Why it doesn’t make sense to you?
An Allow would only make sense to me with Roon as I don’t like the Volumio or other Pi based softwares.
The Naim App on the other hand I like a lot.
So for me with the ND5XS2 I don’t need Roon. With the Allo I do to make it user friendly.
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Have you tried Audirvana or Linn Kazoo as the front end? They should work as control points to any generic UPnP application running on the RPi/Allo stack
To be honest I didn’t try those two.
If those are slick and really work well then Roon might not be needed which will make the difference in price much bigger.
If you can try the DCS network bridge, perhaps it’s the best one box solution. Around 3k.
But don’t know how it will interact with the Naim dac.
Better try before.
@Naim_The_Dragon, @suzywong, all: I am powering my DigiOne Signature with an UpTone Audio LPS-1.2 (clean side) and JS-2 (RPi side). The other way round works perhaps even better. The OS is either my own Raspbian Lite based minimal distribution or GenTooPlayer. GenTooPlayer 2.13 was not very reliable in my wireless setup, since a few weeks I am back to my system that is rock solid: after even weeks of idling it shows up immediately as I open BubbleUPnP in my android phone. I have compared the DigiOne Signature (powered as above) to a Sonore ultraRendu (also powered by the JS-2 or by the LPS-1.2) + Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB: they sounded slightly differently but I was not sure which one I preferred. I do not know how the DigiOne Signature compares to the ND5XS 2 as a transport. I know a few members who have replaced their ND5XS devices with mac minis, NUCs or RPis and haven’t looked back but perhaps the ND5XS 2 is better than the ND5XS as a transport. By the way, there is a new rewiew of the Allo USBridge Signature at “darko dot audio slash 2020 slash 06 slash allos-usbridge-signature-review” with some remarks about the impact of different PSUs on the sound quality. Best, nbpf
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Currently I’m using the Zen Mini Mk3 and searching for an upgrade with better streamer. The lack of SPDIF output in the higher Innuos models turns me off for now and for the moment I’m looking towards Naim ND5XS2 as an option. I know there are Audiophileo USB converters but I’m not keen on the idea for now. I’m using nDAC and I’m reading positive comments about ND5XS2 as a pair with nDac.
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Ah – I got it the wrong way around. 
I read the Darko review last night – quite interesting indeed. I am wondering about Nirvana. It’s a pity that Allo didn’t provide a Nirvana unit for that review. But I guess we’ll have a few user reports in the next few weeks. 
Aesthetically they match perfectly (both slimline cases). 
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I also hope they match sound wise 
. I plan to stack them the streamer on top since I have my SN2 on the side and HiCapDr on the bottom on a different rack. The slim design is really appealing to me. I saw you use DC1 BNC cable. Have you compared it to other cables? I have Chord Epic RCA to BNC and for now I plan to use RCA to BNC adapter. I wonder if it will be a better option to replacing it with DC1 cable.
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I use an NDX as a transport and an advantage for me is that I can use its multiple inputs - so my CD/Blu Ray player and Sky Q box go through it as well as the ethernet connections and can take advantage of my DAC. I’m considering an NDX5 XS2 as it has an additional optical input so I could add the TV as a separate device.
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When I purchased the nDAC 2nd hand (it’s only been 1 week), it was a package deal. The DC1 BNC cables were thrown in. I have not had the opportunity to try other cables. Yes the sound matches, if anything so far with the nDAC there is more bass and I’d say it sounds a little darker/warmer but I’m terrible at describing these things and to be honest I need a little bit more quiet/focus time with my newer setup. The sound stage has improved drastically for me(my room, setup etc). Hope this helps.
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Hi Nick, all these sources can output a single BNC to Blu2/Mscaler and Dave? that’s actually a good usage of the NDX, as the inputs on Mscaler are rather limited.
It suited me perfectly - and of course the app controls the input selection. Just wish the NDX had another optical, and native Qobuz so I could ditch Kazoo (which is OK, but the Naim app gives it a good spanking).
I might be able to chip in on the sound of the Naim DAC. As i said above I had a nDAC here for a demo while I also had a Chord Qutest here for comparison. The difference to me was really small between them and they both sounded very good. I thought that the Chord let’s you forget more about the how the music sounds and just enjoy it while the Naim had a few more own character. The Naim had a bigger soundstage and sounded a bit fuller and had more accentuated punch to the mid drums. The bass sounded a bit warmer/fuller but definitely still very controlled. Overall I thought the Naim had the edge over the Qutest but as I said the difference was marginal. I enjoyed the punch, energy and soundstage of the Naim slightly more than the Qutest.
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If someone has already the Nd5xs2, adding the Ndac is a very good choice.
But in the contrary case, buying a new Nd5xs2 to run only as transport is a bit expensive, because the dac inside will not be used.
For the same money, the DCS network bridge is only a transport, a specially good one. Hificritic reviewed it and found it improved the Nds/555 dr streaming part, and sound quality.
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Did you try bubble upnp
Not quite the same money, unfortunately – £3,600…
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I use it as the server, but I don’t own an Android device so can’t use the app. Tried Lumin, but my brain and it didn’t get on at all well
I now (just arrived) have a similar setup with Allo DigiOne Sig + Ciunas audio LPSU (mentioned above) running Ropiee for roon with a home built NUC as the Core (I saved £1,000 by replacing a roon Nucleus+ with this) running Win10. Just warming up. Qobuz and FLAC Internet Radio streams sounding very good.
Just a shame that Naim don’t produce a streamer and quality PSU combination, using the S800 board, without an onboard DAC, in a compact case…
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I think @Simon-in-Suffolk has mentioned previously that even if you don’t use the internal DAC, Naim streamers (at least ND5XS2 and NDX2 as far as I understood) reorganize their whole potential to purely digital output and 1/3 of the DAC is still used for some processes. In addition the whole internal PSU is then used only for producing digital sound and it’s not contaminated from working on both analogue and digital signals (at least that are my thoughts). This sounds very interesting and in such case it doesn’t seem as a waste to use ND5XS2 purely as a transport. In addition using a Naim streamer with a Naim DAC guarantees great synergy and if you don’t have an option to audition different DACs or streamers in advance, it seems like a safe approach to buy two products from the same brand.
Being on this topic I recall that every time I audition complete Naim systems in a local dealer I always enjoy the sound and find it very balanced and full. Currently in my own system I always either use a DAC or a streamer from a different brand with Naim amplification and don’t find the same synergy and balance as at my dealer’s showroom. It’s just an assumption but I think the system synergy might be the secret key in this case. That’s one of the reasons I plan to upgrade my Innuos to ND5XS2.
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