Over the past few days I’ve been mulling over an NDX2 at the new price to replace my ND5XS2 in the main setup even though I only use the ND5XS2 as a streamer into an external DAC.
Two reasons:
Case work matches the rest of the kit.
Remote control.
Sound quality (NDS) vs flexibility and reliability (NDX2). Not an easy choice.
Prepare to be underwhelmed!
I never touch the remote! SQ I always found the NDS far too relaxed, the NDX2 far more involving. All imo!
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That is NOT what Naim has stated. They will no longer service them because of a design flaw making it hard to replace the capacitors.
Based on this assessment I will pass on the NDX2, with vanity only left i.e. the case work probably best to stick with the clean looks of the ND5XS2
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Copied from another thread by another contributor ref my comment about naim no longer offering regular servicing of the nds:
“… Naim told me in an email this April. Full text below:
We do not currently offer any services on a NDS. Although all of our products are of an extremely high quality, there are some that go even higher. These products sit at the top of their respective ranges, and carry some special treatment because of this. These products are:
Statement - [Naim Statement | Mono Power Amplifier | Naim NAP S1 | Naim Audio ND 555 - [ND 555 | Network Player | Naim Audio]
NDS - [British High-End Audio | Naim Audio SuperLine - [Naim Superline | Phono Stage Preamplifier | Naim Vinyl | Naim Audio ]
CD 555 - [British High-End Audio | Naim Audio]
The products listed above are our finest achievements. They contain the very best components, and are built with such precision, care and attention to detail, that we do not expect to see them ever come in. On the very rare occasion that one of these units needs to come back to us, it will receive specialist attention, targeted re-calibration, repair or servicing…”
Other than you do need to watch out for the streamer and CD output relays, they do fail from time to time and need servicing.
The reply looks more to be a commercial positioning statement rather than servicing. Finest achievements and servicing are not the same thing.
However after 20 years or so, simply through chemistry, smaller decoupling, bypass and filtering capacitors will start to deteriorate and drift, and resistors will drift in value as well, specially power resistors… and these would need be serviced and therefore checked and replaced if necessary and the product recalibrated if required for optimum performance. Of course it is likely the product will continue to work for a lot longer, just not at its optimum performance.
The CD555 is the only device in my opinion listed that is of the age where I think a service may be beneficial … now whether Naim do it or not is another matter. Early versions of the NDS are probably getting close.
Also as far as components, many components are the same across the range of products, it’s just the higher end products use components that are checked and selected and matched by Naim against finer tolerances… which paradoxically makes them more of need of servicing over extended time.
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No one suggesting NSS 333…
thank you - interesting… so what with the NDS construction resulting in risk to damage should ‘repair’ (rather than ‘servicing’, seeing as Naim appear to be sticking heads in sand referencing your comments about components natural deterioration) be required I will put the thoughts of my NDS’ longevity to bed, as with many Naim product owners I am of an age where its survival may exceed my own!!
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Slippery Slope ! A friend of mine here started wanting to just change his naim ovator speakers but ended up breaking the bank with all of the new kit 333 , preamp, lumina 2 monoblocks and wilson sabrina x
Not going there !!!
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Too much money. There will eventually be too of a drop in resale value. Now’s the time to buy an NDX 2, and yes it’s much better than a ND5 XS 2 despite the deniers thinking that it isn’t.
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Peter Tyson now advertising the NDX2 at £3599 with their free no obligation VIP sign up!!
I would hope the NDX2 is better when using the inbuilt DAC
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Beefing up the transport side of the NDX 2 with an external PSU is where it really comes alive.
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No doubt even without psu. NDX2 ‘problem’ was 6k retail price, at 3,5 it’s a whole different story
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£3600 is a lot less than the ndx2 rrp however be mindful that it being superceded puts it on a steep depreciation slope and a new ndx2 could loose a serious chunk of value very quickly- this discount will already kill value of used ndx2- recently there weren’t many used advertised for £3600 or less, buying used for more than £3k no longer makes sense. This deal would put me off buying an ndx2 knowing I could likely buy a used one for half that or less very soon
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And it comes with a 6 year warranty!
Fortunately naim don’t change too much but it was the same story when they moved from olive to classic… some were very upset and understandably so….
Gary
If one is keeping the NDX 2 for the longterm then the re-sale value is irrelevant.
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It is, but it makes sense to me to hold off buying one for a bit if I potentially can save myself a significant lump of cash.
I was planning on getting one to replace my old NDX due to increased functionality. Have decided to park the idea for the moment though for the aforementioned reason. Obviously I am happy to buy used.
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