I can’t disagree with just how capable the SN3 is having now owned one from new for about 4 months.
I also wouldn’t dismiss the SN2 which given it’s relative lower used price of around £1800-2000 is a bargain to my mind given what it can do, especially if it’s replacing a NAIT XS.
I’m sure there will be those that comment on a Naim DAC (standalone) as an option here, given you can get a used one for under £1000.
The issue here is that whilst it is a very capable DAC, it also needs to be fed with a good quality source, works best with a power supply like the XPS or ideally a 555PS and when feeding even a Supernait is never going to work quite how it wants to. I’d say given the fact you can get an ND5 XS2 for not much more money, I’d think overall that’s a better pick and it’s also a digital transport. It also has Digital Inputs and Outputs should you feel the urge to experiment.
I never found it lacking with either a NAIT XS or even a Supernait. The sweet spot pairing for the Supernait 2 or 3 is an NDX2 In my mind, this is what I’m running today and it’s about the nicest NAIT based system I’ve had and can highly recommend that as a path to follow beyond this discussion.
Thanks alot all of you. I am actually leaning towards selling the DAC V1, and let the income start the funding of a second hand ND5 XS2 if the DAC in this is nice. Later look at SN2 or 3.
It’s certainly no slouch and is well regarded by many both existing and previous owners like myself. It’s well matched against a NAIT based system and will give you an improved experience overall compared to where you are today. You can still fetch a decent amount for the DAC V1 and as you say put that towards funding its replacement. Keep us all posted as you explore your options and raise a hand if you feel further opinion or guidance would be of help.
Thanks M,
So keeping the Nait XS and the Flatcap, ANS swapping the V1 and Node for a ND5 XS2 will be a considerable upgrade. Selling the Node will also contribute to the funding, so I see this happening pretty soon. The ND will replace them both, am I right?
Thomas
Yes an ND5 XS2 is both a digital transport/streamer like your Node 2i and a DAC like your V1.
I would add I’ve never owned either a DAC V1 or a Node 2i but have owned both a NAIT XS and an ND5 XS2 so by all means take my opinions as they are and accept they aren’t based on me owning what you have and are looking to replace nor have I personally made a direct comparison between your existing system and its potential replacement.
Knowing what I do about the kit you own and how an ND5 XS2 may fit/work in your NAIT based setup I’d expect you’d find it an enjoyable product, well featured with a lot of flexibility and a capable level of performance at its price point and relative to the rest of your system.
Price wise, new the Node 2i @ £500 and DAC V1 @ £1499 put it below what an ND5 XS2 would cost new @ £2399 but only by £400 however given the age of the technology in the products you have, their features and performance level when combined within one system, I’d expect the ND5 XS2 to outperform your current setup and give a better match sonically and aesthetically and with less complexity than you have today.
Thanks alot. I think that’s the way to go for now.
By the way. I stream my ALAC music from a Synology NAS. This works perfectly well with the Node, the BluOS app indexing the music in a pleasant way. I guess the ND will do the same?
It’s going to work in a similar fashion and use similar methods and protocols to connect/search/playback and so forth.
The Naim ND products can be managed and controlled using the Naim app available for iOS and Android. There is no browser/desktop app.
The ND streamers support UPnP which I imagine is what your Synology NAS is configured for as well
as being a certified Roon Endpoint. It also supports native integration of Tidal (apart from MQA Masters), Qobuz and Spotify. Apple Airplay and Google Chromecast are also integrated as is Bluetooth as a receiver.
I primarily use Roon to handle everything but do also use the Naim app as it has a volume control for my Supernait and a more straightforwards UI vs Roon, both have their uses anyway.
I see. I don’t think that will be an issue. Thank you again for your replys!
Should be fine, I’ve heard good things about the BluOS on the Bluesound products. It’s probably worth doing a bit of research to see how your library is migrated to be accessible by a Naim ND product. Ideally you’ll want to have a UPnP Server application running on your Synology NAS which will be the resource that your ND5 XS2 would be able to see on your local network and connect and browse the folders on. The two main UPnP servers you’ll likely encounter are Minim and Asset. You’ll probably find a leaning towards the Asset Server application and that should be available for your NAS and you may in fact already have it installed or be using it.
The two key things regards your own local library is how they are stored and made accessible using a NAS with a UPnP server running on it and how well organised the metadata within the audio files is.
This will depend in part on how you ripped and stored the audio originally so you may need a bit of housekeeping here.
You can also connect a USB drive directly to the ND5 XS2 and access them directly that way.
Personally, I use Roon to do all this and both run Roon Core Server and store my music library on the same Mac Mini Server which is on a wired connection to my LAN, this is my local library eseentially but the Roon software provides a user interface and a consolidated library view which merges all the content sources in to one view including my own local files and those available to me from my streaming subscriptions. It also does a pretty good job handling metadata despite the fact the majority of my library is in wav format which has only basic metadata support.
Thanks. My Synology is a DS211J. As from what I can see the Node is reading on SMB. But the Synology has an onboard Media Server with allows it to stream from the shared folders music/ photo/ movies to compatible digital media units like music setups, TVs and gaming consoles. And my guess is that the ND fits like a glove here.
As you probably can see, I am pretty new to the whole NAS thing. But I managed to get the Node up and running. So if the ND is more or less the same connection wise, it should be fine.
My only demand is that the ND can connect to the NAS on the wifi.
-Thomas
Yes those things are similar, I’d take a look at Asset UPnP Server for Synology, you can download it to your NAS and set it up via the Web interface. That’s the mechanism an ND streamer would use to connect to your NAS.
The ideal setup is to have everything hard wired over Ethernet on the LAN but appreciate that’s not always practical. My NDX2 connects over WiFi and works fine anyway.
I see. Perfect. If so, I will give it a shot with the onboard media server in the Synology first. It should be pretty universal, and the specs of the ND indicates hassle free connection to NAS.
It’ll work but some things probably won’t like album/track cover art as one example!
The built in UPnP/DLNA media server will allow discovery/search and playback and work fine, but doing things like searching by Genre or ordering the search by other filter types will likely work much better using Asset UPnP server. The Synology one is a bit more basic and not optimised from a useability perspective for Audio, a good starting point though regardless.
I see. It seems like the Media streamer in the Synology lets me choose how I wish to sort/ filter/ search for music in the UPnP-setup, though. Default is very simple, but it looks like I can set it to filter by artist, album and track, for example.
Something to experiment with till you have it setup how you like it, all relatively easy to do anyway!
I think you’re right. Thanks for your help this far.
First off, welcome @Thomas7string
The forum is great for advice! You are getting some very valuable advice from @Mr.M
Thanks! Yes, he is very helpfull.
Always happy to help and share what experience I’ve gained over the years, hadn’t realised you were new to the community so a warm welcome from myself also!
Thanks again. Nice to enter a community of like minded and friendly people. Mr. M, have you owned the nDAC?