I bought an NDX pre loved and it arrived today. Streamed REM’a Automatic For The People using the Focal/Naim app (FLAC 44.1 kHz), ripped an original CD using DBpoweramp using source bit rate, etc. and this WAV file came out as 44.1khz 146 kb/s. Then played the original CD through my CDX2. Regarding the all important SQ there is very little difference to my ears - it all sounds great! The main thing for me is that it streams TIDAL so I can listen to new music before buying it on vinyl. So why go to the bother of ripping CDs? Do I get a significant improvement if they are ripped by a Naim CD ripper?
I also auditioned a pre loved NDX2 but this would cost another £2400 and the difference in sound quality was not enough for me to shell out the extra dosh.
Somethings not right, CD bitrate is 1,411 kilobits per second (Kbps).
Not that it should make any difference, but what medium is the rip stored and played from?
MacBook Air. I probably chose some wrong options in the app.
No, it should sound the same as if it was ripped on a cd /dvd ripper. I use my MacBook Air M2 - dB Poweramp (full package) and a £25 dvd drive to rip cd’s and it’s very good indeed…
Ditto here to QNap via dBPoweramp. Trying an Innuos tempts but it’s really good as it is.
I once demoed an NDX vs CDX2 and couldn’t really hear the difference. I was moving from an ND5xs and the NDX was a big improvement on that. A lot more realism to the tracks.
In the end I went for the NDX because I liked the idea of streaming and getting rid of my CD racks.
Day 2 of streaming with the NDX and while the Naim app only plays 16 bit files from Tidal, mconnect HD plays higher bit 24 bit files when available. The NDX plays up to 24 bit 192 kHz 4062 kbps and only kept stopping with 5501 kbps. This is a marked improvement in SQ and seems to be better SQ than some CDs played through my CDX2. I am really chuffed with this. If anybody else has compared mconnect 24 bit streaming using a NDX with a Cdx2 or similar CD player I would be interested in their findings.
So I am happy with streaming using Tidal having the option of using either the basic Focal/Naim app or mconnect for higher quality.
Trialing mconnect and the asset server. Mconnect is on the iPad with the Naim app, the asset server in my MacBook air along with 2 files ripped from my cd collection. Everything seems to work fine when the files are on its hard drive in my documents/music folder. I can use mconnect on my iPad for both Tidal streaming and for ripped files on the MacBook Air.
I have a 4TB hard drive formatted to APFS attached to the MacBook air and when the files are on there they do not work via mconnect. Is it the APFS formatting? I want to use a hard drive to store my ripped music files or at least try it before shelling out money on a nas drive, Any ideas please to troubleshoot this?