Hi,
Cool you have resolved your problem of brightness.
Just curious of other of your posts. You were saying that you will perhaps move from Statements to Fm Acoustics. Why? And why not CH precision or Soulution or Dagostino?
Yeah good question!
1 Like
Many people tell me that the FM has similar sound signature to Naim and is sweeter. My out of town friend who has the older Stella uses all FM pre / power combo - very very nice.
I have removed the last of my passive power conditioning devices (more like power factor correction devices) and gain even more reduction in sibilance. So much so that I have adjusted the tweeter level links on the speakers to normal position. Was a just too tired last night. Will listen again tonight to confirm.
My Vivaldi transport will be back from the UK on Monday. Time to boogie.
Moral of the story, power conditioning is system dependent and not one size fit all. Yet another lesson even after more than 20 years in this hobby.
8 Likes
Told you that you would get it right! Your 20 years of experience has helped you here to identify the source of the sibilance! Enjoy your beautiful system. 
1 Like
Last year I had to plug in an extension lead in the music room. Unfortunately I noticed that at the same time vinyl replay seemed to take a nasty hit - it sounded like the stylus had fluff on it or had been slightly damaged. It drove me potty for a few hours, cleaning the stylus, checking VTF etc⌠until the penny dropped; the mains block I had plugged in (not connected to the system, but in the same room) had surge protection onboard. Unplugging it and all was restored to its previous glory. Plug it back in and the top end got a bit âdirtyâ again, like the stylus had got fluff on it again.
2 Likes
FM pre and power are very nice, heard them a few times over the yearâs in top end systems, i feel i would certainly look at them if i ever want to go up the ladder further than naim.
One said FM system was being fronted by a DCS, 4 box vivaldi stack, canât remember what the speakers were, but it sounded very lush indeed and just had it all.
Curious⌠have you tried removing all the power conditioners from your system and listening to the result?
I am moving in that direction. For now, the CD555 beats the DCS with or without power conditioning. DCS has better sound stage but not as good on the human voice. So, I am going with CD555 for now. DCS has 100âs of permutation with mappings, filters, upsampling rates that need further exploration. I am working on a baseline here. CD555 for now.
Vinyl playback - the Bergmann + Benz Micro + ARC ref 10 phono beats the AVID + Thales reference + DS Audio Grandmaster. More lush. There is hope yet for the Avid. Did a quick & dirty mount with Koetsu Blue Azule stone body + Fidelity Research FR64S heavy arm + ARC phono - wow, lush and nice. Need to break out the microscope to do a better job tonight. Been trying to make the Koetsu work for the last 5-7 years without success.
I am starting to accept reality that the Focal is not ProAc. Much better in soundstage and bass but brighter in the highs that is nice and not nice at the same time. Need to tune the rest of the equipment to suit. More revealing than the ProAc. Any small change in the system is quite noticeable. Differences between the sound signatures of equipment are also quite apparent. Not glossed over with minor perceptible difference. Clear and discernable with preference of one over the other. This means that moving forward, box count may drop. I will still have CD replay and LP replay in the main system. However, some replay hardware may be swapped out.
Say - can the ND555 beat the CD555 ? Curious (famous last words)
2 Likes
I am surprised that CD555 beats your full stack 100k DCS Vivaldi. Only on voices or other aspects ?
@Dunc will not be able to believe 
Now youâre talking! 
ATB Peter
5 Likes
Isnât it the case that CD (in red book form) just sounds different to streamed sources. In the case of the CD555 yes it does sound very special indeed.
Regards,
Lindsay
Hi Joe, are you running the CD555 with 2 power supplies? ATB Peter
It seems that the ND555 (dual PS) is a âbetterâ source than the CD555.
If you enjoy the CD555 it is likely youâll enjoy the ND555 even more.
As for the differences between the two I guess @Darkebear is able to share some insightful thoughts as he owned/owns both
I own the ND555 (dual PS) and share your opinion regarding human voices and acoustic instruments : Naim does a great job at that (not the most detailed presentation, but by some margin one of the closest to the real timbres).
1 Like
Urm at the risk of being controversial Iâve heard both the CD555 and the ND555 on the front of a 552/500/Kudos 808s and frankly the latter doesnât get near the former for dynamics, textures and sheer musical enjoyment.
