Qs on The Digital Out of ND5 XS2, NDX 2 and ND 555

Streaming Audio
1

Hi,

Does anyone here know how is DSD sent through Digital Out of ND5 XS2, NDX 2 and ND 555 ?

Is it native DSD or DSD over PCM (DoP) or DSP converted to PCM ?

Regards,
Sourav

2

It’s native DSD.

1 Like
3

That’s cool.

My Uniti Core converts the .dsf files to PCM (176 khz). So I was thinking same is the case for the digital outputs of these 3 ND streamers.

Regards,
Sourav

4

On the ND5xs2 you get 2 choices. Native or something else. I remember one sounded rubbish, the other good into my qutest.

5

The one sounded rubbish must be the one where it converts DSD to PCM. Native or DoP should sound good.

Regards,
Sourav

6

Bit odd, as the qutest could deal with both formats. I can’t remember which was which now! Not helpful!!

7

All Naim streamers, and quite a few others, convert DSD to PCM. They don’t sound rubbish to me, so I don’t see why they should when sent to an offboard DAC either. But then, I don’t think regular 16 or 24 bit files played on a Naim streamer sound rubbish either.

8

Agreed. I have used Uniti Core sending DSD through spdif after converting it to PCM to my P S Audio Direct Stream DAC.

It does not sound as good as DoP or native. But not rubbish either. May be some other issue.

However, glad to know the the ND series streamers have option to send DSD in native format through the Digital Out. The documentation does not talk explicitly about this.

Regards,
Sourav

9

There was definitely a difference with the two outputs from the ND5xs2. One had all the top removed. Very muffled. The other was great. I just used that one!

10

I have some DSD tracks, considered as true audiophile recordings. They all sound nice, soft, but very dull. Through Nds/555dr.

11

That’s probably because of use the chip PCM1704 in NDS.

PCM1704 cannot handle DSD natively as the latest chips (1791A, 1792A, etc) used in NDX2, ND5 XS2 or in Nova,

So Naim first converts the DSD to PCM to make it work with 1704. That’s what I learnt from the white paper of ND 555. So I’ll not be surprised even if in ND555 the DSDs sound little dull.

In Nova, DSD reproduction is reasonably good. Nothing dull.

Regards,
Sourav

12

It’s DoP.
All you could need to know about DoP :
–> https://dsd-guide.com/dop-open-standard#.X2DuSmgzbuo

1 Like
13

Thanks Thomas for the input.

I know about DoP. It is one of the most poplar format used by most of the DACs as supporting Native DSD is little complex.

Is there any documentation from Naim confirming that DSD output through the spdif of these products are in DoP ( I have not seen in the interactive support document of these products) ?
Or have you learnt that from the tech support or feeding the Digital Out to other DAC ?

My other DAC’s spdif input can take DoP but not native DSD. So I am trying to be absolutely sure here.

Not sure why Naim does not specify this in the documentation.

Regards,
Sourav

14

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.