Hello everyone.
I am new to this community. After many years of owning very high end separates, from a number of companies at a never endless cost, now in my late 50’s, I decided to prioritize both my listening habits and budget count by selling off a few very esoteric pieces and start over again with more affordable gear.
So far, I have purchased the SuperNait 3 and a pair of PMC Twenty5.24 loudspeakers, yet I still need a good streamer. I took a complete flyer on these components based on reviews alone as I simply do not have the time to visit hi-fi stores many kilometres away and also I have found hearing gear at a dealer actually tells me very little about what they might sound like in my personal space at home. So far, so good as I only have an older Sony CD player as a reference but feel I made a good choice.
The natural / easy choice would be another Naim product for a streamer as I feel the sonic character of the SuperNait 3 will likely be voiced similarly with other Naim products which will provide a continuity of sound throughout the entire system.
I have done some extensive reading on the ND5 XS2 and the NDX2. From what I can ascertain from the reviews alone, the NDX2 would seem to be more advanced, yet that comes at a premium price to get there. I have always been a believer in making the stretch if it is truly worth it, yet the whole point of this new exercise was to find the best “values” in the product line which help keep budgets in check. (You know where this is going my friends ! )
My question is simply this. Apart from a small TFT screen on the NDX2 ( which I really don’t care about much ) and of course, some better parts and engineering which would justify the cost difference, would the NDX2 be worth that stretch keeping in mind, it is twice the cost of the ND5 XS2 ? The 555 is out of the question in my budget.
I only want to do this one more time, therefore; do not want to get an ND5 XS2 home and after 2 months be thinking " I should have just saved a little more and got the NDX2 " OR, over-purchase with an NDX2 when an ND5 XS2 may have done the job and beyond just fine
Because I do not have time to go and personally listen, this question carries a lot more weight for me as I have been lucky this far my blind purchases on the SuperNait 3 and PMC have ideally worked out. I am depending on some feedback from anyone out there whom may have been considering this same situation and compared the two sonically.
Any light you could shine would be welcomed…
thank you