Well our nDAC hasn’t had a firmware update and won’t be getting one!
And there are plenty streamers which would do a fine job into nDAC if naim drop the ball again.
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No - wrong. This is no bittersweet nostalgia. You have totally switched system. In your case it is a fainting memory. My system is (nearly) the same. And I can say that 3.8 was king - by a margin.
But! Fully correct. Train has left!
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Good that’ll still have him (the ndac!)
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Testing started in November last year, now delayed to at least April.
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We’re not investing in hifi at the moment, other priorities and our current system just sounds right. Speakers next anyway.
At some point the slush fund might be pointed at an NDS to replace nDAC. It would be IDEAL if future naim firmwares didn’t change SQ output of NDX2 as a transport in the way 3.10 did. I mean, why should they?
That makes our next digital jump a £2K punt, instead of a complete streamer/DAC replacement by other vendors, 252/300 would stay, being utterly awesome.
However, we’re not yacht or Bentley owners so unfortunately of little consequence to VerVent group.
We can simply cross fingers and hope.
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I think this is not a correct assumption, in the case of Audirvāna at least. Afaik Audirvāna recognises the NDX2 as a renderer and you can choose it to send the data to by using UPnP.
Maybe you have to enable server settings, but disabling Tidal or Qobuz doesn’t matter as the API to these services is being called by Audirvāna and not by the NDX2.
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Hmm, I guess we use English differently. For me the use of the word “delay” presupposes a scheduled time or date and since Naim never provided any information about the release of 3.12, there cannot be any “delay”. Oh, damn, I was too literal again! 
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You should try the nds (as DAC only). It’s different than nDAC but if you like resolving and vinyl like signature as I do … .it could be worth a try.
Buying the nds was a very wise decision (bought him on 1st January 2025). Without nds I would have gone mad (and berserk 
)
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Why don’t you buy a Primare NP5 as insurance against the new firmware not bringing any improvement.
Use it to upgrade the NDS, in the meantime.
You know it makes sense. 
If all is lost I will go for an innous Pulse or pulsar or stream 2. but all is not lost (yet) - is it ?
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That’s cool, a good mix of the two FW would be perfect. Personally I like 3.11 even though it misses few things from the 3.8 (I’d point out for example bass, but 3.11 gained more texture which is surely welcome, at least for me). 3.11 does some things better. I suppose it’s hard to get it perfectly done (if perfection ever existed).
I’m curious about 3.12 but I feel no pressure, luckily. I guess it’s very system dependant, some are still not happy here for sure.
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Yes we would definitely keep the NDX2 if we change to NDS, we have experience of what it brings over a gen1 streaming board.
Although you always read the NDS was optimised for UPnP so might be worth a go in that mode?
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There obviously isn’t a consensus here regarding the shift from 3.8. I believe that the key question is how do the guys at Naim feel about it? If the change in sound is deemed more negative than positive and the cause of that is identified as the SU software increasing CPU load (without a long term effective means to mitigate) are they/ can they move towards a state of HW/ SW/ FW chain production autonomy?
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In the meantime, before I buy the Lumin U2 mini, I am listening to Qobuz hires through Mconnect hd app. It sounds very good, so much better than Tidal through Naim app.
I am surprised. Some albums are very very near the sound of my P10/Kleos . Only a minority of lps sound better.
Maybe I have not the same hearing accuracy as 10 years ago or before. But anyway, today, I don’t see any advantage to keep my turntable and all the fuss coming with it.
I don’t want to move from my sofa. I am walking outside enough time per week, so don’t need exercise at home.
Try Mconnect hd with Qobuz, you will certainly be surprised.
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Indeed. Naim does not communicate about firmware versions. Firmware versions are released when they are ready. It is their choice, but we would all like a bit more information up-front. It is what it is…
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I think the “problem” is some have connections within Naim and share rough estimates here and started talking about new sw before end of 2025. I believe someone said they talked to Jason about it. I find it hard to believe Jason would talk about estimated release dates knowing it will be on the forum in seconds but I don’t know him. Talking like that is setup for a mess later on and he for sure should know. If you have worked with R&D you know how difficult it is to communicate dates and that it most often shoots back.
Underpromise, overdeliver.
Well you are insinuating that I lied . I am not offended because my expectation levels from your output are low . I was told by Jason that the FW was due for release at that time . I passed that on to the forum in the spirit of camaraderie, something you seem unable to grasp.
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I try to look at it this way: Naim does not want to release any firmware prematurely, especially after the 3.10 debacle. I can only imagine how difficult it is to make sure everything runs smoothly and does n’t affect SQ on all these different boxes. Better safe than sorry. Better let them test a bit more than releasing too early.
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Not lied but maybe bit to eager sharing details not anchored by R&D and Naim. It’s strange that the beta group cannot say anything but one with a hotline to Jason can share such details. I find it hard to understand that Naim think this is OK but I have no idea how they have setup the way to communicate release plans. If you have worked with R&D teams you know you don’t talk outside the company walls about released dates because it will take off sooner or later when someone speaks. This is about process, not person.
I guess after the 3.10 release they need to test it for months and months, probably a year 
. As with the 3.10 no one at the time could hear how bad it was and then suddenly it changed after it had been installed for about 4 weeks or whatever it was.