Hi all finally joined the Naim family with a Nova and kef ls50 speakers, also have a Reva p3 that will be used.
Completely new to the world of high end streaming so would like to understand what most are doing, any special things I should be doing to get the most out of the Nova.
I am an iTunes user and would ideally like to stay with iTunes if I can, unless there are strong reasons not to of course.
Also wondering if it’s worth setting up some sort of network storage to rip all my CD’s if this would offer better quality.
As I say very new to streaming and would be grateful for any basic advice.
Hi, you’ll get better sound quality from Tidal or Qobuz than Apple, for which you’ll need to use Airplay. Sign up for a free trial and see if the improved sound is worthwhile and you can decide whether to stick with Apple or move to an alternative.
A CD drive (USB or built in) is an easy way to rip CDs. You can do this perfectly well in Apple Music (aka iTunes). Just be sure to choose a lossless format (WAV or ALAC) when you rip. There are more sophisticated ripping software packages that some prefer: DBpoweramp is probably the best, but iTunes works fine
If you put your CD rips on a USB drive and put that in the Nova the rips will play. If you end up with a large collection of CD rips and/or downloads, network connected storage with a UPnP server running on it is likely a better option.
I am not sure if you are into internet radio, but that is also a strong point of modern Naim streamers. Naim offer a very good in-house aggregation service with good support here.
For streaming albums, playlists etc, you may be better of with a Qobuz-, Spotify Lossless- or Tidal subscription.
Ripping your CD’s to a NAS (using Asset UPnP for example) works great.
@ChrisSU has given very good advice above. Totally agree about trialling Tidal and or Qobuz.
I would definitely think about getting some network attached storage if you have a lot of CDs (or intend buying downloads) and whatever storage you use include some sort of back up from the start. It is easier to get these things established from the outset if you are going to commit to streaming and ripped CDs.
You’ll find lots of help here about ripping/streaming/storage. Just ask. You have a nice little system there, so spend sone time planning the streaming ‘architecture’. Won’t need lots of money, but as I said planning it now might save hassle later.
Is the Nova connection wired or WiFi? It really is worthwhile doing the former if you can do this.
I’m relatively new to streaming a late convert you might say!
So far my experience is that local streaming either from a NAS, or more recently in my case a Naim UnitiCore, is very considerably better than that provided by Tidal or Qobuz, but I would echo the advice to try both. How many CDs have you got? If it’s not a vast number again, I would rip some of them in WAV on iTunes copy them onto a memory stick and try that.
For the future, you can then decide which way you want to go, if you think as I do that local streaming is better and you have a large CD collection then procuring some form of network device would be the way to go.
Either way, your new Nova is an excellent piece of kit, so just enjoy the music!
Finally, there’s lots of historic advice on this place, the search button is your friend.
Hi and welcome to the forum, Streaming from Qobuz and Tidal is better as @ChrisSU already said, so that should be the way to go if you want the best performance from your system.
If I were you, I’d consider building your own locally ripped album archive (in WAV or FLAC) so you have the best from both worlds. If you mostly listen to your all time favourite albums, local rips are the way to go in my opinion. However streaming services are a good way to experience new albums without committing to the purchase.
In terms of ripping my advice is to make sure that the artwork shows up on all your devices. Maybe do a test. My experience has been mainly using a Naim ripper. I’m sure many here can help you with this.
I went full on for streaming. In 1984 I ditched my LPs because the future looked like it would be CDs. Then in 2024 I ditched my CDs because the future was streaming, and Naim seems to agree. To start with I used Apple Music, with a MacBook connected to a Naim Dac V1 with a long USB lead. As others have explained that approach does not allow lossless streaming and the MacBook and wire made it all rather cumbersome. So I bought a new NDX2 at a good discount when they were end-of-line and a TIDAL subscription for £10.99 p/m. Couldn’t be happier. Fabulous SQ, practically any recording in CD or better quality at a few taps on my iPad. No CDs to store. No player with moving parts which Naim can no longer repair. As well as TIDAL I subscribe to jazz groove.com, and have that set up as Internet Radio on the NDX2. Were there a few CDs in my collection which aren’t on TIDAL? Yes. Are there a few million CDs on TIDAL that weren’t in my CD collection? Yes!
It is possible to stream Apple Music to Naim devices using Airplay and it works remarkably well. I suspect that many of us would not notice that it was not lossless if not told. So you could continue in that way, but I think native streaming on the Naim streamer from a hi-fi streaming service (TIDAL or Qobuz) is the way to go.
Nice setup. Enjoy! I stream and use vinyl but no local storage. It took quite some time to optimize the streaming setup. Can be quite individual and setup dependen what works best. But i am sure your system will sound great all along while you discover what works best.
Welcome and congratulations on your Nova. An outstanding product with addictive SQ. Here’s a tip: no rush, but if you ever fancy an affordable upgrade buy yourself a used naim powerline for about £350 - £400. Pretty much universally accepted as a worthwhile upgrade for the Nova.
You may regret asking that question! Power cables, mains etc. Try the search. A thousand posts await…. not so much a rabbit hole as the Grand Canyon. Wait a bit longer and someone will suggest a network switch and ethernet cable upgrade. Then more boxes.
I would concentrate on getting your system up and running with a reliable system for ripping, storage, back up and online streaming. Don’t upgrade anything for a while, just enjoy it.
Welcome, happy new Nova user here. I have used a 2TB usb drive to stream lossless files to my Star, QB2 and Nova. QB2 works fine, at the star and the nova, there were hickups and delays in playback, which triggered me to keep an eye out for a used Uniti Core. Recently managed to get my hands on one. And i must say, that it beats lossless streaming in soundstage and transparancy. I have used the digital link to connect it to my Nova. All files are available on the QB2 via the Ethernet connection.
Possible sound upgrades with the nova are:
1 Improve powerline
2 ethnernet connection (more stable than Wifi)
3 A good ethernet switch (Cisco2960) with a AC powerfeed rather than a DC (reduces noise in the signal path)
4 Naim NAC A5 speakercables.
After that if it still itches, add a NC NAP250 and move on to separates…
True, No need start with that right away. But as i have been struggling somewhat, i’d thought I would give a short summary. And if it is a new Nova, don’t do anything but play music for the first few months. It really needs a good run in.
I found the gap between local and network streaming was small with my Innuos Zen, and even smaller with the Zenith. On Naim gear, it was a bigger gap, though I had an NDX so older tech. Qobuz is best for streaming (had Tidal before) though the app and search capabilities aren’t great.
