ND5 XS2: Firmware Upgrade Experience

Streaming Audio
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I know that there are a number of threads that address this, but most of the posts are by owners of the NDX 2 and ND 555. For those of you who own the ND5 XS2 and have upgraded firmware, I would be interested to hear about your experiences on the following issues:

  1. Any change in sound quality, positive or negative, or neutral.
  2. If a change in sound quality, whether change is applicable to all sources (Tidal, Qobuz and files stored locally on NAS or USB), or if your experience varies depending upon source.
  3. Whether you have encountered any problems or issues following upgrade, such as dropouts, network connectivity, interaction with Roon or similar.
  4. Any other reasons to upgrade beyond Qobuz implementation, such as stability, network/internet security, etc.

I use Roon and don’t need firmware upgrade to integrate Qobuz, but am curious as to likely benefits/detriments of doing so. To the extent relevant to your response, my streamer feeds a Nait XS2, which powers a pair of Audio Physics Tempo Plus speakers. I like how my system currently sounds, and am generally of the view that if it’s not broken, then don’t fix it, but recognize that I may be overly conservative on this issue.

Thanks in advance for all responses and insights.

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I can’t comment on any sound quality changes to the ND5XS2, although for me, there were quite noticeable changes for the better on NDX2 and Atom with this last update. It did include some tweaks to the Roon implementation too, so you may find that it’s worth doing the update.

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All I can add here is that since owning my ND5 XS 2 and after doing two updates since new (now running the latest) my player has never sounded and functioned so good.
I highly recommend that you update to the latest Firmware. No regrets here at all and I too run mine through a NAIT XS 2 amplifier although into Neat Motive SX2 speakers.

I just use native Tidal and stream local files from my NAS device. I’ve not taken the opportunity yet to try out Qobuz as I’m reasonably happy at this time.

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Try it, you might like it! If nothing else you’ll save yourself a fiver a month, and you’ll get some music in HiRes.

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Thanks for your response, very helpful as there have been very few to date. (Responses from any other ND5 XS2 owners appreciated.)

I second the Qobuz recommendation. I tried Tidal during free trial and wasn’t impressed. I have been very happy with Qobuz, which has excellent sound quality and great selection for my musical tastes (jazz and classical).

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I’ve just got a nd5xs2 with the latest firmware so can’t comment on previous iterations but it sound lovely and no glitches. Unlike my nova…

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Like Hifi-dog I am new to the ND5XS2 with the latest firmware, but it sounds great, no glitches and I use local music from NAS, internet radio and Qobuz. All good here.

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Thanks HiFiDog and cwhizz for your reports. I’ve held off doing the update given that there have been relatively few responses.

Any other ND5 XS2 owners who can share their update experiences? Thanks.

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The upgrade was good to start with but now the app is up to its old tricks. Wrong album art on albums, 504 bad gateway errors when clicking on the open book icon. One time I had Rolling Stones Voodo lounge as a cover image whilst playing Ravel string quartets and when I clicked on the small voodoo lounge icon I got joe Bonamassa with a Ravel and Faure tracks listed! Today I got a Walter Trout when I clicked on Ries cello sonatas!
When will Naim make an app that works?

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Have you tried resetting the app?

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Just done it. Seems to have sorted it…until the next time😉

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Everything solid here. I think you should be ok from now on.

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