Forgive my bad knowledge of Naim , what is an atom he ? You mean uniti atom?
If you are planning on further upgrades (eg a dac) why not get an original ND5 XS - cheaper than NDX and with the subsequent addition of an NDAC probably better. This also preserves some of your investment if you ultimately move to the new streaming platform. Also, with Bubble UPnP on your NAS the legacy streamers can support Qobuz Hi-def.
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Yes, the Uniti Atom comes in two flavours now. The original Atom which is an all-in-one requiring only loudspeakers and the HE version. This has an upgraded preamp and no power amp and is primarily advertised as being for headphone use. But several people on here, including at least one Naim staffer, have used it into a power amp or active speakers. There’s a long thread about it on the forum which might be worth skimming through.
Roger
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AHH right that looks like a nice upgrade path and one I could use with the Sn2 ?also I have a teddy pardo se hooked up to the sn2. Would it make this redundant ?
I have a NAC N 172XS, which I bought for my second system from a leading auction house in preference to an ND5 XS (At the time it was a cheaper option).
I can say that it works extremely well as a source with my old ARCAM amps and the sound quality is impressive. I don’t use the pre-amp. It also has the advantage that it runs cool and you can turn the lights off.
Before selling my NAP 250, I connected the NAC N 172XS directly to it, just to try the pre-amp out and found that they were not a great match.
You have an excellent integrated amplifier in your Supernait 2. What you want is a dedicated streamer. The NDX2 is the ideal choice. The ND5XS2 is the next best thing. You don’t want a 172. You don’t want an Atom. You don’t want an Atom HE. Have a good read of the Naim website and it will all be clear.
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There’s no point in buying an Atom HE unless you particularly want great performance with headphones. Like the 172, it has a preamp that you don’t need as the Supernait has one, only unlike the 172 it has no line out. For that sort of money you could get an ND5XS2 which is a dedicated streamer that would work well with the Supernait.
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You need to listen to @ChrisSU and @anon4489532 on this one. Basically, Supernait 2 and 172 makes no sense. Better to go for ND5XS2 or NDX2. Or if on a budget an ND5XS or Bluesound Node.
A streamer preamp is not what you want as you are doubling up preamp duties which the Supernait 2 does. Alternatively an NDX would be good, albeit only offering restricted streaming platform.
What I mean by this is that it will work with iRadio, Spotify and Tidal. But not Qobuz or other streaming apps. I never got my ND5XS or my current NDS to work with Tidal for various reasons. It will work fine with NAS drive.
Personally in your situation and depending on budget the ND5XS2 or NDX2 would be ideal as they offer the latest streaming platforms.
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Ok thankyou
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Personally, my guiding principle would be what you are actually trying to stream. If ‘local’ streaming then the older Naim equipment is worth investigating. Used NAC 172s and ND5 XSs seem to be worth similar money secondhand - others on here could advise on which sounds better for the money. Having said that, if a particular 172 is offered at a very good deal then it’s worth bearing in mind.
However, if internet streaming, the most important thing is to find out if:
- The equipment supports the actual streaming service you plan to use.
- The equipment supports the streaming service to the level you want in terms of ease of use/functionality and/or resolution.
Regarding point 2, think about:
-
Will the streamer’s app allow you to search new music and also access all the meta data you would like?
-
In the case of Tidal, if you went that route, do you want full access to the MQA files? The first unwrap will give you up to 96KHz resolution. I use a new laptop via USB to an Arcam D33 DAC to stream Tidal Masters in this configuration and it sounds very good to me.
However, if you would like full 192Khz then you need an MQA certified streamer/DAC. To the best of my knowledge, none of the Naim streamers (new or old platform) offer this. I have just bought a new ‘old stock’ Meridian Explorer 2 portable USB DAC that is MQA enabled and it does sound very good to me both into my headphones and via its fixed 2V output into my office system (Arcam A18/Tannoy Revolution Signature DC4Ts).
As mentioned above, the newer generation of Naim streamers are designed with internet streaming in mind and AFAIK offer a broader range of internet streaming options and no doubt have more potential to be compatible with updates from different internet streaming providers that could leave older equipment behind.
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The 172 rarely gets mentioned here but it’s a great integrated streaming preamplifier. I have no interest in subscription services and source music from my NAS running MinimServer.
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So I’ve seen an nd5xs Bt year 2017 , would this be up to date for streaming platforms such as apple , Amazon tidal and qobuz ? Would this be a good match for the sn2 ?
The ND5 XS won’t do Qobuz natively, you’ll need something else in the replay chain to support that. BubbleUPnP works great for me into a UnitiQute 1, and should work with the ND5 XS as well.
Others on this thread have recommended against first gen streamers (UQ1/2, ND5 XS, NDX) if you stream from non local network sources. In my experience it is a bit more awkward, but with a hard wired UQ1, BubbleUPnP and a half decent broadband provider, I’ve not had a single streaming issue with my UQ1 with Qobuz (owned for over a year now)
I’m not sure any Naim streamer does Amazon natively??
Not for Qobuz. There are workarounds such as @gthack mentions but they’re not entirely straightforward. For example you’d need something to run Bubble UPnP on.
The obvious choice is the ND5XS2 but if this is completely outside your budget a somewhat cheaper option is an nDAC with something like a BlueSound Node used as digital transport. A number of posters on the forum use that combination and the BlueSound does support Amazon HD. I can personally vouch for the sound quality of the nDAC.
Roger
I started with BubbleUPnP just running on my phone, the UQ1 appears as a renderer in the app. You add your Qobuz account to the app, and away you go. It is not all that complicated. But it isn’t as straightforward as a 2nd gen streamer and the Naim app.
Since then I do also run the server on a Mac mini, which transcodes to WAV to “help” the UQ1, but the server is not necessary in the first instance.
Would a Chromecast audio into nd5xs work ?
chromecast is also a gen 2 Naim streamer thing, not available on the gen 1 streamers, IIRC. BubbleUPnP can also work around that. I just tried it, casting from the Qobuz app. It isn’t a workflow I use much, it appears to work fine, but you would definitely need the BubbleUPnP server installed on a machine on your local network somewhere.
Sounds to me like a gen 2 streamer would work best, I just wanted to highlight that the workarounds for the gen 1 streamers are not awful 
Sorry I meant if I plug a Chromecast audio into the nd5xs would that work ?
Yes but in that case I would get an nDac, cheaper and better.
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Oh right, sorry, that’s exactly what you said X)
I suspect its digital output would work fine.
As @Ardbeg10y says though, at that point you’re just using the ND5 XS as a DAC, and better are available for the money.
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