I have been running my system through “the paces” today. To be honest, at this point, I do not see a noticeable improvement with the NDX2 as the transport, over that of the Innuos Zenith.
So currently I am leaning towards the Innuos > Mscaler > TT2 > Nac282. All controlled through the Roon interface.
I am intrigued by adding a USB to S/PDIF converter. Not sure how much it would offer as I would think the links would be designed to minimize jitter. Looking at the Audiophile…but I will wait until everything else settles and I can properly evaluate and increase/decrease in performance.
I am really happy with what I hear at this point. The NDX2 departure may help things along with a pair of Kudos 505’s.
Why you say that? The redundancy is ndx2 with chord tt/ Mscaler and Innuos. So Innuos/ chord combo without ndx2 is less redundancy, not? After the OP needs to optimize the Innuos/ chord source.
Because the M-Scaler is already an excellent isolator, USB to SPDIF bridge, reclocker and upsampler. Adding a USB to SPDIF bridge in front of a USB to SPDIF bridge would mean adding a lot of redundancies. It might even actually have a negative effect on the sound quality if you consider the fact that the dedicated USB output of the InnuOS is very quite and thus better than the SPDIF output of “cheap” USB to SPDIF bridges. As a general rule, I think that we should aim at high quality short chains with zero or little redundancies. Just my two cents, of course.
depending on your musical taste and your need of functionalities. Keep things straightforward and understandable and avoid redundancies and proliferation of boxes. A USB to SPDIF convertor would not make any sense in either 1) or 2).
Given that ND5XS2, NDX2 and ND555 all use the same NP800 streaming board, their differences as Ethernet to SPDIF transports are likely to be due to their different power supplies.
That is consistent with what people who have used boards like the Allo DigiOne Signature or USBridge have found out.
From this perspective, an ND555 would most likely be a better transport than an NDX2 or an ND5XS2.
Given the price level of the ND555 and the fact that the ND5XS (not the ND5XS2) had no particularly good reputation as a transport, it might well be that the NDX2 is an ideal compromise, especially when considering system integration.
There are alternatives in the same price class though: the dCS Network Bridge for example and, front-ended with something like the Allo USBridge Signature, the M Scaler.
Marginally yes, but very much in the area of diminishing returns… the real benefit of the ND555 in my opinion is it’s analogue output.
Because I was not interested in that I focussed on the NDX2 as opposed to the ND555 in my system.
I have heard a few transports with SPDIF outputs… (I don’t go near USB) … and I have heard none better the NDX2 in practice… that coupled with the Naim automation, app and display, the NDX2 was a no brainier for me.
BTW I was cautious with the mscaler … it is an electrically noisy device… and it is not fully shielded… but to be fair to Chord… they do warn about this in its manual with regard to placement.
I am moving on from the NDX2. I have been playing with A/B comparisons, between the NDX2 and Innuos as transport/server and to my ears notice little change in SQ between the 2. Not enough to justify the NDX2 staying.
This will allow me to make a move to upgrade my speakers. I plan on using the new gains towards a pair of Kudos Titan 505’s. I think the benefits of this move would be a better investment.
Just waiting for my dealer to return from the UK to “talk business”. Although the recent 15% price increase seams a bit prohibitive…we’ll see
