ND555 Impressions

I can’t comment on the sound quality benefits (or otherwise) of doing this, but it’s certainly possible. I think I’d still want the Roon Core on the same wired connection, though. If you could connect the streamer, Roon Core, NAS, and a wireless access point to a switch, it would all work. Better to get to the bottom of the problem, I would think, rather than hide from it!?

Just because one can eliminate a physical separate box called ‘switch’ does not mean that what it did disappears with the use of WiFi, it is just done in a different way. WiFi blasts everything everywhere with electronic tags so that devices can pick-out what belongs to them and ignore the rest - another way to do it but it is not a perfect solution and has its own unique problems.

WiFi is essentially a WAN (Wide Area Network - you see all your neighbor networks) electronically tagged (with some security) to be a LAN - meaning it is not as quiet or secure as a true piece of wire sent to you individual box with just the signals that box evokes - this is what I found, but you may find otherwise and try it and see if it works for you.
When I wired my whole system with a physical wired-LAN, as a final test I turned the house WiFi off and on a few times to hear if it did anything, as at that point it should have been doing nothing as it was not being used - I could clearly hear when it went off as a curtain of noise dropping from the sound - that told me all I needed to remain with a wired solution. But some things are easier via WiFi so understandable what people prefer it.

Either will ‘work’ and one may sound better, but conceptually I don’t like how WiFi works in terms of isolating unwanted signals entering my HiFi - but it is a lot neater and easier.

DB.

This is my first day having a raspberry pi,yesterday i installed a raspberry pi b3 playing music to my nd555 streamer,in terms of sound it is much better than my laptop pc I always used before,I’m happy I did it,the differend is like upgrading from nac5 to s/l speakers cable

I must admit that through the life of this thread I’ve been hoping to see someone post a picture of themself lying on a Fraim shelf with a Burndy attached to their hip, but I do have a terrible weakness for bad puns.

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Hi all…my theory was directly wire my nas to my nuc and nd555 as normal … (thinking about it I need switch doh!) so nas,nuc,nd555 on switch with shortish ethernet. No direct connection to main network. The nuc would communicate with roon via internet…with wi fi…to sync meta data. My thoughts are the network to my ND555 is small and does not act as a giant aerial…and minimal network noise. I will try in the next few weeks. I will then compare it with my main network synology nas…on main network. Phew.

…your mood descended into inky blackness…

DB, just curious, how sound the vodka now, after the last days of run in? will you keep it? A bit off topic, but i don’t remember the thread where you were talking about the ethernet cables.

The signature of the Vodka is very different from the Cinnamon.
The Vodka had an immediate ‘wow’ factor of big space, wider bandwidth but not immediately as sweet as the Cinnamon in the voice-band.

But it seems to have a run-in cycle with a period of around a day - meaning initially good - 12h later a bit bland and cold - 12h later smoother and detailed and everywhere better than Cinnamon - except still a tendency toward over-analytic - then 12h later cooler over-clean - and coming out of it again…

The Cinnamon is well run-in and did change over a few weeks in becoming darker and cleaner in a good way with better tighter bass than at first - so I’m not comparing like with like run-in.

I like both cables but the Vodka is showing remarkable abilities and I thought I had a ‘yes’ decision yesterday but it dipped today a bit - I want it to even-out and hear what it does in my system.
The Vodka is not just ‘more bass’ but considerably more detailed to the extent I’m hearing information on many tracks I’d never realized were there - complex riffs that before were a blur in presence of the larger concert are now clearly identified - bass timing is far better, especially deep percussion.

So I’m on ‘probably’ Vodka and I have this week to buy or return in fairness to my Dealer. No pressure from them but mainly me.

If I could have a little of the Cinnamon ‘warmth and beauty’ added to the wider open window and authority of the Vodka then I’d be at yes - but I’ll see how it is in a day or two.

Every recording is different to what I had known before with this cable.
I’m thinking that these differences are showing how good the ND555 is in revealing all this - really I’m getting incredible performance now of the sort I imagined Streaming should be but for some reason I’d not heard before.

I hear the discussions that all Ethernet is the same and there are no differences - it is not the case with me.

…I also still prefer it (as I have all the other AQ cables I’ve tried) the ‘wrong’ way around direction, pointing away from the ND555 - cleaner more detailed with a removal of obfuscation of detail.

DB.

i had the forrest, vodka and diamond. The vodka is very dynamic but a bit hard , not very refined, in my system of course. The diamond is well ahead, softer, nicer, more open, with more nuances and textures, more fluent too.
I kept the vodka from router to switch and diamond for the streamer and server.
I hope you will try one day the diamond.

