can the dealer give you another nd555 to try? remember, your second 552 was completely different…With naim you play a bit lottery.
£13,000 lottery? Not a good advertisement for Naim.
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lottery because you can never be sure if your item will hum or not, sound optimal or not, have a screen freeze or not…
DUNC
That is what I do with my NDS, I use the NDS digital out (BNC) into my Chord TT2, and I find it definitely improves on the NDS alone. What surprised me today, I took the NDS out of the chain, and used my Naim Core’s digital out directly into my TT2, and it seemed to lose some of the magic. Less detailed, smoother sounding I guess you could say. I only played it from the Core direct for a few hours, so I will give it a few days before inserting the NDS back in to see if it is actually better. I was hoping the Core direct would equal the NDS digital out, so I could possibly sell the NDS/XPSDR to fund an Mscaler and new speakers, but now I am not so sure…
But why are you surprised? The NDS is acting as an isolator + reclocker between the Core and the TT2. It is to be expected to improve the output of the Core.
The interesting question is whether an Mscaler (or perhaps even a more modest Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB) would perform better or worse than the NDS/XPSDR combo. The latter is a bit too expensive to be deployed as a transport, in my view.
I honestly don’t know if the Mscaler performs any reclocking or isolating duties.
Well, what would it otherwise do? It certainly upscales and hence reclocks incoming streams and provides galvanic isolation to USB input and dual BNC output (according to
https://chordelectronics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/M-Scaler-Manual.pdf)
So do you think the Core would sound as good feeding the Mscaler/TT2 direct, as it would going through the NDS? I am just trying to figure out if I really need the NDS in there, because I only stream from the Core, no Tidal or Qbuzz in use. I will get an Mscaler either way, it is just that I could get one sooner by using the NDS/XPSDR funds to buy it.
If you decide you want to keep a Naim streamer in front, another option would be to swap the NDS for an NDX, or even an ND5XS, and dispense with the XPS. That would free up some cash, without losing any of the functions of the streamer, and the streaming board is essentially the same on all of them.
Not something you would want to do without a listening test, but maybe an option.
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This is not an advertisement for Naim. It is a rant by one person who will not take the good advice given by many to avail of Naim’s superb customer service. This topic has become in Monty Python terms, ‘too silly’.
I take it you mean me, rant, err I dont think so.
Just saying what I have experienced the last few days.
Also just for reference I have been told to leave it a few more days to complete its warm up and then if still not satisfied, take it back and see how it stands up against the shops demo model.
Certainly not ranting
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you could try the dcs network bridge, connected to the chord combo. It would stream from the uniticore for much less money than nds/xpsdr and on the same level or better.
you are probably referring to me. I have naim components since 20 years and will continue. It’s a great company and i love its sound.
However there are many differences in same components after the production. It’s a problem to my eyes.
it’s the best thing to do! 
As someone who is approaching 6 months with a preloved 552/500 of circa 2000 vintage serviced almost 3 years ago but not DRed, I say the best advice with Naim kit is to get it setup as per the best advice and leave it alone to mature. I doubt your 552 is anywhere near settled in. You have a good streamer (NDS) and you should be wowed by it. I’ve been wowed in the last month as mine settles even with a humble nDAC + 555 DR receiving a very very high quality spdif stream from an Innuos Zenith.
Undoubtedly the ND555 is better than the NDS, but in your home absolutes depend on many more variables. Your quote makes good sense.
Phil
No, I simply do not know. You can find a lot of advice and different experiences about feeding Chord DACs with Naim and non-Naim transports in https://community.naimaudio.com/t/dave-came-round/3367/583.
I understand that you have so far compared a direct S/PDIF connection between the Core and the TT2 with a connection (again between the Core and the TT2) via NDS/XPSDR as a UPnP->S/PDIF transport and that you have found the latter to sound better.
This is not very surprising to me because the Core is advertised as a basic UPnP server and the quality of its S/PDIF output, to the best of my knowledge, has not been systematically compared to that of other devices.
It is possible that Core works better as a UPnP server than as a S/PDIF player. You could easily confirm or confute this possibility by connecting the S/PDIF output of the Core to the S/PDIF input of the NDS and then connect the NDS to the TT2 as usual.
If you decide to replace the NDS/XPSDR as a UPnP->S/PDIF transport, you have a number of possibilities. As ChisSU mentions, you could try the NDX (NDX 2) or the ND5XS (ND5XS 2). This would again mean redundancies as with your current system, however. Alternatively, you could also try something like the Sonore UltraRendu (then connected to the TT2 via USB), the dCS Network Bridge or, as you anyway plan to do, the mScaler.
I guess all these alternatives will sound slightly different and the question of whether one is better than the others is one that you will have to answer yourself.
In my system I am feeding a Naim DAC straight from a DigiOne Signature. I have tried a few alternatives (including, among others, a Sonore ultraRendu + Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB) and I can hear differences but I find it difficult to say that one is obviously better than another. Thus, for the time being, I have settled on the most straightforward solution. Good luck and … please report your findings!
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Thanks for all the advice and suggestions,I really appreciate it. I can try the Core BNC direct to NDS without much trouble, because yes, I was using UPNP from Core to NDS, then NDS direct to TT2 with my DC1 cable. I will add that today the Core direct to TT2 sounds better to me than when I first hooked it up, I wonder if the Core BNC circuitry is somehow burning in, or maybe my ears are just adapting to the new presentation? I do not like flipping back and forth between different connections, I would rather live with each one for several days to get a better sense of how much I like it.
Popping down to paul tomorrow at hifi lounge.
We will be comparing this nd555 with the shop demo model.
Also taking my nds down to compare.
So hopefully we will get to the bottom of it all tomorrow, and then we will see what direction i go in.
But looking forward to it all and part of me is hoping this nd555 is at fault, as if not i dont know what all this hifi stuff is about
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very curious to have your feedback tomorrow or later…
I will listen to the Dave tomorrow.
Paul is also very curious as to what is going on.
But as i have found in the past, sometimes these things dont quite go to plan