I have searched on the forum but I am unable to find any information on the end of life date for my NDS; beyond which Naim will be unable to carryout any repairs to a NDS.
Does anybody know if an eol date exists?
Thank you.
Kind regards.
Roger.
No idea, But would you mind if I added nDAC to that? I have no Idea which came first, though I believe nDAC might be the one keeping in mind the ‘superior solution’ that the NDS had to offer.
That’s going to depend on what fault it might develop. The streaming boards are certainly no longer available, so if that dies you’ve had it. Only Naim can tell you what other faults would render it unrepairable.
I would guess it’s impossible to say for sure. Certain things should be repairable for many, many years. It’s only when you have a component failure that can no longer be replaced when you have issues. I guess that if one of the DAC chips failed and Naim had run out of replacements then that could be an issue. Luckily the BB chips are fairly reliable - certainly much more so than the old Philips ones!
I would be very surprised if such information exists or could be shared by Naim staff.
Apart failing capacitor or capacitors, and screen, I don’t know what can fail.
@ChrisSU , may I ask how you gleaned that? Personal experience?
Rajeev
The Bridgeco streaming boards used in the NDS (and all 1st gen streamers) ceased production many years ago, and Naim announced a while back that their stocks were exhausted.
I assume Naim will at least attempt to make any other repairs they can which are not limited by parts availability. Hopefully Naim’s owners who are based outside the UK are not imposing further any restrictions on servicing but it’s always going to be a difficult balance to strike for a company with a range of legacy products that is growing significantly in size and complexity.
Thank you to everybody for their response.
Just having an idle thought of moving it on while it is fully functioning, including screen.
Hi Richard.
What are BB chips?
Thank you.
BB = Burr Brown; DAC chips, in this case the PCM1704Ks
Now often referred to as TI chips since Burr Brown were bought put by Texas Instruments some years ago.
I wouldn’t worry about the screen or the streaming board failing.
Adding a modern high quality streaming bridge will give you better functionality and better sound quality.
Probably be good option, even before anything fails. 
2 Likes
1 Like
Yes there is a thread about that. Though no one mentioned the Volumio transports. And if you do local streaming, there is years and years of life in the old ND streamers yet, even without software updates (which Naim still provide).
The long term support effort on these boxes is truly incredible.
Basically a streamer without a DAC inside. It will just received the digital signal and send it to the DAC to convert the digital signal to analogue which your amp understands.
Examples:
Lindemann Limetree Bridge
PRIMARE Prisma NP5
Volumio Rivo etc.
Some streamers with a DAC inside have digital outputs so they can be used just as streamers going to an external DAC.
Examples:
Cambridge MXN10
WiiM Pro Plus
Eversolo DMP6 etc.
Hope this helps.
1 Like
This is a difference solution to a ‘Streaming Bridge’
The streaming bridge products listed above, eg Limetree Netowrk Bridge will output S/PDIF will be consumed by the NDS on its Digital input (BNC, RCA or TOSLINK), so you would transfer the network connection from the NDS to the streaming bridge and use a Digital cable into the NDS.
Here the duties of the NDS is now just a DAC. The streaming bridge will deal with Tidal, Qobuz, Roon etc. Though you could still keep a network cable connection for UPNP served local content & the Naim iRadio service & just use the streaming bridge for the internet based streaming services.
The SonoreUPnP bridge you have there, is a bridge for Roon (used in LMS compatibility mode) and allows the NDS to be used as a Roon endpoint directly. The SonoreUPnP bridge takes the feed from Roon and passes a UPnP feed to the NDS.
This means you can let Roon manage all your local content (in whatever format), all internet based services (Tidal, Qobuz) and all internet based Radio.
This solution is believed by some to be superior to a native Roon implementation, in that the LMS mode in Roon & UPnP are better than Naim implementation of the Roon RAAT protocols in the newer streamers (when do you see Naim ever demonstrating or featuring a Roon based system?).
But if you are a Roon user, the SonoreUPnP bridge is an excellent way of including an NDS in this system
If you just want HiRes support from Tidal or Qobuz, as an input option, alongside existing local file based playback and Naim’s iRadio service, then a Limetree network bridge, Primare NP5 is an excellent direction - just get a good quality Digital Coax cable (probably same cost as the streaming bridge). Also look at a Holo Audio Red, these are meant to be very good too.
3 Likes
The only problem is that the SonoreUPnP has been unavailable for some time. Another option is a RaspberryPi running RooUPnP. Works the same at a lower cost but some configuration necessary (step-by-step instructions available).
2 Likes
Hi, You are mixing up the ‘SonoreUPnP Bridge appliance’ that Small Green Computers use to offer, which was a RPi-based unit, just running SonicOrbiterOS with only the SonoreUPnP application running. Then this hasn’t been available to purchase for some time, since RPis were difficult to get hold of.
However, the SonoreUPnP Bridge is actually an application/package within the SonicOrbiterOS, which every Sonore Rendu product uses, plus also the SonicTransporter range from Small Green Computer, which can also run the Roon Server and also store local content etc.
I personally run SonoreUPnP on a UltraRendu with a UltraCap LPS 1 power supply, to provide a quiet environment, plus if required I can use this as NAA with a USB output, and a USB→S/PDIF converter. Though I prefer the SQ from the SonoreUPnP route over the S/PDIF digital.
I believe that RooUPnP can also provide the Bridge between Roon and UPnP and therefore offer an option for NDS users, who wish to use Roon - but I have no experience of this.
I have been using the SonoreUPnP Bridge for the last 10-years, with Roon (I was an initial Beta user) and I an early adoptor of this playback route.
1 Like
I see you have the “Musical Surroundings ‘Phonomena’ phono stage (with DC supply via automatically recharged/switched battery pack)”
I had one of those, too - very good, but I found it was picking up electrical noise from powerline units I was using at the time.
They’re quite uncommon. I bought mine in the US, while they’re on business, some 20-years ago.
Please don’t post unauthorised commercial links here. Thanks.