Also whether a top flight integrated amplifier would sound ‘better’ than a 252/SC/300 with sub-optimal positioning. Correct separation and positioning of components is important…but I’m not sure its as crucial as to negate the SQ benefits of separates?
The reason I went with a Rega integrated was primarily the psychology of having all the burndys and cables bunched together, all the dusting (as sad as that sounds) and the faff of making sure everything is dressed correctly etc. It just got annoying. Plus (as you’ve noted elsewhere I think) its easy to buy into the Rega brand more…I went off Naim a bit when it went all Bentley and yachts, and my main source is a P10 so it all looks nice.
This is very understandable. I made the same observation when I decided to leave Naim.
For the system to sound optimal, I needed 7 Naim boxes and cables everywhere. Really too many cables…
I now have 2 boxes and a fraction of the cables. It is much neater, and the sound is, in my opinion, much better (without taking anything away from the value of the system I had before).
With a degree of regret, this has been our experience too.
We will continue to see how Naim evolves its product line, especially if it decides to introduce a 500 series integrated.
I’m perfectly happy with my kit for now. But… if Naim sticks to the current ‘many boxes, many shelves, many cables’ approach for the higher end of the line-up, I’m not so sure anymore if Naim remains my hifi future. For the first time in more than 2 decades really.
An increasing # of brands show that nowadays, excellent results can be achieved with SMPSs, Class D amplification etc. resulting in neat, compact 1 or 2 box solutions for streaming (in my case).
But if you’re down the all Naim route, selling or trading in a Naim stack, Fraim and cables is not something I’m looking forward to. Hassle- and financial wise.
Well, 6 shelves is just not very appealing in my apartment: one needs to draw the line somewhere. Also, two stacks never appealed to me. So the question is actually: what other one box streamers are there that better the NDX2 but don’t require another shelf. I actually got a nice few suggestions from the thread so all is good
I have ND5XS2, DC1, Naim DAC/555DR, Hi-Line, 52, 135s, SL2s.
(I previously had 272 and 252).
If you are planning to try a Lumin or other brand of streamer into your nDAC, I would strongly suggest that you get an ND5XS2 at the same time to compare it with.
If you can only buy one of these without comparing them, I would say definitely get the ND5XS2.
Remember that if you’re using a digital out, the ND5XS2 is very similar to the NDX2 because they both have the same NP800 streaming board.
I asked my dealer a few months ago whether he had one to try and he very generously offered to lend me his personal DAVE from his house.
I declined as I felt it was too intrusive to his listening.
But I’d love to hear a DAVE again - the only time was at the NW Audio Show a couple of years ago in a set up that didn’t do it for me at all (with and without Mscaler) - [perhaps with Chord amps?] into KEF speakers.
For me the advantage of Dave was that it allowed me to declutter by simplifying the amplification rather than the source. Once I discovered that you could use it as a preamp as well as a DAC I replaced my 282/NAPSC/Hicap/250DR with a Chord Étude power amp. It sounded quite a bit better than the Naim amp it replaced, perhaps not surprisingly as it was designed to work with Dave.
Looking at the internals of the ND5XS2 and NDX2 the PSU board looks the same, but obviously ND5XS2 doesn’t allow upgrade to XPSDR/555PSDR, where a number of power feeds go to digital board. Have no doubt ND5XS2 would be a capable source via BNC digital out but I remember the difference an XPSDR made to 272 so wary of anything naim using the basic mains feed.
NDX2 + XPSDR retail is about 10k whereas there are a multitude of streaming transport options for far less (including great linear PSU where needed). Lumin U1 mini with TP PSU is effectively a streaming board powered by a HICAP equivalent for example for 2k.
With the ND5XS2 being a “dead end” as no upgrade, and the NDX2 being a 10k transport with PSU that’s the reason we might be looking outside naim for a streaming transport into nDAC.
Not to say we won’t scratch the itch and try NDX2 at some point. But then we’d be into comparing NDX2 into nDAC/XPSDR with NDX2/XPSDR. Not sure I have the energy!
I wouldn’t agree that the ND5XS2 is a ‘dead end’ if you are considering its digital output. There will always be an option to upgrade your DAC, and there are plenty of great DACs out there at similar prices to NDX2/XPS prices or less.
I wouldn’t want to add a PSU when using the digital output. To me the ND5XS2 sounds more or less identical to an NDX2 when used with a separate DAC, so the DAC is where I would be putting my upgrade funds.
If it helps I found the bare NDX2 is not as good as the Auralic Vega G2.1 which I found more involving, just a step above. However the NDX2 with an XPS2 is another story.
. No post in system pics. So please TT, please.
