After a hiatus of a decade from a fully active top end system, urban living, family life, i finally got back to Naim with a Muso 1 (disappointing, though the Muso 2 is damn good), 2 months later the Atom, about 3 weeks later the Nova (quite a few issues think 4 RMAs) and then i stopped (i was expecting to go ndx2/sn3, but a demo did not do it for me).
Muso tweaks - IEC cable, Ethernet cable and support helped albeit a little.
Atom - I did not have it long enough to tweak beyond i think a Chord Signature power lead
Nova - Cables, supports, servers (RPI, Innuos)
For me the biggest gains where the SR case fuses, the SR power cable and their MIG2.0 supports. The Fraim was the biggest disappointment (but i had to itch). Chord Indigo Ethernet (tested many inc freebies and Amazon £5). I regret selling my SR Ethernet and Chord Indigo.
Chord Ohmic speaker plugs - a small but worthy VFM improvement.
Cisco switch - very minor, but again worthwhile.
Innuos server - has opened improvements i never thought possible.
The Audiophilleo SPDIF converter, clocker, takes the Innuos even further.
After this stopped bothering with cables and stopped with Wireworld Ethernet and USB.
Oh i even tried the DIY Fraim glass thingy, very worthwhile.
Moral of the story, its not a race to say BINGO (ND555), enjoy each step of tweaking before adding component boxes, if your not enjoying it then its not worth it.
Most the tweaks i mention where always seen as solid foundations for component upgrades later, alas the tweaks and optimisation where head and shoulders above box upgrades.
I will concede if I added the boxes with the existing tweaks but i reached i place where i do not feel the need to, i did write a thread “In the land of the blind, the one eyed …”
If i was recommending one easy tweak it is the SR Fuses, i would have said the DIY Fraim shelf (Naim spec glass and then Fraim ball and cups), but i found the glass tricky to source (then the mental agony of is is the EXACT Naim spec.