Well all i can say is, i agree. You must have serious problems with your system, with these new speakers.
The cd555 is a great cd player, but it cant get close to the rossini, let alone vivaldi, i would say the more detail, etc that the dcs has over the cd player, is showing up more the problems that you now have?
I found the ND555 quite fussy, in my setup it was noticeably better when it was supplying the signal earth and no CD player was in the system. If the CD555 and ND555 were both connected to the pre at the same time Iâm not surprised if the CD was preferred. Usual cable dressing rules apply but on top of that the digital feed details add more variables. Exploring an ND555 takes time.
Agree as great as the ND555 is there is something just too much of good thing ala overly detailed and tending to brighter presentation --excellent in the beginning but long term I found it slightly too etched --the system I evaluated had only one PSU-but seriously two PSUâs take it in the SGM Taiko Extreme range and that is superior in all facets not only to the superb NAIm but all else out there!
The CD555 is a masterstroke mine is 12 years old and has seen off the following Iâve owned
The DCS Stack
Jadis JD1 /JS2 II/JS3
Sondek CD12
CEC TLO/ ANote DAC 5 Special and 4.1x Bal
Sony SCD-1
Below Auditioned for comparison and did not pass :
Metronome Transport/DAC combo
Forsell CDTransport with Cello DAC
DCS Vivaldi stack in a private demo with Wilson XLF speakers with my own CDs
I have only one PSUDR
As a Classical trained Musician in my opinion the CD555 is Naim finest achievement and is superior
as a deliverer of a truer and more natural sonic presentation than any of the above.
Since owning my first CD player the Cal Labs Tempest circa 89âI can categorically say the CD555 is the finest Integrated Transport/ Dac player of the CD generationâperiod.
YVMV
D41
3 Likes
CEC TLO/ Audio note Dac V must be something too, not ? As the price too
If you search way-back a few years then you see I âin-detailâ evaluated the ND555 against my then CD555 - both with twin-supplies. I wanted a significant change âupâ in performance and not just a shift âsidewaysâ which I found the NDS did when I home-trialed it a few years earlier.
I was and am a latecomer to things streaming, not because I lack any technical skill/understanding of it all, but more because both that I do - and had not heard a better âmusical solutionâ than the CD555 for my requirement.
Given Iâd not heard any âHi-Defâ recording really impress and in fact found the recording mastering determined the ultimate outcome far more - and they were all better-done on early-mastered (usually pre-2000) CD, then there was no real driver for a change to streaming for me.
Quality mattered - then reliability - and convenience a very distant concern, but nice to have.
The CD555 had all these neatly ticked in one box without a fussy network to get right to deliver my music.
What I found:
-
was that the ND555 - when optimized with (in my case) the Melco Server could and did deliver better performance - that pair was essential for me, or the ND555 was too âlaid-backâ. That demo helped me want to make the switch from CD555 to ND555 - although at that time the CD555 had a bit more âauthority and gravitasâ and a bit better upper-bass percussion - but the ND555 had a rendition of âbeautyâ in the music in the way it presented the harmonic structures as a whole sonic fabric that put a smile on my face - I just âwantedâ it, and that was my criteria - and the very low bass was better done.
-
But I found it was just the beginning of the ND555 journey in my system. Without going into all the details it can be said that a better set of Ethernet cables and especially the switch feeding them (ER in my case) made-up every lingering deficiency where I felt the CD555 had retained its musical advantage - and more - so I think I had moved far beyond the CD555 overall musical performance now - the optimized ND555 is silly-better.
I say âoptimized ND555â because the CD555 sets a very high-bar especially if you have grown used to it.
I only play ripped-CDs for musical quality reasons, so my evaluation is comparing CD555 vs ND555 on that material - if you optimize the ND555 with right music server, switch and cables it easy-beats the CD555 - otherwise it does not.
All IMO of course. I do love the CD555 in what it does well it sets a standard of performance that you have to work a bit with good devices (like the ND555) to beat - but it can be bettered, although the CD555 is much more âplonk and playâ for high quality replay.
DB.
3 Likes
Iâd agree with nearly everything DB writes there (and also wrote up my own findings in detail a couple of years ago), but I find that on my system (admittedly 552 vs. DBâs S1) the SQ of many albums streamed from Quobuz is comparable to most of my rips and downloads.