Hi everyone. Please bear with me. After extensive research, I recently bought a used Naim ND5 SX2 streamer in ‘as new’ condition. I have just set it up and am looking forward to exploring the dark world of digital music streaming. This is very early days for me, as I’m a newbie to streaming, so forgive me if I’m missing something obvious.
My system comprises the ND5 XS2, a Naim CD5Si (for my collection of 5k+ silver discs), through a Bryston BP17 pre-amp and 4BSST2 power amp and PMC Twenty.24 speakers.
The ND5 XS2 is connected to the latest (802.11ac) SKY broadband router with a new Audioquest audiophile Ethernet cable. The wi-fi is stable and (mostly) reliable.
After initial review, the ND5 XS2 seems to work fine when using the Naim app on my iPhone over wi-fi. The problem comes with Airplay from my Windows 11 laptop running iTunes, which has a library of over 75k songs, mostly using AAC. I want to be able to use Airplay to access this sizeable resource accrued over many years through the Naim, if only as background music when working.
Anyhoo… to the point! Playing anything in iTunes or the Apple Music app, using Airplay to stream to the ND5 XS2 results in a ‘glitching’ about every 4 seconds or so. It’s like a momentary drop out or hiccup - very, very annoying. This occurs whether I use a laptop or my iPhone 11 (or my son’s equivalents). I can’t find any reference to this specific problem (or, sadly, a solution) anywhere when searching the Internet.
I have done all the usual/obvious things, including reset the ND5 SX2, reset the router, re-started my laptop and iPhone, etc. Various diagnoses don’t reveal anything amiss. I have tried different ethernet ports on the router and have also tried streaming over wi-fi without the Ethernet cable (as well as running a cable between my laptop and the router), so connectivity isn’t the issue. I am running the latest versions of iTunes, Windows 11, iOS and the Naim app. The Naim is running the latest update of its firmware.
Unfortunately, it’s always the same issue; glitchy sound using Airplay to the Naim. Ggrr. Argh. Sigh.
To test the implementation of Airplay, it works fine when streaming to our SKY Q box and Marantz A/V receiver from both iTunes and the Apple Music app. As mentioned above, the Naim seems to work fine except when using Airplay. I haven’t, as yet, subscribed to any streaming services, as I want to get this fundamental issue fixed first and then go down the streaming service route, so I can’t be definitive on this aspect yet.
The only conclusion that I can reach at this point is that the problem is either with Airplay (BUT only on the Naim) or with the Naim itself (unlikely?). I am pretty certain that it is not a wi-fi issue and hope to goodness it isn’t a Naim problem.
I (hopefully, obviously) don’t want to start from scratch again, with the existing investment in Naim hi-fi, iTunes and the Apple-verse.
I was also hoping to subscribe to Apple Music but if Airplay doesn’t work, then this will be a major problem (and, yes, I know Airplay is limited at the moment). The alternatives appear to be Tidal (costly) or Spotify (also limited). At some point, assuming I can fix the issue, I hope to obtain a Naim Uniti Core for bit-perfect versions of favourite albums.
I really, really don’t want to ditch the Naim or run parallel but incompatible music resources. I would truly appreciate any advice to help resolve the issue. Thank you one and all.