It changes so much with run-in that I recognize exactly that you describe it like that - and it is a useful perspective as I bottom it out.
Yesterday it was flying along on a wide range of music and even doing well of tracks I usually skip-over in showing what they were about.

The what was ‘roughness’ became a clean smoothness and delicacy yesterday - I thought ‘yes’ arrived run-in done - stop there …but it has more to go.

In every case with other run-in items things improve and the up and down decrease with time and you enter into a very gradual improvement and stable performance.

I don’t think this has a thing to do with the Ethernet digital performance and is more a screening and low-frequency charge flow between the connected boxes getting into the DAC reference voltage circuits, but who knows at this stage.

The effects are there - my idea that I could just use my network skills and not be bothered with this is gone by these experiments.

My Dealer and a few others ahead of me knew all this stuff way before I knew it had any effect - I just did not (want to) believe it.

DB.

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I have the Vodka for both and haven’t yet tried something else, was contemplating for the far future to consider the Chord Music for the connection Melco - ND555…

Re direction of ethernet cables we have found that arrows for direction should point to the switch. So my Music cables point from Core to switch and 555 to switch

:small_blue_diamond:Murrayh,…Welcome :smiley:,…Interestingly,then you have the same view as the Darke Bear.

I usually always test both directions on the speaker and Interconnect cables,but have to admit I haven’t had time to do it on the Ethernet cables.
This should be tested.

/Peder🙂

Welcome! :bear:

Good to hear from someone that tried it. I found out by accident on a previous demo of AQ Cinnamon where I accidentally had it the wrong way around - as I had no idea it had a direction when I first plugged it in.

I then tried it the ‘right’ way according to the AQ notes and did not like the result - duller and less engaging.
I then tried this on the AQ Forrest and a longer second Cinnamon cable (3m) - and now the Vodka and get a consistent preference pointing away from the ND555 to Melco.

The preference is not slight at this level - it really impairs the performance. But the effects are mainly in the high frequencies and I wonder if it depends on the rest of your system as to which you will prefer?
I’ve found as I’ve improved my own system the resolution in HF has opened-out detail in what before was either a blur or harshness previously, showing it just could not handle it right before and now it does.

As to the obvious ‘it makes no difference - there is no direction’ that is exactly correct in the terms I’d understood Ethernet - there is no direction operationally.
But there is in the context of connecting two boxes in a HiFi system - easy to hear - and I did not want to hear it. AQ obviously know it made a difference in their blurb on the cable.

DB.

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Hi DB,

after a move from Vodka (router to switch & switch to NDS) to Diamonds, i can only recommand to try the second one. it’s more open, refiened, quick and accurate

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I must admit I am gobsmacked at the ethernet cable effect…in theory it should make no difference…but there is quite a large impact. The changing of my cables has definitely changed the sound for the worse. Just maybe they will burn in…and Nivarna will return. I think in the long run … I will end up taking a trip to audioquest!!! Actually I am surprised naim don’t do super lumina ethernet…

That is 5x more expensive that the Vodka, which was 3x more than Cinnamon…
I will try it if I can get a Demo cable from my Dealer. I’m not sure my Dealer got on with it as well as they did the other AQ cables which they have available on demo. I’ve not heard it so it would be interesting.

Maybe it will come - Naim like to take their time and get it right (in their terms) - also they may not have considered it significant, but I suspect they know. It does not serve them to discuss it if they do not have a product - I only know that they were, in their demos or ND555 and NDS, explicit in not having any ‘HiFi Ethernets’ in those demos. Given how much the character of the sound can be made worse or better probably the reason.
I had not liked some ‘HiFi’ Ethernet cables I tried early on and found CAT5e worked best and hated commercial CAT7 and found commercial CAT6 rather dull and lackluster. Only more recently I’ve found HiFi ‘CAT7’ or better standard Ethernet cables that are clearly, in my system and to me, better.
Given I wanted the cable to make no difference this is unwelcome, but just what I’m hearing.

All this is new to me - I’m learning by trying in my system and what it does.

DB.

:small_blue_diamond:Darke Bear,…Then you are on the same trip that I started for 2.5-3 years ago.
Interesting…but difficult to understand.

Here in Sweden,…AQ Diamond is 3+ more expensive than Vodka not 5+,…cost Diamond so much more in the UK.?

/Peder🙂

I’m surprised more people don’t just try the soothing effects of a longer (10m) Cat. 5e as @Simon-in-Suffolk recommended. I think he suggested that the signals mellow as it was never intended that devices are such a short distance apart. Of course Melco users may not need this solution. I can unplug my Innuos Zenith once I queued an album so the cable can’t influence the sound, but it doesn’t make any difference.

I don’t doubt your ears, but there must be other alternatives.

Phil

Phil, probably because of the practicalities of it… and you would probably need 50m plus to hear much of a difference.