ND5XS2 Stutter

Hello guys,

I have an nd5xs2, which I have tried both in WIFI and ethernet. It stutters more frequently on wifi (probably because the router is quite far away). But what I didnt expect was it stuttering on ethernet. The stutter is however very rare, but when it happens, it doesnt have any pops or crackle or skipping sounds. It only sounds like the volume drops for a very brief moment.

I am using spotify if that helps.

Thank you very much

I would like to add that in diagnostics, when streaming network radio Hi Res from the naim app, I note that the current buffer level doesnt exceed 1%. Is this normal? I was expecting it to use more of the buffer. It could be due to it being from the radio however.

The buffer on my streamers is usually at or around 100%, which means it’s less likely to stutter than yours.
There appears to be an issue with your network or incoming internet.
Has it always been like this?
How is your router set up and have you tried turning off the ND5X and reboot the router, then when fully started, turn on the ND5X?
With only 1% buffer, you’ll have issues.

Does the dip in volume only happen just before the end of songs or any time?

But I agree with above that that is a low buffer level. What is your internet speed?

When using spotify, there is no diagnostic shown. This only comes up when I am using internet radio from the naim app. From what it seems, the buffer is always very very small around 1-2%. My internet setup is fast, I have high speed fibre, and I have tried resetting the streamer and using a wireless extender all the same.

Perhaps @110dB or naim staff can advise how to get the buffer size when using spotify?

It happens randomly, cant say for sure. My Fibre speed is 500megabits per second. This has been tested by speedtest on my laptop as well (I have no issues with high res youtube and downloading large files). I have tried a few configurations but they all seem to not buffer properly.

Oh dear somehow I missed that your message mentions Radio specifically.

As radio is streamed live one can imagine that it cannot buffer a lot in advance. So this could be right.

What is your buffer health like if you stream from something like Tidal or Qobuz?

Ah yes, that was my thoughts too that radio cannot buffer in advance. Funny thing is that it doesnt seem to stutter even on hi res radio.

It seems that i cannot see the buffer size on spotify… Can you check if you have it? Thank you

Just checked mine and for Radio it is indeed under 1%. This will be due to the live nature of the stream.

Actually, I just looked at my own diagnostics page for my NDX2 and it shows a similar low buffer, and that’s hard wired into my router.
I suspect that particular buffer info is a red herring.
Here is where I see a “buffer” in the app which is always over 80%, usually at or towards 100%
Here’s a shot of my Muso-QB which is connected via wi-fi.

If I try Spotify I also don’t see similar information. It must be how the Spotify integration works. Remember that Spotify only works through connect as they do not allow third parties to directly consume their APIs.

Can you try Tidal or Qobuz?

I want to go back to checking something as there is a known issue in the latest firmware where rarely, about 10 seconds before track end it can have a micro drop in sound. When this happens you will see the Underruns in the diagnostics page increment.

When I noticed it myself it seemed that a reboot of the device helped stop it for a while. Maybe you can try that for now.

There is a good chance that this is what you are noticing and if so, I would not worry about it. I am sure a future firmware update will fix that for you.

Thanks for sharing, I will try tidal free subscription

I meant Tidal only for the buffer check.

The sound drop, if it is what I think it is, will also happen on Tidal.

You are on the latest firmware of the ND5XS2? If so then a Tidal trial is a really good option as you can play Tidal Max with your device. A much higher resolution that Spotify.

So I have tried Tidal, it is fully buffered in under 40 seconds of starting the track. Seems that it is working properly. However I will need more time to test if it stutters on Tidal. It is definitely very weird why spotify does not have any buffer diagnostic. It seems like spotify’s implementation does not use buffering but rather pulling data in real time?

I did some searching and came across this informative answer on how spotify performs its buffering.

It will most certainly use buffering but both Tidal and Qobuz are natively integrated into the Naim Firmware. Spotify does not allow this. Due to this there may be limitations on the level of detail Naim can read out of Spotify Connect code.

It will definitely NOT cache any songs as the link suggests as there is no storage space in the Naim devices to do so.

I hope you read what I said about the known issue with very short sound drops at the end of songs. I get that too and it was reported to Naim. Don’t go on a wild goose chase here. Rather enjoy the music and wait for a future firmware release. There is a very good chance that you are hearing that and you have 0 issues at home with your network.

I have the same, and the streamer is close to the router, a couple of meters behind the wall. I’d blame Spotify and the Internet congestion.

Updating to this topic. No stutter on Tidal at all (with ethernet). There is still stutter on spotify (Ethernet or Wifi). Naim needs to address this problem, spotify is unusable and its weird because I have a very cheap wiim mini that does not have any problems with spotify.

I don’t have these problems on my ND5 XS 2 with Spotify. So I don’t know if the problem lies with Naim actually.

I might have overstated the problem slightly. On wifi spotify stutters around 1 in 5-8 songs, and it is very brief - a split second. Do you run on ethernet or wifi?