them, with a relatively warm character but still keeping some sparkle.
Sonus Faber Minima Amator II: Similar to Sonettos in character, but more of everything: bass, scale, detail etc
Then the audition took a different path: We listened to Audiovector R1 Signature which were placed on a furniture (not stands) and fed by a Uniti Atom. The dealer recommended them as an option that could be possibly combined with a subwoofer, so I happily obliged. During the audition it became clear that they give very nice 3D imaging and details without being bright. I would say that they do have a bit of the warmth (not as much as the Sonus Faber of course) that I was missing from the PMCs. They are also quite fast and tuneful, but definitely not as fast as the PMC 21i.
So I decided to give them a try at home to see what the fuss is about… . And as that dealer was also stocking REL subwoofers, now was my chance to check them out in action. So the dealer kindly offered to bring the Audiovectors and a (brand-new) REL T7x at home for me to try. And there start 5 interesting days…
The kind dealer came home, fine tuned the position of my speaker stands at a reasonable position not too far into the room, adjusted the Isoacoustics GAIA and installed the Audiovectors + REL T7x. The subwoofer was connected via the high level connection to the right speaker only, for avoiding to make a mess of the cable. The result should be indicative enough anyway. On top of that, we connected the speakers via a pair of Chord Epic XL cables. And finally, he suggested to remove the bass traps from the rear walls for improving the reflections of the tweeter (in the Audiovectors, the tweeter is also rear “ported”). I didn’t get any nice pictures, but here is how the setup ended looking like:
Today, when he came back to pack things, he also brought along (after my request) the ND5XS2 to compare as a transport vs the Allo Signature into the nDAC, as well as a pair of ATLAS speaker cables to try out something at a lower price point. So many permutations to try out and easy to get lost… I will summarize my findings below.
Bass traps
Following some REW measurements, I got flatter mid-bass response by having the bass-traps in the corners (I put them on the two left-side corners as the REL was on the right front one). So that stays there for the time being
REL T7x
The sub was brand new, so it never performed to its full potential, as it needs plenty of running in. Overall I configured it at pretty low gain level to get a positive impact. I tried the room corner, as well as in the middle of the room, in front of the Naims, where I could get a more flat bass response. Towards the end of the week I could get an idea of their positive contribution if set up properly, with a nice “filling-in” of the sound. Didn’t manage to get a perfect set-up, but I can understand their potential.
Speaker cables
Naca5: We know it and we like it . Plenty of PRAT, relatively dark sound.
Chord Epic XL: Definitely more detail, sparkle and authority, but at a cost… Pretty decent with PRAT too.
ATLAS Hyper whatever cable: Louder volume, but too bright. Didn’t like it with any of the speakers that I tried (Audiovector, Dynaudio C1, BW 685)
Speakers
Audiovectors: Nice imaging, clear sound, decent PRAT, pretty neutral and without colouration. At some songs they were amazing, but at others they were sounding harsh and not well structured. I don’t understand what the issue was. But for some reason, I never warmed up to them… Subconsciously I know I am a bit stuck at the PMCs which sound so unique and special
Dynaudio C1 Platinum (the return): Following all the fine tuning from the dealer, I decided to give a try to the Dynaudios once more, with the new cables and the different bass trap placement. I also put the foam plugs back on, to achieve a comparable frequency response at the low end with the rest of the speakers in this room. No more booming now, and some extra sparkle with the Chord Epic cables. They definitely became more interesting and listenable than before, but they retain the shortcomings that have led me here in the first place. So no easy way out by just changing cables I am afraid…
Streaming source
That was an unexpected revelation of the day… The dealer was highly against the rPi source, even as a transport. (He is also highly against Naim cables, but that’s a different story… ). Anyway, I decided to do a comparison, starting with the assumption that I wouldn’t manage to hear a single difference. The setup was:
a) rPi+Allo Digione Signature + Allo Shanti with a simple IEC Schuko cable. Connected to my home router via a short Ethernet cable with some ferrites. Blue Jeans BNC cable to the nDAC.
b) ND5 XS2 with a Chord Power cable. Connected via WiFi to the router (there was some issue with the Ethernet connection). Output configured to digital out only. Chord Epic (I think) BNC cable to the nDAC.
