To stay with Naim products to get latest streaming functionality going from nac272/nap 250 I think my choices are new uniti, nait + ndx2, ndx2+Naim pre amp + power supply+existing nap, wait for new streaming preamp 
Current work round is Sonos connect.
And anybody using Bluetooth equipment ?
My NDS makes everything sound so good that I’ll be keeping it and just adding a ND5 XS2 to it to bring it up to current spec when qobuz is available in Canada. Till then my iradio and ripped CDs on the NAS are perfect. I have a USB with MP3s on it that I stick in the front, and it sounds great as well. So really, I’m just waiting for Qobuz before I bother getting the ND5 XS2.
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Audio wise I am happy and content with my 172 streaming FLAC files from my Qnap NAS running MinimServer.
Security and technology wise, I keep my eye on updates and attend to “issues” as they arise which is thankfully not very often.
That looks nice. I added a cheapie node2i and found it better than the streaming section of the 272. Mine is bare with no XPS.
I disabled the upnp input and unplugged the 272 Ethernet cable as well which was another uplift.
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Try Volumio with RaspberryPI you can build one with a good digital output to go into the NAIM dac from HiFiBerry and do Qubuz and any new functionality you might want. I still am flabbergasted they have not updated the 272 yet…
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So, what is the Problem with our legacy streamer?
Hardware? Then all the other legacy streamer of Linn & co have the same problem. Do they?
I‘m happy about my nd5xs. From my Nas HDD it plays 24bit pieces.
A software on the Nas emulating a HDD would be the solution (qobuz in - HDD out). Naive?
I’ve got Bubble UPnP Server running on a Raspberry Pi4. It provides Qobuz to my 3 legacy devices (NDS, Uniti and UnitiQute 2) as well as transcoding to .WAV
Control is Bubble UPnP running on my phone. Only thing I miss is not being able to pause a track, it will only resume from the beginning of the track.
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My nd5 died and realized it’s worth less than it would cost to ship it out to get a repair estimate. Seriously. I’m now using a modern dCS streamer with Roon and I can’t imagine going back to an old Naim streamer. Trade in value of my completely functional NDX is about $0 btw.
If I were on a budget, I’d buy a Lumin U1 mini streamer to feed the nd5. Actually… I’d sell the nd5 and buy a used Berkeley Alpha dac with mqa.
The old Naim streamers were great but now they’re just hopelessly outdated. In two years nobody will be streaming via local files and that was the strength of the original platform.
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I got a lumin u1 mini for $1,800. It’s a great value and a better streamer than the nd5. Since Naim neglected to provide usb out from the new streamers I wouldn’t buy one. Based on posts on this forum, the Bartok is better than ndx2+555 which is > $20k.
A huge sweeping generalisation. And most likely incorrect.
I spent an some time this afternoon listening to Qobuz streaming on my ND5XS.
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You can’t deny the facts. When diehards like us have died out, sales of CDs and downloads will fizzle out. I wouldn’t be surprised if the next generation of Naim servers didn’t include a ripper.
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This probably includes millions of Spotify/mobile users rather than from a hifi perspective.
I’ve got stuff on LP that isn’t available on CD let alone streaming. Others have expressed that they have hundreds of CDs that are nowhere to be seen on Tidal/Qobuz.
You are illustrating entertainment industry vs. music business. Streaming is to a large extent playlist-based easy listening, sometimes just a backdrop. It is only natural it will dominate sales - it is a versatile form of music suitable for playing while you are training, cleaning the house or just hanging out. It is also a more indirect and anonymous form of consumption where the artist gets paid by TV, radio, ads, management companies.
Buying an album is more of a commitment but so far has been the only way. Now there is choice. Enthusiastic fans buying an album can build a direct bond to an artist and fully finance even small releases. You will never finance the recording of string quartets by Alban Berg over playlist-based streaming. Personally I think this type of music will be available over internet services with richer experience than just copying a flac+picture to a server like todays streaming services.
If you want to listen to complete albums on a streaming service, you can. Nobody is forcing you to use playlists.
It’s true that the major streaming services don’t connect you closely to the artist, but neither did buying a CD in HMV. The internet is a powerful way to connect artists with their listeners, and as a niche this can thrive, whether or not Spotify are involved.
Bandcamp is a good medium for this. They encourage communication between artists and listeners. As a result of using them, I contributed through a Kickstarter campaign to help fund an album by an upcoming artist I like. A few days ago it linked me to a live streamed concert from another artist who had used her initiative to keep performing under lockdown. I see plenty of scope for this sort of stuff in the future, and I don’t see that buying physical media, or even downloads, has to be a part of it.
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A Sonore UPnP Bridge and Roon does it for me to allow me to use my ND5XS.
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People with streamers rip them. I was arguing that moving on from that (and downloads) opens the door to music discovery in a wide variety of ways. Some people seem to think that web based streaming is just about being fed playlists from Tidal.
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One idea is to use the legacy streamer as intended - with a local UPnP-server which gives excellent results.
I use an Intel i7 NUC with 16Gb RAM and 6Tb SSD in a fanless HDPlex box. It gives me a choice to run Audirvana, Roon Rock or almost any UPnP-server. Just place it far from the Fraim (another room) for optimal sound-quality.
I run Debian Linux where I disabled all system services not needed. And then Minimserver 2, Minimstreamer 2 and SongKong. A reliable UPnP-server with very powerful metadata handling.
The above produce excellent results via a 272/555DR.
This year I’ve been able to borrow a NDX2 and tested as NDX2/555DR/252DR. The NDX2 has a pre-buffering scheme (at least with UPnP). I don’t know if it was this but Minim+NDX2 sounded incredibly good.
Also important is using a clean CD and a level, bug-free disc-reader when ripping CD.s.
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My kids, nieces, and nephews have never purchased a cd. They have never used a CD player. Their computers never had dvd drives built in. For $30/month six of us get unlimited streaming from tidal. I’m a huge music fan and a bit of an audiophile and I haven’t purchased a cd since 2016? Honestly don’t know where to buy cds other than Amazon and they just launched their own cd quality streaming service. Yeah the two years was a bit of hyperbole but five years?
The nd5 is great and I own one. It’s dead now but it’s too pretty to throw out. The world has moved on to Roon, USB, and a bit of MQA.
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