@MC2 I think you may not have an RS232 socket on your NDX. Here are two photos. The NDX here does have an RS232 socket but the ND5 XS in the other photo has a mini-USB which is labelled RS232…
Naim fitted mini-USB to all but the earliest production models of all their streamers.
This is funny and indeed confusing but I believe technically correct as RS-232 is a communication protocol (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RS-232) and not a port specification. Various ports were used for RS-232 (the 9-pin port of the older NDX being quite common, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_port, but others like the 25-pin were as well). I suppose in this case it is RS-232 protocol over mini-USB, quite unusual 
Yes, you will need an USB to RS232 adapter. Naim recommends one that uses the FTDI or Prolific chipset. All and all an overcomplicated update process.
Always wondered what the guy (or girl) at Naim must have been drinking or smoking when he/she designed this. I mean,how hard can it be? Put the new firmware on a USB stick. Plug it in,power off/on the streamer, first thing old firmware does is checking if an USB stick is plugged in with new firmware. If yes ask user if he wants to update, if no just go on with the boot process.
That’s the way almost every manufacturer does it.
Instead they designed an update process so complicated you almost need a degree in computer science to do a simple firmware update on a simple home audio device.
You don’t need that adapter if the NDX has the mini-USB (the OP says above that it looks like a mini-USB).
Ah,my bad. Thought he said it was RS232. But after closer reading I now notice he says it looks like mini USB and even says so in print on the back of the NDX. Sorry,hope I did not cause any confusion.
But update process stays unnecessary complex imho.
I’ve have a long technical background and Naim’s set up is errr… unusual.
Not only that but it’s just plain misleading. I’ve just come to buy the lead and realised that despite being billed as RS232 it’s a mini USB. So, either the previous owner got it changed or Naim updated it but didn’t bother to get the back panel reprinted. If that is the case it’s just incredibly lax, especially for kit as outrageously expensive as this. 
Now reading back I can see David beat me to it. However, here’s the photo I took.
I’ll have a go at it tomorrow.
Thanks again all, esp to David.
BTW. I stuck the NDX back on wireless and now the Naim app picks it up and I can browse my library too.
There are still some weirdities with the device screen though, like not being able to back out of Setup menu and the streamer not finding itself in Setup/Rooms.
The serial is 307631. I’m not sure if that means it an older or newer one.
…at the bottom of the page you can select ‘Series Numbers’ and look up the year a product is manufactured. mouse click on Serial Numbers above and it will bring you to the page. You will see the number listed as 2011.
The NDX was introduced in 2010 and the version with the 192/24 streaming board was introduced in 2011. From your serial number your’s is early 2011, so it’s to be hoped that it is one with the new streaming board, or you won’t be able to get Tidal or Spotify, or play higher resolution files unless you get it modified by Naim, which would cost several hundred £s.
You can tell by navigating in the app to settings (the gear wheel) and About. If it lists some elements as 3D, then it has the 192/24 streaming board and if it doesn’t then it doesn’t.
By the way, no the NDX shouldn’t find itself in the list of servers, because it’s a streamer not a server. And as I said above, in Naim world a streamer takes rather than originates music (except that with new platform streamers, they can also be servers).
Best
David
The Naim streaming world does seem quite confusing, even to someone like me whose been streaming music since 2005. I’m of the impression their original streaming developers were a bit old school (maybe more Cobol than Pearl) and that they could have learnt a lot from the Squeezebox guys…
Anyway, can’t say how much this came as a relief…
Again, thanks David.
BTW… Just a shot in the dark. I don’t suppose you can identify a failing component type in an simple Naim type power supply by the sound it emits through the speakers (i.e like the sound of a badly failing capacitor can sometimes be fairly obvious)?
Current generation streamers are far simpler, set up from the Naim app and over the air firmware updates.
That isn’t telling you what I was meaning. Obviously the Android app is limited in what it does. Edit: ah I have realised that if I tap onto your photo and sign into Google then I can see more of the screen shot and it’s indeed showing the 3D SW. I will leave the rest of the post as it is in case it helps anyone else.
This is a screenshot from the IOS app on a SuperUniti, but it should be very similar in an NDX.
You can do also it with the remote control and the screen on the NDX. Basically press the spanner key, scroll down to Factory Settings and select it, select System Status and scroll down to BC SW: and hope that the value next to it starts with 3D.
Best
David
No not really. Maybe if you spend all day listening to them you can, but I couldn’t say that I could do it.
Best
David
Hmm… sorry. I thought I’d made the images publicly available (i.e no need to log into Google account) but it seems impossible to do this through Google Photos app.
Hmmm. I can see what you mean by the NDX wireless implementation not being optimum David.
I’ve now installed the NDX in it’s final resting place, along with a Squeezebox Touch which I’m going to explore as a digital source (as the interface for browsing my extensive flac library is leagues ahead of the NDX one - even with the newer 4.7.00 firmware). The Touch says the wireless signal is 100% whereas the NDX reports it as between 30 and 50% (depending on whether I am sitting in the way of the signal or not!). The (top quality) router is 8m away with only a plasterboard ceiling in the way. 
All I need is an amp now… I’m getting a little impatient.
You must have a high metal content in your body! Good haemoglobin level maybe!
You could try a wa5 antenna, works on mine and improves signal.
https://www.naimaudio.com/news/16944/introducing-naim-audio-wa5-wireless-antenna
Cheers. I have a Wa5 antenna. It came with it. I do hope it’s going to be OK. Laying a cable to the setup will be very hard and quite disruptive.
At last the system is up and running. And it rocks. It is so loud… and it really kicks. Shahinian Arcs and a NAP 180 are a marriage made in heaven. Now to start experimenting with head units. First impression is that UPNP implementation stinks. Took me ages to get the NDX to register anything but empty folders. Only a reboot of all network computers and routers and clearing of NDX UPNP cache (at the same time) got it to see my music files. And by the time I’d figured this out it was time for bed.
First impression is that the The Squeezebox Touch feeding into the NDX might be a harder sound than I like, perhaps lacking the enveloping warmth of the CDX. But early days.
Hoping I might take advantage of the Tidal three month trial… but seems unlikely I’ll be offered it, the NDX being second hand an’ all.
Glad you’re up and running. My NDX has been rock solid on WiFi for over a month. Virgin media seem to have done some recent updates and once this was done (had a few outages and had to turn things on and off) it has been wonderful.
Re Tidal, you should be able to get at least 1 month free anyway, so worth a try.
Main thing is enjoying the music🤘