For this comparison we used the Audiovectors and the Chord Epic XL speaker cables. This is probably the most transparent combination of speaker/cables I had at hand in order to maximise the possibilities to hear a difference.
We tried “Another one bites the dust” for comparing the PRAT, and “Hijo de la luna” by Monserrat Caballe for a more layered piece. Both streamed at CD quality using Tidal Connect. My (sweet and patient ) OH sat in the sweet spot and listened without knowing which transport was playing.
My wallet is unhappy to report that ND5 XS2 won hands down this comparison… . More PRAT, more bass, more authority. My OH got the goosebumps (repeatedly) with ND5, which didn’t happen with Allo… Blimey!
I was really surprised to experience such a clear difference between the two transports… As well as hearing clear differences among the speaker cables… Wasn’t expecting that… So at least I am not that deaf after all .
Where to go from here… I still don’t know. Planning to audition the JERN speakers in the near future. Maybe also give a shot at the new entry-level PMC Prodigy in a couple of months? And a lot depends on what appears on the second-hand market. Even though I feel a bit bad to shop second-hand after all this help I have got from different dealers. The last one was so so helpful and passionate, that I offered to pay him something for his services, but he refused. For sure I am grateful for meeting some great people along the way!
Anyone who says quality of digital transport isn’t Important can be safely ignored (the “it’s just bits” argument).
Our NDX2 sounds fabulous into nDAC, as you’re finding with the smaller sibling.
We also have a RPI with digital hat and it’s fine into SuperUniti but well outclassed into nDAC by both the naim streamer and an old Micromega CD transport.
But as I posted previously, finding out middle of last year that NDX2 800 board was being used in new 333 streamer was the clincher in us deciding to go for NDX2.
Generally I don’t believe the dealers….but here, yes. Same transport, ok. But it’s not all. Noise, vibrations, EMI/ RFI….are more controlled on the Nd555. Have not tried, but i would be surprised to not hear differences.
Someone recently tried the Nd5xs2 vs Ndx2 as transport into an external dac and found some improvement with the later, even if not night and day.
I have not tried, so only a feeling from me. I know you haven’t personally found a difference comparing both with a Chord dac. Maybe you didn’t wanted to hear it or maybe there’s no difference….
.
To be fair he wasn’t trying to sell me an ND555 transport, we were just chatting and he had tried it out of curiosity in his own system, Dave into 552/500.
That’s why we might try NDS in place of nDAC. No transformer, suspended boards etc.
We know we’re chasing minuscule improvements at our system level.
Adding an XPSDR to the NDX2 would also remove a transformer from the brains stack, but we’re not sure how many DR feeds are used from PSU into NDX2 when used as a transport, so could be a waste of time.
I’ve tried putting some pillows/blanket in the past, but no real difference. Right now I am doing some experimenting and the TV is out. And that does make a positive difference.
I’ll give it a shot this weekend now that everything is upside down and I have some extra long (amazon) speaker cables to see what I get… Previous attempts with suboptimal positioning didn’t measure that well, but now I should be more flexible.
These speakers are well run-in so no issue there. HiLine interconnect used from nDAC to SN2.
The main issue now is of course the need for longer speaker cables. I patched up a pair of 7.5m from Amazon (€50 together with some banana plugs), but obviously this solution cannot stay for too long… Any suggestions for a cheap decent cable at 5.5m? Looking at WitchHat N2 cable at the moment which should be cheaper and more convenient than Naca5. Even though the cable choice might depend on the final speaker itself, so possibly no point to change at the moment.
In addition, I am considering to replace the stock power cables of the nDAC and the HiCap with something (much) shorter, but of potentially higher quality, again at a modest cost. Main motivation is to manage the cable mess behind the Naim stack, but any concurrent sound improvements would be welcome. I came across the MCRU No. 75 EU Schuko Power Cord which is available at 0.7m and should do the job. Any suggestions here? The SN2 is on a Powerline which will stay. The extension board is the “Music Line Netzleiste Plus”, so essentially a decent simple block with a Powerline.
Regarding the speaker themselves, I’ll be arranging an audition of the JERN 11 in ~10 days. Real life intervenes in the meantime…
Now you know why I recommended the ND5XS2 on 3 April. If you are thinking of the new PMC Prodigy, why not just go with the twenty5.21i? They look so much nicer.