I did not sign off for this and afaik the nd555 is not part of NC 
. I think no change in SQ was planned at all and naim was as surprised as we are…
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His post was pure speculation and unhelpful. I’d be most unhappy if the Firmware is reversed, as the improvement on my ND555 is significant
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Lucky you - but when it happens, you can choose to stay with the current fw!
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It’s not the first time there has been who-ha and drama over a firmware update, it’s an inherent aspect of streaming I’m afraid.
Having listened several sessions now, I have to agree that the sound is definitely not better to my ears.
There are some elements that give an impression of improvement, but with longer and careful listening sessions I have to say that I experience a restless and annoying feel after an hour or so. I also find that I want to take off my headphones sometimes because of that. I recognise the ‘pling plong’ description of piano, and the harsh sound in the higher end of the notes. And although there is more air (or seems to be) in the sound, that harsh sound is just being emphasized by that.
Important to mention regarding my set up is that I already chose to play via Audirvãna over a year ago, because to me that way music sounded warmer in my set up. That warmer sound is still there when compared to streaming with the Naim/Focal app, but it is definitely not sounding as pleasant anymore.
So I hope for two things here: First that Naim will take care of the annoying high, and second that they will take up the invitation from Audirvãna to participate in the Plays with Audirvãna program. Because in my opinion the devs at Audirvãna have a better understanding of how music should sound than the current devs at Naim.
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The update should not be a reverse, but the same with some corrections to remove some HF brightness.
In my understanding.
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Yes. This… The air is welcome. But when people are experiencing annoyance and a tired feeling than one went over the line.
Hi, no, not any more… but a newer firmware will be arriving at some point to address bugs not ironed out in the currently released one that have been identified. There was an expediency in getting the current firmware out for reasons previously given.
I see some people talk about ‘reversing’ future firmware… I have no idea what people mean by that, perhaps don’t quite understand the relationship between firmware and noise profile SQ… and concepts are getting mixed up.
Firmware is software loaded into the devices that provides functionality and features to the products by assigning software to the specific sub system modules. How some aspects of the low level / machine code are linked and executed from a timing perspective with other aspects of the low level sub system, like reading / writing memory or I/O can affect the digital noise profile and that can affect the resultant audio profile/characteristic.
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What’s interesting is that some with 555s feel it’s a good improvement, while others feel it’s a step backwards. One could say that in that case it’s probably ok, but what are Naim supposed to do. How can they keep everyone happy.
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I just played this on Qobuz, and I agree, it wasn’t great and somewhat harsh and very “digital”. But my local streaming (WAV from a Core) certainly sound better than previously - more details, wider soundstage and lots of leading edge attack.
Are most concerns involving on-line steaming rather than local streaming I wonder? We need a new poll!
Sorry - but they can keep everyone happy in not altering the sound!
When I buy such a product, I decide on the sound aspect.
And when this suddenly turns in another direction without further notification, that’s not ok.
I know, that it sounds like a mind journey - but this time it is more than that. It’s not a small nuance. It sounds like overmodulated in a lot of songs (which I very well know). I would not have bought the nd555 when it had sounded this way in past.
I do 99% local streaming- we do need no poll.
Nigel, I was starting to wonder exactly the same thing… it seems that some may have over sensitised themselves to how a particular recording sounds on their system… and any subtle change in the sonic profile seems to throw some systems off seemingly for some… and with the current Naim digital audio products subtle changes are almost inevitable as a consequence of their design with a change in firmware.
I guess I have fallen into that trap before. When I later discovered how much of a compromise the vast majority of commercial recordings are in terms of sonic performance and processing to sound so as to be attractive and appealing in nearly all genres I kind of trained myself to not get as hung up about it… though sometimes easier said than done.
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The trouble is that streaming that track prior to the update sounded absolutely wonderful. The naturalness of her vocals coupled with her power and the way they were projected into the room was breathtaking. The tone of the piano was perfect and a standout piece I often use to demonstrate how close a recording could come to the sound of a real piano but I actually find it difficult to play now and still enjoy it. On the question of local streaming I’ve always found it to be better than hi-res Qobuz but even my collection of special tracks no longer sound as good. For me almost everything has taken a jump back in naturalness unless I play at much lower volume levels, which then lessens the realism.
I’m sure there’s a degree of sound recognition (sensitivity) with your own system. Much like you get when you play your own instrument but I don’t think that over-sensitivity can or should cause a problem. If it did we’d never find things that sound better. For me it’s a reasonably simple process, things either sounds better, different or worse. And I’m just finding that the new update sounds worse.
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True it was unhelpful as any speculation. The same goes for speculations on some form of “social contagion”, ND555 users may be called much but they are not teenage girls. I hope Naim keeps those who have reported the problem updated with the progress.
It is easy to come up with explanations as to why only a few machines are affected, and to varying degree. Just give Naim some slack to look into this.
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Yes, overmodulated you call it. That was what I was thinking yesterday evening. It’s as if someone has tried to enhance the sound like one does with HDR filters over digital photographs. I get the feeling that the music is being overly upsampled. There is also more distortion therefore in some tracks.
By the way, I do not own a 555 but a ND5 XS 2. So it’s certainly not with one device, as some people seem to suggest. Maybe with the 555 (being the top player that it is) it’s more obvious, but I can hear it too.
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Would be interesting to compare when the naim boxes reporting issues were made. Maybe there are different hardware versions released of the streaming unlimited board so when implementing the same software onto them you get a slight difference in performance. This release from streaming unlimited was a major one as I understand it which always increase the risk of unwanted side effects.
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You are invited to come over. I am convinced your jaw will drop, but not in a good way. The change is not subtle - but nevertheless change can not be shown as there is only new FW.
I am not doubting it is sounding different. I guess I am curious if it is sounding so off why it was not picked up by Naim or the beta participants who used ND555 products… I seem to remember there were quite a few
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