ND555 Impressions

You will start loving it. I only use my iPad nowadays for selection. The remote is so handy for pause, mute, volume and move to the next song…

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Thanks, Bert. That makes sense and is probably what I will do - finding the pause on the app takes too long as someone invariably telephones or comes to the door when the app has gone to sleep

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Hi Tim,

Did you know that you can stop the App going into standby, or sleep, under “Settings” > “Other Settings” > “Auto Standby Time” > “Never”?

It does mean that your iPad will use more battery power, but if that happens to me, mid session, I just revert to my iPhone and stick the iPad back on charge.

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I use the Naim App for navigation and song-selection only - and it is very good at that.

I use the ND555 Remote for pause-next functionality.

And I use an old plastic remote to control the Volume on the Pre, as the battery never runs-out (it seems) and I do not like the automation feature in terms of SQ or even the swipe-bar method of setting volume.

I get fewer surprises with volume this way and once I learn it all it is very quick and automatic to use, which is what I wanted.

I also set my iPad not to standby and have it on the charger most of the time anyway. I use Ethernet via a dongle that adapts the iPad for Ethernet use and also allows charging at the same time, so everything is always on and working when I want to use it, as I dislike ‘discovery finding room’ time-out.

DB.

my ND555 seems much harder for the app to find then the NDS was…

Discovery is almost instant here, now that I’ve beefed up the wi fi signal with an Apple Extreme hooked into the router at the front of the house, together with an Airport Express by the rack in the music room at the rear.

The ethernet is hard wired from the Extreme via the loft, to a Cisco switch, which accommodates the Airport Express, the ND 555, and my HDX.

Previously, the wi fi signal was both poor and intermittent, and discovery could often take a while, and sometimes not at all.

Apple seem to have pulled out of wi fi, which means the kit can be had very cheaply in the usual places, and it does seem robust.

Naim have done a lot of work recently on speeding these things up so that may improve for you in a future update from Naim.

Because of the way I use my ND555, as described previously, it is always connected and I only get discovery issues when I pull-out the Ethernet lead - then it takes a few seconds (less than 10s and usually about 3s) to appear again.

But it should all be fine with WiFi too given a good network strength and the latest App version.
I just don’t find WiFi adds to my experience generally so mostly keep it turned-off in the house, except if I particularly want to briefly use it - not that often.

DB.

The WiFi router, nd555 and core are wired to each other but everything else is WiFi. Not putting cables in when we did the house 12-13 years ago was one of the few things we did wrong. With stone floor tiles etc it would be too much upheaval to try to get a network in place now

This may have something to do with the fact that the new streamers go to a form of standby mode.
I found the same issue with my ND and discovery versus the 272.it takes longer to find it with the app and sometimes have to retry

Yes - if only the top light of the four is lit (buttons to the right) then it is in standby and needs waking up

Curiously, I have not seen a volume slider. Instead I see + and - icons.

System Automation volume control cannot use a slider, so you get the +/- controls instead.

It was a very early version of the App from a year ago that put me off using the App to control Volume personally - and at that time it was a slider used on a friends system where I found it awkward personally.
I’m very happy it can all be done but personally find the tactile control of the remote nicer - so just personal choice.

DB.

I seem to have used ‘personally’ 4 times above in one paragraph - so I seem hyper-sensitive to not offending anyone who loves automation and may have otherwise been considering organizing a mob to march on Bear Lodge. :bear:

DB.

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I’m offended by the word p**sonally, pass me the burning torch!

The slider volume control is for the Uniti series boxes; my UnitiQute2 presents a slider on the Naim app. My ND555 with system automation ON presents the +/- buttons.

Reverting to a slightly earlier theme. The Designercable Belden Cat5e has settled down nicely in my system with passive NBLs, all orientated so the C of cat is nearest the source. I tried reversing the last one recently but quickly reverted, a total reversal was tried earlier with a clear detriment so I left it at that this time. Bass is still on the full side but acceptably so with NBLs, the fruity character has faded.
I even found a way for the last cable to thread through the Burndy obstacle course without touching any.

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glad to hear these cables are working for you. As I reported earlier, in my system, they worked better than some of the more exotic (price-wise) varieties. I did try chord ones – but these also just didn’t cut it in my system – this may have been something to do with that they were shielded – but dunno for sure. I managed to sell them very easily on the pink site though, and the guy who bought them is very happy with them, just goes to show, etc etc…

ps: I never paid any attention to directionality though… silly me…but I will leave things as they are…

enjoy/ken

I’m presently using one from Melco to switch with the AQ Vodka from Melco to ND555 working best so far.

There is a reasonably strong directionality, which I found swaps-direction as they run-in - but I also got that with the AQ Vodka direction, preferring it swapped back to ‘correct’ after a couple of months running-in.

I think there are strong system interactions that influence what you will prefer and settle on - for example Active systems seem to steer preference one way perhaps.

DB.

A week vacation and back home now. So one of these is what I need to buy to be able to use the Nd remote for the 552 volume?
I will go for a cheap one…

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