Naim NDS - still a good used buy?

Is anyone? I thought the possibility was mentioned.

FWIW, whether you have a use for Roon depends on what you are interested in (and how deeply you explored Roon’s features). If you want to find and play an album, you don’t need it. If you want to, say, find all albums where Jane Doe played bass between 1971 and 1976, you do. Or if you want to have an overview about all your collection in one place. Or if you have lots of albums you want to remember for some reason but not all of them are favorites that you do not want to clutter your real favorites. And so on. It’s a quite powerful tool and it’s the same with all powerful tools, not everyone needs them, but they are essential if you do.

Because its the streamer side thats its downside

The op @fordy however already has an nDAC, which uses the same DAC as the one inside the NDS (PCM1704). So he would have no use for an NDS just to use as a DAC.

I found the NDS quite excellent when I had one.

@Dunc suggested that it was pointless witout the
the means to power it [obviously] and Roon it.

I had this thought at the back of my mind but failed to surface it, good point :slight_smile:

OK, I missed that and was thrown off by “folks”

Buts thats not what he is asking is it, no mention of Ndac

There is in his system list. For some reason there are two lists in his profile, and the second one:

System: LP12/Harban/Khan/Aro/Troika/Armageddon2/Prefix, LP12/Ekos/AT50ANV/Radikal/Superline/Hicap2 , Auralic Aries/nDAC/XPS2, CDX2, 252/Supercap2/300, Headline2/NAPSC2, Royd Sorcerer SE

He asked if its a good buy these days, at these prices, not if its a good buy these days at these prices over say a Ndac.
If i had a Ndac, then i dont think i would swap it for a NDS, just add a streamer to the Ndac

But, assuming that the system list is correct in the profile, he already has an nDAC, so that changes the answer to the question of “is it a good buy?” Instead of “the streamer part is outdated but at least you gain a classic and very good Naim DAC”, it becomes “the streamer part is outdated and what you gain is a DAC that you already have in another box”.

He may not have been aware that it’s the same, so surely it is relevant info

How do you think the NDS compares to an nDAC fed by ND5XS2?

One thing to note, i just took a look at the ones sold and the £1550 one did not have any off its burndy cables, but the other one did

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Have you owned nDAC and NDS, or compared them side by side?

NDS and nDAC have the same dac chip, but there are significant mechanical and electrical design differences.

I have owned a NDS, and ran it with XPS, then 555 chc, then 555dr and finally 2 x 555’s
My mate has a Ndac and still uses it, its been compared alongside the NDS on my system some years ago and the difference was not noticeable at the time, by either off us.

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Thanks Dunc.
When you did that test did you put the 555DR on the nDAC and on the NDS, or was the test done with one of the other psus?
And were you using the NDS as a streamer in the test?

I have ND5XS2 - DC1 - nDAC/555DR into 252…

Just wondering if I’d get even more out of NDS as dac only?

@Suedkiez is popping in and out of existence like quarks…

My posts are virtual

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Yes. It still is relevant info for whether the OP might consider it a good buy

At the time of trying them both, i had the chc555, i think we tried the ndac bare and with it.
Stored files used mainly, if i remember correctly, but i do remember that they sounded remarkably similar and nothing to tell them apart.
Just to add, back then i was running a 52, 3 x 250 amps, s600 active, bmr and supercap, i will certainly say my system these days is far more revealing than it was and this may have helped with them sounding the same

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