Naim Streamers. Educate me!

Streaming Audio
41

Ok, so some days into streaming with ND5XS. I have some thoughts and questions.

  1. I have tried my Chromecast Audio using Toslink into the digital input on my ND5XS. I can initially hear no difference in the audio quality using the CCA as the streamer into the ND5 DAC. So is there anything the ND5 adds if so that I forget about? Actually the CCA also supports Roon and Tidal from my iPhone so I can use the native streaming app of Tidal which is much better than Naim app.

  2. If just focusing on the Naim DACs available in separate and through streamers. How is the rank in quality if looking at purely specifications on chipset/hardware? If I use the CCA as the streamer I could spend more money on the DAC IMHO.

  3. I’ve looked at second handed Naim DAC that is rather cheap today. How is that DAC compared to the one in my ND5XS? I prefer a sound that is neutral and balanced and not pushed, high detailed borderline to fatigue. I use Harbeth SHL5 Plus and Supernait 1 today.

Thanks!

42

It’s all subjective, but an NDAC at current used prices can be a good deal, and I would expect it to outperform the ND5 by some margin, even without PSU upgrades.

43

This was my experience. Also the digital out of the ND5 was better than an Arcam rPlay.

44

Just got a problem with the ND5XS and Spotify. The ND5 confirm Spotify is ready but ND5 doesnt show up as available in Spotify when I want to cast music. It’s dimmed out. I have restarted the ND5 but still the same. WIFI is working since I can use Tidal without no issues. What happened?

EDIT. This was new to me. This specific podcast I wanted to listen to does not allow casting to my ND5. If I change to say an album then ND5 is available. Licensing issues?

45

Fully agree. The cloud in its purest defined form designates a data acces/storage functionality and should not be confused with WiFi or the internet in general.

46

Tidal have released music in Sony 360 but my ND5XS cannot play it. Is it the same for everyone else? I mean, my iPhone can play it…

47

Nor my NDS

48

That link, and the Sony one linked from there, both refer only to using a smartphone and headphones.

Whether it works at all with speakers, or through a non-phone player and headphones, is unknown.

It sounds like another gimmick to me. That does not mean it is not enjoyable, nor that it isn’t, or can’t be, high quality sound - that simply is unknown at present.

I am guessing it uses the same sort of processes that were first developed back in the 1980s then called “homophonic” (Pink Floyd used on The Final Cut) and later “QSound” (E.g. used on Roger Waters’ Amused to Death to place Bill Hubbard’s voice as if he is sitting next to you on the left)

49

Yes I understand that the effect might not work on a Naim streamer. But that it doesn’t play the file at all will get messy in the future if they don’t manage it. Because MQA is not supported either but at least the file plays.

50

Looks like it’s intended for headphones only.

“Experience 360 Reality Audio with your smartphone, any headphones, and a subscription to a premium music streaming service.”

51

Tidal will not tell you that when you start streaming music to your Naim streamer. Nor will I assume most persons even see the small 360 logo. Due to this it will be Naim getting support issues from people saying Naim cannot stream certain albums. No matters whos fault it is still something for Naim and Tidal to fix.

52

You should not be able to select ‘360’ or MQA files from the Naim App.

53

I use Tidal to search for music and then Naim app to just control it and if one do like that then 360 files appear in the Naim app but cannot be played.

54

And this is Naim’s fault? :scream:

55

Indeed is.

56

Not sure how you can blame Naim for it not working: the Tidal and Sony sites as linked above are very specific in saying play with a smartphone. Neither mention hiifi system, so it might not work with anything other than a smartphone (into headphones).

Maybe someone with a Tidal subscription into brand of streamer or renderer that is not Naim and with headphones will be interested enough to test and see if it works with that brand.

57

I was going to try this on one of my systems but ran into a problem. I now use Roon and I had forgotten just how unintuitive the Tidal App (on my iPad) is by comparison.

By default, my Tidal app plays music directly on my iPad, and so needed to find a way to play music via my hi-fi. After about 15 frustrating minutes I finally found out how to access the ‘Settings’ tab (I had to resort to Google to find it), but I have not been able to find out how to stream music to my hifi system via the Tidal app. I am pretty sure I have managed to do this in the distant past, but I can’t for the life of me work out how to do this now.

If someone can help me with this I will check to see if Sony 360 works on my streamer/DAC.

58

Isn’t it possible to have front buttons always on on ND5XS like on my SN2? I like it green.

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