On some kit this is not a good idea (e.g DAC), but I don’t know with the ND555. probably one for Naim to answer.
I run my NDX2 like this with no issues and just switch outputs through the amp between speaker and headphone systems. Quite a few others here do the same.
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I’ll email Naim and report back to this thread. Thanks.
…And the Hi-Line is better. Well; from a optimum point of view. I’m missing mine…
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I once spent 3 consecutive weekends at different dealers pestering for this comparison of DIN to RCA. It’s a magnificent reminder of just how very good lavender is but it was absolutely clear that DIN was superior no matter which components were switched in.
Indeed said dealer showed exactly what happens when you have DIN and RCA attached at the same time. Performance is wholly levelled off and you are down to personal preference rather than rather obvious objective difference.
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Thanks for sharing. Guess I’ll just have to listen to some more music and try my at-home test again! Then I can start looking at attenuation… a whole other topic. 
When I tried the din rca test a while back (in an XS series system) using the stock lavender with a Nordost rca, I found the din much more compact and darker sounding than the Nordost. This showed more at very quiet levels in which I preferred the rca.
Using rca the soundstage was more open and brightly lit, of course.
When things where whacked up in volume the din tracked up in size, but still kept an all of its piece business, whereas the rca at volume went a bit wobbly with things going on perhaps where they shouldn’t have.
I found it helped to fiddle around with connections depending on the time of listening.
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Talking about rca to din. Mike could you please tell me which is the posotive and which is the negative on the naim 5 pin din end. I know that pin 2 is ground and pin 3 and 5 are ch1 and ch2 but which is the red and which is black as i’ve read conflicting info about this. I’m making a new rca din cable and want to get it right, thanks!
What Naim box are you connecting to with this DIN cable? Most Naim boxes have a little diagram next to the socket showing the pin layout so you can just look at that, but there are a number of different uses of DINs, so to be sure you get it right, best to say what you’re using.
For example, here’s one from a Nait5i-2
Good one … laughed out loud.
An IC cables core colours are irrelevant, my Morgami IC cable is blue & white, they are just identifiers.
Yep I agree with Richard.Dane. I tried doing the same and found doing a proper A/B with the unused output switched off was far far different…as in more accurate. Both sounded better however the DIN was superior to my ears.
All other things being equal 5 pin DIN is better than twin phono connectors, not least in a stereo pair there are two less physical signal contact connections. Physical contact connections are the weak point in any connectivity.
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This is my same amp and i have seen it but it doesn’t say whether ch1 ch2 is red or black, this is what i want to know? I want to wire the din plug perfectly according to the correct channel and din layout.
Do you mean because RCA would each have one signal lead and one return on each end, for a total of 8 contacts whereas DIN has 2 signal leads and one return on each end, for a total of 6 contacts? Ok, I get that.
I’m ok with switch off the output. Earlier responders were suggesting that the physical connection itself caused signal degradation. At least, that’s how I read it.
If you mean what colour is the RCA sockets, ch1 is white & ch2 is red
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Indeed yes; to summarise I meant for each stereo end:
Phono: four contacts
5pin DIN: three contacts
for end to end that obviously doubles to eight and six contacts
Okay thanks, didn’t want to solder it wrong way round!
Just remember r for right and r for red. And then, ch 1 is left and ch 2 is right.
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