A word of warning. I tried a substitute PS on my old 272 once.
The music fell apart. Literally.
It wouldn’t be a good introduction to the NDS ime.
G
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It wouldn’t have been a Teddy then. Many say it sounds better, but I think that’s BS. But it should do till I can get a proper XPS. Only being able to look at the NDS is killing me. lol.
And my SU sold in one day, so I can only just look at my SN2 as well. I coulda sworn it moved yesterday.
Thanks for the heads-up tho. I’ll be careful, and find an XPS as soon as possible.
Cheers.
Dave
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So… a friend of mine happened to have one of the afore-mentioned PSs, and he took pity on me and sold it to me so I could at least try my new (to me) NDS.
Well, holy… cow! The kit wasn’t even all setup properly. We just wanted to connect it to the SN2 and hear it, and just make sure it worked. I stuck a USB stick in the front with a bunch of MP3s on it (good stuff, mind you), and hit OK.
The wife and I just sat and listened for about two hours, enraptured by the glorious music. It was like re-listening to it. And these were just basic MP3s!!
I can’t imagine how it is going to sound, once I’ve acquired an XPSdr, or a 555PSdr, my hands tremble as I type this. Well, almost.
Anyway, it’s fantastic, and I know it will become even more fantasticer (that’s a word, man), when the digital and analogue sections are being powered separately. I love Naim gear…
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There is a BIG step up to be had between the XPS dr and a 555 (either dr on none dr)
Go the extra mile and get the 555
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I was ‘warned off’ getting a 555ps Non DR when I already had an XPS DR as my dealer said the differences were swings and roundabouts between the two so don’t assume that a non DR is a better bet unless the price is right.
A non DR 555ps only makes sense if the price is low enough as Dr’ing including the mandatory service now costs £2500. Given that an ex demo 555 DR will cost just over £5k and a decent used one just over £4k you don’t want to be spending much more than £2K on a non DR 555. I struggled to find many with an asking price under £3K so I went the XPS DR route and eventually upgraded to a 555DR.
As others have said though the difference between XPS DR and 555 DR is huge and very worthwhile so better get saving those pennies!
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As an aside, slightly off topic… if one is an NDAC user, the non DR 555PS to many ears, including mine, sounds preferable to the DRPS. This is unlike for the NDS where the 555DRPS to my ears has been significantly better.
Getting a non DR for around 2K for a NDAC is a steal.
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It could be that scenarios like this are keeping the price of non DR555’s higher than perhaps they should be. I’m not sure I’ve seen one under £2.5k, £3k seems the norm.
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Indeed… I was talking used Hi-Fi prices, especially Naim with a dealer over the weekend. Apparently prior to Covid there had been a gradual erosion in the used market prices over the last year prior to lock down. But with the Covid lockdown used prices have taken quite a hike and there is a shortage of some items… so if one is thinking of selling Naim, now might be a good time, but conversely one is tending to pay more to buy used right now for many items.
I went from a cuddly toy PS to a 555DR on my NDS and, as you say, holy cow!
The 555DR transforms the NDS.
Just saying….
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Thanks for the info and recommendations guys. Much appreciated.
Seems like a 555PSdr is in my future. It’ll be a little while, but this gives me a guaranteed upgrade to look forward to. I believe someone mentioned on one of the threads that a cable upgrade for the NDS is quite a step up as well. But PS first.
As trickydicky suggested, I WAS saving my pennies, but then they discontinued the penny here in Canada, so I’ll have to start again. Maybe loonies is time…
Dave
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You can buy a 555 non dr, for less money than xps dr, enjoy, and later send it to dr.
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I have never heard an NDS so I cannot comment but two dealers of mine are adamant the NDX2 sounds better than the old NDS.
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Hey … you don’t happen to own an NDX2, do you?
My NDS was only manfactured in 2017. If Naim gear is old within 3 years, then we’re all buying from the wrong company.
However, thank God I didn’t get caught in the NDX fiasco …
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How could they say differently?
No, don’t buy the Ndx2 from me, go better buy an Nds somewhere on the used market.
A lot have found the Nds still better, as reviews like Hificritic or Hifi news.
However for online streaming, better have the Ndx2. But not if local streaming is most used.
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Yes I do and owned the original NDX also. I would be surprised if it didn’t sound better personally but when I was upgrading last time I spoke with a few dealers. Some of them were selling both NDX2’s and Used NDS’s.
When I have had the conversation in the past they believed the NDX2 has edged it with firmware Updates.
As I say only what I’ve been told.
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You can’t sell a product to someone that already owns it. 
That was what I was thinking when I started this thread. Does the new tech edge out the build quality of the NDS. There’s both opinions in here, but the NDS seemed to have more enthusiasm.
I believe the Dac sounds better in the NDS, but the new tech sounds better in the NDX2. Apparently the NDS has some important componentry from the ND555 which makes a difference. See the 3rd post in this thread from Simon-in-Suffolk for clarification on this.
I’m positive I would be happy with either, but the NDS was available for an amazing price (4500 cad, 2700g bp), and I may just get an ND5 XS2 to feed it the new streaming boards at some point.
Dave
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You can’t say something that will risk to decrease the future sells too…
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If you are thinking of getting a NDS and NDX2, I wouldn’t. Save up a bit more and get a pre-loved ND555, assuming they’re are available where you are. Mind you, you’ll need a power supply also. Probably only worth it though if you plan to upgrade your amplification in the future.
I have learned the lesson of too many upgrade steps. Have your endgame in mind and get there is as few steps as possible, is what I would suggest.
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