HDX still good?

Hi there, I’m keen to upgrade from my NAD/Ipod option that I have for digital music & had planned on getting an HDX to put all my Itunes collection on. They seem to have disappeared from the market. Is there a problem with them? I liked the idea of having a disc player & hard drive together so I guess the SSD is out. If I don’t want to get an NAS are there any other options? Cheers.

Some Innuos and Aurender servers have a hard drive ( sdd or hdd) and dac inside the box.
Hdx is discontinued. Only Naim Uniticore today, but it needs an optional dac .

HDX sold like hot cakes when it was released. If you can get one that’s clean, you shouldn’t go far from wrong.

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I wonder if your iTunes collection is MP3. If so it’s going to sound pretty rubbish through the system and I doubt there is any point in investing more on it. If it’s lossless then that’s a different matter and there are lots of options.

The HDX was my ‘gateway’ purchase in to ripping/serving/streaming. A nice easy introduction.

G

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Great response guys. Most of my music library isn’t on Itunes because of the Ipod’s limits; it just sits on my PC hard drive. So the mp3 thing isn’t a problem. I also realised the need for a DAC with a Unitiserve so I’m encouraged to pursue the one stop option of the HDX for now. Just got to find a decent one. There were loads advertised last year but virtually none now! Cheers.

I have the HDX 2TB model I bought 2nd hand from Naim dealer built 2014 it is as you say a great way to get into digital and storage I have 850 cd’s stored. Has the excellent Naim app not used streaming service so much but found it to be an outstanding piece of quality equipment easy to use. I think it is one Naim’s most underrated products am not sure when Naim stopped making them but if you can get one from a Naim dealer I would wholly recommend it.

B

The Innuos has a disc dry day for ripping rather than playing afaik.

If you really want an HDX but can’t find one, you could also consider an NS01, which is essentially the same thing without the front screen.
Either way, I would make sure you get a fairly recent one, and definitely not the older models without the 2TB hard drive. Alternatively get any old one cheaply and get it serviced and bought up to the latest spec by Naim.

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Yes, you must be right. Melco ripper can be also a transport, but needs a dac.
Perhaps Aurender ?

@K3n1

This is great advice from Chris … my ageing HDX went back to Naim for a complete service, which included replacing the CD drive, many of the capacitors and much of the wiring, a new logo, new hard drives, with all my music copied across, and all for the most reasonable sum of £350 … winner! :+1:

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More excellent suggestions, especially the NS01; no need for the screen if the details are on your phone/tablet, yeah?

The full colour touchscreen display on the HDX was actually pretty good, but in practice you would likely be using the N-Serve app on an iOS device from the confort of your sofa, so probably no loss.

Still loving my HDX some 9 years after I bought it (though I’ll admit I’m getting close to possibly changing to an NDX2 or even better an HDX2! :crazy_face:).

Although the NS01 is fundamentally similar to the HDX, screen aside I don’t think they are the same: the HDX has a higher quality DAC stage and also allows connection of an XPS - the NS01 is primarily a server with basic local audio capabilities.

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Have an HDX as my beloved digital Source into naim DAC powered by olive XPS.
Sounds very nice. Dac plus XPS gave a massive boost.
The App is remarkable - very well thought.

Yesterday after powering all down becsuse of lightening the HDX had an Hicup (the download folder was offline and could only beeing brought up again by deleting and adding as new share again).
But now we are best friends again.

HDX is a fine package overall!

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Hdx is a circa 12 year old pc. A nice pc for sure but a pc none the less.

HDX SSD with nDAC and 555PS really made me sit up and think wow! Streaming is it for me. The Nserve app was always more preferable to use, I found. I ended up getting an NDS which did push things on further but if felt like fine margins. Feeding the NDS from the HDX via coaxial was nowhere near as good in terms of SQ than using the HDX or Asset for serving up the tunes from the NAS over Ethernet. It still serves in this capacity today with my ND555. Would not be without my HDX though I rarely rip CDs these days but the quick and easy option is always there if i need it.

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I have a HDX into DAC powered by XPS and do love it. 555ps or NDS could be next steps on digital path, but really like to keep the hdx as server.
Like the App a lot more than the streaming app.

As Gary says. And it runs Windows XP embedded, so it’s an operating system with almost no support.

Best

David

Couldn’t agree more. I just think sellers should majorly adjust expectation, they are essentially selling a 12-15 year old pc in a very smart PC case (I appreciate there is a bit more going on inside). So I would say what £300? Would be reasonable to me and certainly as a buyer I would very much bear in mind that although it has a naim logo on, its not a nap 250.