My previous TV had an optical port and an optical cable connected to the TV then connected to optical port on the ND 555. I replaced that TV recently and the new TV does not have an optical port. The new TV has an eARC HDMI port. I cannot see an HDMI port on the ND 555 but a manual I looked at says that the ND 555 does have an HDMI port. I also cannot find information stating that the ND 555 can support ARC. One solution is an HDMI Audio Extractor. The HDMI cable would go into that and then the digital optical audio interconnect would feed out of the adaptor and into the digital port on the ND 555. For now I am using the TV sound. I am hoping that somebody has experienced a similar situation as me and can offer suggestions. Thanks. Karen
According to the information on the Naim website the ND555 does not have an HDMI port, as you’ve discovered. If you want to route your TV sound through it then your only option as far as I can see is an HDMI audio extractor, ss you say. Other than that changing your TV for one that has optical out is the only solution. I don’t suppose you’re keen on this as you say the TV is a recent purchase. Is it too late to send it back or get it swapped over for one that does have optical out? Alternatives are to just carry on with the TV sound or get a decent soundbar. The soundbar option obviously won’t give you the quality of your hi-fi system but it will at least give you pseudo surround sound which may/may not matter to you.
We have our TV sound routed through our amp (not Naim) via optical into a Chord Qutest DAC. It’s great and I’m not at all interested in surround sound. I have noticed however that despite optical being supposedly immune to it there is a very slight loss of quality when playing music from our CD transport via the DAC. So I’m in two minds whether to disconnect the TV and just use its own sound which is actually better than average. I don’t know if you might notice something similar in your set up when optical from an HDMI audio extractor is connected to your Naim which is why I mention it.
Unlike the Nova, Atom and some other Naim equipment, the ND555 doesn’t have an HDMI port (the manual you saw must have been on drugs). Your thought on an HDMI audio extractor being the answer is probably the one to pursue - there are plenty of options that are rather cheap to do this, so it’s not going to be too expensive if you want to put your toe in the water
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Given the unreliability and sporadic instability I’ve found with HDMI ARC on my Atom I think it’s probably a good thing that the ND555 doesn’t have it. An HDMI to optical converter would be an option, and it should at least isolate the streamer from any ill effects of a poor electrical signal from the TV HDMI output. You’ll lose the automation benefits of HDMI ARC for input switching and volume control though.
A simpler alternative would be Bluetooth. Your TV probably has it built in.
Does your TV support bluetooth audio? This would be the easiest way to connect tv and nd555
Is it just the TV you want to connect, or do you use a bluray player as well, as this will affect your best options here.
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What benefit would there be to connecting a Blu-ray player directly to the HiFi? A single connection from TV to streamer will carry audio from anything connected to the TV without the need for multiple connections.
The main benefit of connecting a Blu-ray Player directly to the HiFi is you get full Hi-Res audio off the discs up to 24/192 from the HDMI Audio output.
The two TV’s I have, one Samsung and one LG only output 16/48 on either optical or HDMI ARC.
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I guess it depends on the whether you are after quality or convenience I guess. If it’s just convenience and a bit of extra ooomph for the sound, then if your TV has bluetooth, you could possibly use that to connect to the ND555, or maybe AirPlay2 if your TV can act as an AirPlay transmitter. My LG won’t do that, but will connect to my ND5 XS2 over bluetooth.
If you want quality and maximum flexibility then you may need to look at some HDFury products to enable you to get audio from either the TV or something like a BD player. If you rely entirely on eARC then you may get caught up in restrictions of the TV in processing higher quality streams and still being able to push that back out over eARC.
I can’t help reaching the unavoidable conclusion that you’ve really purchased the wrong TV for what you want to do. Depending on how important it is to you to do this and to achieve the optimum quality I would really consider buying a TV with an optical out. Anything else is really just a work around and not entirely satisfactory.
If you’re not that bothered then it doesn’t really matter but if getting the best sound from your TV and anything connected to it is really important to you then you just have to face up to it and get the right TV for the job. In the long run that’s better in my view than buying an HDMI audio extractor or using bluetooth. That’s what I would do anyway.
On one of my LG tvs I use the headphone out to an Atom. Works well. Listening as I type.
That could have been an option, though not a very satisfactory one, except that the ND555 doesn’t have any analogue inputs.
However I assume the ND555 is plugged in to something with analogue inputs.
Are you saying when the TV is connected to the Qutest, there is a drop off in performance with the CD transport connected to the Qutest?
I found the same thing using previous (non Naim) DAC’s. Often the spdif input like optical and coaxial are all sharing the same input circuitry and are not isolated well, so a noisy TV will push noise back down the optical into the DAC.
For critical listening pull the plug. Easier said than done if its not on the top shelf…
You didn’t responded to Chrissu sweetie. I have an eye on you, be aware 
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Yes - exactly that. In theory it shouldn’t happen because the optical connection is immune to electrical noise. However what I’ve found is that our Sony TV (KD48A9) seems to emit some kind of signal into the DAC even when it’s in standby, which it is when we listen to music. I know the optical input is supposedly inactive and isolated etc. when another input is selected (BNC coaxial for CD) but as you say some circuitry must be shared or whatever. In any case CD sounds noticeably better without the TV connected. It’s not a night/day difference, but it’s there and once noticed can’t be ignored. So I’ve disconnected the TV and now just use its own sound system which fortunately with this model isn’t too bad. I really can’t be bothered to keep plugging/unplugging and in any case the toslink sockets are notoriously fragile, with the spring shutters easily broken. I’ve swapped back and forth a few times in an effort to convince myself that it doesn’t really matter but as I say once noticed it just can’t be ignored.
Thank you for looking out for me. Moondrifter fortunately replied with the relevant details, I was tempted to just post a 
Anyway, the OP seems to have gone AWOL, so I never got an answer and we seem to be just chatting amongst ourselves 
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I apologize for the late reply. I appreciate all of your comments. My first priority for a new TV was that the TV had an optical port. I asked the Samsung Chat sales person and at first she did not answer. Then near the end of the chat, I asked again and I said yes. In retrospect, I should have done more checking. What’s past is past. In mulling over the adaptor option, using the TV sound on the Samsung, I concluded that purchasing a new TV with a confirmed port would be the best option. I know that if I settled for anything less, I would not be pleased. I prefer the 2 channel sound. I purchased a Sony Bravia 3 II. The quality of the picture is also much better compared to the Samsung. A Chord Company C-Lite digital optical audio interconnect will connect from the TV to the ND 555. Best Buy will deliver and install the TV on July 18th. I also will listen to CDs with the TV connected to the ND 555 and then not connected to the TV for any degradation in the sound quality. Thank you again. Karen
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Thanks for the update Karen, pleased you have a good outcome.
Having both the TV and CD connected to your ND555 at the same time might not be a sound quality problem @Mike_S has this set up and I think he has not had any problem SQ wise.
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That sounds perfect then Karen, a nice set up. Likewise I’m always particular in ensuring that a TV has an optical audio output. I don’t think you would need to disconnect the CD or TV, as the TV won’t be sending an optical signal unless the TV is on.