I don’t think I have @NigelB with my fully run in ND even though I tend to let it go to standby mode between sessions although I must admit I’m not very good at noticing subtleties in SQ as many on this forum can.
Nigel, having had quite a few new black boxes and S/L cables in the last three years or so the ND555 took the longest by far to come on song the consistency of the sound was a bit iffy to start with and much as you described.
After about six months of being used every day a not being switched off it just seemed to settle down and mantain a consitant replay quality.
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My ND555 suffers the same warm up effect. 10-15minutes in and it sounds great. I leave it, and the rest of my 500 system, powered on all the time. Seems to be a characteristic of the Naim boxes.
Yup, 10 to 15 mins sounds about the same warm up as I am experiencing. It is probably the entire system though, or at least black boxes with transformers inside, and the extra transparency of the ND555 makes the warm up sound more obvious.
Well that is my theory.
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OK, who’s been talking?
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Same here with mine - usually a couple of tracks to come on-song - begins a little dull and cleans-up over 5 mins or so.
I used to get this with my CD555 too, so consider it a normal ‘system’ thing - it needs some juice running through it is seems.
The only thing that should warm-up is the Class B stuff - the Power Amps, so you (and I) may be hearing that more as the ND555 reveals more detail so you hear its resolution through the system as the Amps work more into warmed-up. But it could be the ND555 does a bit of that too.
…in any case it is not as if it sounds rubbish on first track, just notably better by the third.
DB.
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Couldn’t put it better myself DB.
Phew, just glad it has nothing to do with fictitious drugs kicking in!
And you are right DB, even from the first track the ND555 is wonderful. I listened to a variety of stuff today from Beth Hart belting out hard-core rock to lovely Eva Cassidy gently caressing my brain with gorgeous ballads, and the ND555 did every track proud, simply communicating the emotions in these very different genres. That to me is the test of any hifi system.
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Gently caressing…
I rest my case!
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I promise you, no drugs and I hadn’t touched a drop, well not when I was listening to Eva…ahem.
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The men in the white coats at your door, remember?
Oh that……it was nothing really……yes, nothing at all.
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So you find the Chc power black iec mains lead, which is about £100, better than a Powerline or than the chc silver mains lead, both of which are many times more expensive.
I wonder why it’s Better in your system than those far more expensive cables on so many different applications?
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It’s a matter of what you’re looking for. I prioritise timing, dynamics and especially instrumental tone and texture. the Silver leads have a very smooth sound and beguiling midrange clarity typical of silver, but don’t render tone and texture as well or, to a lesser extent, dynamics. They are, however, more successful at this than many silver cables. Sean Jacobs, who is Mr CHC, quite happily accepts that some people prefer copper to silver and vice versa.
I found the Powerline disappointing, preferring the old-style Powerigel to the new. I think it’s to do with the insulation used on post-Hiline cables. This goes for the Superlumina DIN to DIN interconnect as well: low noise floor, but less instrumental tone and texture - it was quite clear once I pointed it out to the dealer during the demo.
It’s easy to try the CHC cables: they offer demo cables with a returnable deposit.
Incidentally, I have also found my 555 system takes a couple tracks to get on full song - both with ND555 now and CD555 beforehand.
Preference of cables is also - and I think mainly - system context. But of course the owner has assembled their system to their own taste so it is also personal indirectly.
But I’ve found cable choice depends on the system capabilities and the ‘windows’ available through each component in it. Many decades ago Naim had a concept of each component in the signal flow chain from Source to Speakers presenting a ‘window’ through which the music had to move as a signal; the more aligned every window was the better the system could present music. The cables are also part of this assembly.
This could be a topic in itself - which I’m not going to sponsor as it will probably go mad and I already have what I need to navigate my own course and will comment or not as need arises.
I’ve found in translation to Active operation the ‘windows’ are different and the demands on the associated cables are also different - so some choices that work better in one context may not in another.
I’ve found - for example - that cables that introduce some mild LF coloration for a good Passive system will sound awful in a good Active system as you have that effect magnifies and overlaid more obviously onto the music - and conversely a good Active cable with some problems with coloration in mid-band but otherwise allowing the Active system to sing will just sound wrong and dirty in the Passive system. I’ve experienced this a lot.
Then you have to contend with the human concept of the perfect cable - I’ve yet to find one - they all have their foibles and tend to work together at their best with others of the same design in a given system to counter-balance their qualities. People that have experienced the SL full-loom effect can probably confirm this - but it applies generally.
For example - if I did not use SL speaker cables I probably could not live with the SL interconnects, as I find the SL interconnects tending toward to over-concise clean harmonic presentation and the SL speaker leads have more the tendency toward fulsome-harmonic structure; their combination seems to complement in filling-in where the other relatively lacks. In practice over about a year of use both SL interconnect and speaker cable sonic character changes both to the better and they sound even better together, but they begin in very different direction to how I hear it.
A big subject in itself - it also applies to Ethernet cables unfortunately I’ve found.
So people are going to find different things work and you sound, IMO, experiment to see if you agree or not - there is not a ‘one truth’ answer - there are better and worse answers, but the missing consideration is usually system context.
DB.
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I sense you guys are micro-listeners – which I guess has its advantages. For my sins, I haven’t the hearing sensitivity to analyse hifi sound to this level of detail.
Here follows the boring bit: What I look for from my Hifi system is mostly emotional connection with the music. My active system facilitates that.
Subsequent incremental updates – SL interconnect, SL snaxo signal, SL DIN-XLR – all enhanced this emotional connection/draw that I have always associated with Naim systems. I am currently still using NACA5 speaker wire – not because I don’t like the idea of a full loom, but partly that the DIN XLRs made my system a bit more ‘sensitivie’ but also that now I am retired, and not that healthy, I need to be a bit more careful of large hifi expenditures.
ND555 would have been a good component to add to my system to replace my existing NDS as I already have the 2x555PS. But I simply did not like NDS 4.6 firmware update and I assumed that ND555 would probably have the same signature. I am running NDS 4.4 and am very happy with it. Even if I had liked the idea of ND555 upgrade, I suspect I would have found it difficult to justify the outlay, given that I am quite happy with my system as is.
Don’t get me wrong – I am not trying to spoil the fun – i’m fascinated by the detailed analyses in these posts and will continue to read them when I have time.
enjoy/ken
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Consider yourself lucky. You and just enjoy the music. Sometimes I wish my hearing were like yours.
Looks like you are in a good place Ken.
Stick and (as you would say) enjoy!
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Hi Ken, it is all about musical enjoyment and in principal a startup system can even give that. I had an interesting observation this Friday when I was sitting at my dealer listening to this full clean setup with the switch and the chord Music. And we listened to dreamtheater scenes of a memory. And I said it has become so clean that I miss a bit the rawness of the progressive metal. My dealers response was oh but now you can better analyze what’s going on.
While I have climbed up the ladder, I don’t want to step away from the emotional connect I have with my music.
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