NDX (original) with XPS-DR vs ND5 XS2

[nbpf]

@Stephen_Tate

@nbpf

For their next generation of sources, Naim have to decide whether they keep DAC and streaming board integrated in all their devices (as they were doing before introducing the nDAC about ten years ago and as they currently do with the last generation of streamers) or whether they also offer DACs with separated streaming boards as other companies, e.g. Chord, do.

The ironic thing here of course is that Naim discontinued their nDAC just as they launched their new generation streamers. I think from the outset Naim discovered that keeping the transport as close to the DAC as possible was one of their key decisions in bringing us famous that Naim sound signature from their source components. History and recent decisions tell me that this isn’t going to change anytime soon. Naim tend not to follow the herd.

Discontinuing the nDAC was a logical step given that they were not offering any transport and that, after about 10 years of production, the demand for the nDAC was likely to be low.

The innovative bit in the second generation streamers is the streaming platform which I understand comes from StreamUnlimited. StreamUnlimited also supplies dCS and many other manufacturers, thus I am not sure that Naim are not actually following the herd in this area.

The innovation that is due now is a new DAC architecture. This might or might not profit, in terms of sound quality, from having the DAC and the streaming boards in separate units.

From the point of view of functionality, separating streaming and DAC concerns certainly make sense, as owners of the first generation of Naim streamers have learned the hard way.