… always good to light a fire on New Year’s Eve!
Welcome to the Naim forum, Shore.
Best regards, BF
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Hi all the current streamers use the same NP800 streaming module front ends… these plug into the digital boards that I believe do vary in performance across the range, the digital board provides the transport, clocking and DSP functions.
The power supplies are indeed different … with the ND5XS2 having the smallest.
The DACs are different… though if using the digital signal out, this will be irrelevant.
The DACs are all Texas Instruments devices, albeit carefully selected.
ND5XS2 PCM1791A
NDX2 PCM1792A
ND555. PCM1704K
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Thanks! I’m not courting controversy (purposefully at least), and in any event I bought an NDX2. But there’s no harm in looking at Naim as a brand objectively. It wouldn’t make sense if they were less expensive. I don’t really believe that the % profit of a Qutest is less than a NDX2, for example, the difference being I do believe with Naim one is paying for the marque.
For me it was not so much price point particularly, but sound character, with theChord products since inception of Hugo just “doing it” for me. So I guess at least to some extent it depends on how someone listens to music or what they expect from it. The same is true of amps, though the demands on them of course also relate to the speakers, and in turn the room.
Oh, for sure. I agree. If the sound matches your expectations, and you’ve the money, then price is irrelevant. I’ve listened to a Zen Mini going through a Hugo2 since buying my NDX2, and I can’t honestly say I wouldn’t be perfectly happy with it if it sounded like that on my own system (which of course you can’t guarantee). But the principle is the same - a quality digital transport (I didn’t like the sound of the Zen using it’s inbuilt DAC) with a quality Chord DAC and you’ve a top quality streaming platform for considerably less outlay.
It’s perfectly okay, I didn’t think that you were trying to court controversy. Rather, you seem to be asking an astute question.
I asked the same one when looking for a streamer to replace the CDS3/555PSDR cd player. Here’s a link to our journey: Search for a good, musical streamer
Without wishing to stray into the emotive minefield of which is “better”, the Naim, Chord, DCS and MSB products each have their own character and there is an aspect of personal preference in any final decision.
I remember @Darkebear comparing the ND555 (with 1 power supply) to a Chord offering and preferring the ND555. I made the same comparison in 3 separate Naim-based systems and preferred the Chord combo. As ever, personal audition is the way to go.
Best regards, BF
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Hi… I used to be a NDAC/555PS driven by a NDX… that changed when Chord launched the Hugo many years back… that just brought more of what I enjoy… with the slight loss of bass drive.
I have maintained Naim amps, currently a NAC552 and 250.2 … but indeed I might be changing this for Chord amplification which is matching my tastes better right now.
Thanks Simon.
Our own interest would be in taking the digital output, so the dac and analogue output boards are not important to us. Even with digital out, the NDX2 has a better on-board power supply and more capable digital board than the ND5SX2.
All else being equal, we should hear a better sound when using the NDX2 as a streamer into the Chord dacs than the ND5SX2?
Best regards, BF
Well technically the output may well be better… slightly… I think you would need to determine for yourself whether there is any change to the resultant audio that you prefer… as it may well be dependent on environment and down stream system… and whether you use high end headphones etc.
I don’t think one can be totally deterministic about these things when it comes to the variability of human preference.
That has been my finding this year and, for the first time in s long time, I currently own no Naim boxes. I preferred the Innuos/Chord front end over Naims streamers, which personally I’ve always felt were expensive at their level, and was very surprised at how they sounded into s Chord amp. Moving on my Naim five box amp provided enough money to buy it all, with money left over and, for me, an improvement in sq. I’m very happy with my current system
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Can’t be long before You your Ultima 6 turns up from Chord now!
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I spent a couple of long sessions in my dealers demo room, trying to hear a difference between NDX2 and ND5XS2 via SPDIF out. I took my Dave with me, as he’s not a Chord dealer. I tried really hard to convince myself that there was a difference, but any I thought I might have heard were well within the bounds of potential bias, and I had to conclude that I could not reliably or consistently tell the difference.
I’m quite willing to accept that anyone with a more revealing system or better hearing (not to mention a more liberal approach to expectation bias!) might reach a different conclusion, but that was mine.
Obviously I bought the NDX2 anyway! Not because it sounded better, but I got a very good deal on an open box one, quite liked the screen (albeit flawed in implementation) and it keeps my options open for the future. What I can say is that when I got it home, it was a clear step up in sound quality from my NDX1.
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Fingers crossed, although I’m pretty happy with theirs until it does. One thing I’ve noticed is that with the TT2 in hi gain mode the sq at really low volumes is super. Not something I’m used to with it so low
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I’ve always used HiGain with the TT2… this started when I was feeding it directly into the PMC 25.22 speakers. It sounded more lively, dynamic then and the same holds true now that it’s feeding the Etude via XLR. It does remain very detailed even at low volumes. Very impressive!
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Hi @dayjay, sorry for the side track, do you use Roon ? I’m interested from the Phoenix perspective, thanks
Yes, I use Roon in experimental mode, didnt like it direct though as I felt it lost the sparkle. Experimental is a lovely mix of superb user interface and innuos sound quality
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Sounds like the sort of audition that I need to do in the new year hopefully. I quite like the Naim app and it’s presentation but given my use of a separate DAC, currently the RME fed from my SU, I do wonder, apart from the extra built in services, what the new steamers will offer me?
I which case I may be comparing the SU to the ND5 XS2 or something like the Bluesound Node 2i
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Thanks for the reply, I use Roon in experimental mode also, agree re sound quality. The only slight issue I have is stability and I was reading something that was attributing this to the Innuos USB out, I was wondering if adding the Phoenix has changed this issue ?
Any audible differences between renderers very likely depends on the DAC. One aspect may be how susceptible the DAC is to things like RF: IIUC a significant part of the design of Dave was to minimise the effects of RF, with the consequence that any residual RF from different renderers may not be audible, or audible only to people acutely tuned to hearing the finest of differences.
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Interesting. I have had literally zero issues with stability. I do get the odd glitch with playlists in random play mode but none other than that. That said I bought the Phoenix within a week or two of hearing what the zenith was doing in my system. The phoenix is an absolute no brainer and I’d return the MScaler before that any day; it’s a brilliant device
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