Source First: ND555 vs. The World and my search for the Ultimate Digital Front End

Streaming Audio
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The recent XLR shootout left my system in a very specific, and slightly dangerous, state. It is now clearer to me than ever that the 300 series amplification is ruthlessly revealing. It hides absolutely nothing and reveals exactly what is happening upstream. Which, naturally, has led me to start taking a much closer look at that exact spot.

I currently run an ND555 with dual 555PSDR power supplies. Let me be perfectly clear - I love this source. It is running on firmware 3.8 and it is absolute magic. It has an organic, dense presentation that simply breathes life into every track. But we all know the recent history, the sonic shifts tied to the StreamUnlimited board have been frustrating, and frankly, I never recovered from the firmware anxiety. I am happily sitting on 3.8 right now, but I have to be real with myself. I cannot live in the past on an aging firmware forever. Eventually, reality catches up.

So I decided to see what else is out there. My goal is simple: I want to find a modern digital front end that captures that elusive 3.8 magic, giving me the resolution, density and pace I am used to and love, without the software headaches.

I havenā€™t just been reading specs and reviews online. Over the last couple of months, I have been schlepping around to various dealers, sitting in different showrooms, and listening to a mountain of highly praised DACs. The fact that my spouse hasnā€™t changed the locks on our apartment yet is honestly a miracle.

It was an eye-opening experience. I heard some incredibly costly boxes that were impressively detailed and insightful but left me completely cold. Many modern digital sources just sound to me like computers doing summit-level math. They completely miss the meat on the bones and the organic, toe-tapping character that a dual-PSU ND555 setup provides.

After all those showroom demos, I have filtered out what I consider clinical math-boxes and narrowed the field down to a few heavyweights that actually stand a chance of dethroning the ND555. I currently have the Rockna Wavedream Reference Signature on the rack, which carries a massive reputation for extreme transient control and organic texture. Arriving soon is the Playback Designs MPD-8, widely considered the closest digital gets to pure analog fluidity. And, partly because we are on a Naim forum, I have to bring Linn into the conversation - the Organik is also on the radar.

This list is not locked, I cannot promise these will be the only contenders. If these boxes do not do it for me, the search will continue. I am going to keep going until I either find the holy grail that decisively beats the ND555, or I exhaust my options at or around this level of spend.

This is not a thread about leaving Naim. The incredible 300 series amplification is staying exactly where it is. This is purely an experiment to see what happens when you feed that amplification with different flavors of summit-level digital.

I know I am not the only one here clinging to older firmware just to preserve the soul of their system. For those of you who have already jumped ship or are actively looking, what other DACs should be on this list? Grab some popcorn, the Rockna notes are coming right up.

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Hi, this sounds like an epic quest! Best of luck, and I await some of your excellent reviews in due course.

when you say youā€™ve listened to some highly praised DACs, do you mean streamers + DACs in combination? Please give me an example of what you demoed to help me understand.

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In the light of certain folks appreciation of the DCS hardware, itā€™s interesting that you donā€™t mention them as a potential sourceā€¦.?

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To answer your question: yes, my initial focus was strictly on finding a direct 1-to-1 replacement for the ND555. That meant looking exclusively at streamer/DAC combos (e.g. the Rockna WDRS, the Linn, the MU2, the Rossini). However, after talking with some very knowledgeable folks about the organic sound I am chasing, I was convinced not to rule out pure DACs. The MPD-8 is an example of a DAC-only box that Iā€™m bringing in, simply because its architecture is known for that analog fluidity I am looking for.

For those pure DACs, the testing strategy is to connect the ND555 via SPDIF and use it strictly as a transport first. I will be doing this with the streamer/DAC combos as well, in addition to their onboard streaming solution, so the comparisons are on an equal footing. If a DAC-only solution actually ends up being the keeper, then I will have to look further upstream for a dedicated streamer transport, but I will cross that expensive bridge when I get to it!

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The initial list is a combination of the architectures I was most curious about, plus what I could reasonably get my hands on here in New York for a proper home evaluation. Securing a dCS unit for a home demo has proven to be a bit more challenging logistically, but I am actively working on it. Definitely not ruled out. I simply listed the first three boxes that are officially locked in and arriving first. I am hoping to get a Rossini APEX on the rack soon, so we will see how that pans out!

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Hi gk_audio

Thanks for this new thread. When you post the listening notes for the ā€¦

Could you please also include information on which of the three up sampling digital filter option(s) (linear, minimum or hybrid phase) you select to use. Thanks.

E of E

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I havenā€™t been following your journey. Did you personally have a problem with the current firmware on the ND555 or are you just basing this decision on the few here who have been very vocal about their disappointment with it?

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Hi @gk_audio , interesting challenge you have set yourself there. As you like the ND555 sound, and given your wariness around the past and possible future streaming issues, would you not also consider just adding a streamer to the ND555?

Linn could still be considered (wouldnā€™t need the DAC), along with Nagra, Innuos, DCS, Wattson, CH, Mola Mola, Lumin, Esotericā€¦?

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Surely you could just do exactly this, stay on 3.8 indefinitely, it shouldnā€™t limit any functionality. Maybe 3.12 might eventually arrive and move things beyond 3.8 - the rest of us live in hopeā€¦.

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The best Iā€™ve heard is from Wadax. Astoundingly expensive; sounds wonderful.

Nagra Reference sounded very very good as well.

Neither of these ā€œleft me coldā€ thatā€™s for sure. Each, in a reference system, provided the best hi fi reproduction Iā€™ve ever heard.

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I absolutely did. The short version is that I was running the 333 and 300 in my system, and the day I updated to the latest firmware, I simply stopped enjoying the music. I spent a lot of time trying to hunt down a 333 running an earlier version, but had zero luck. What I did find, however, was a dealer demo ND555 still sitting on firmware 3.8. I brought it home and compared it directly against a loaner ND555 running the newest update in my room. The differences mirrored my 333 experience - that dense, organic, and engaging signature that I love so much was just gone, at least to my ears. So, here I am, happily and stubbornly stuck on 3.8.

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I wish it were that simple. Because I rely heavily on streaming, staying on legacy firmware is essentially a ticking time bomb. Platforms like Tidal (and Qobuz now) are constantly updating their backend APIs. Roon could wake up one day, push an update to RAAT, and break things. Radio is already not working. Iā€™d rather rip the band-aid off now on my own terms.

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That is a great point, and I have actually gone down that exact route in the past. What I found is that the streaming component itself is very much responsible for the resulting signature. I have tried feeding the ND555 DAC (and the updated 333) with a few external streamers, including the Antipodes K50. While they are undeniably excellent transports and sounded very nice, bypassing the internal streaming board means you lose a big piece of the Naim signature. The presentation shifts, and it just does not really get close to that specific Naim flavor and density I am looking to preserve.

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Those are definitely the holy grail options, and I have heard incredible things about both! As enticing as they are, they do cost multiples of my current front end. My goal for this shootout is to stay married, i.e. find a definitive replacement that stays at a similar level of spend, rather than completely blowing the budget out of the water :neutral_face:

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That is an important finding. Iā€™ve been thinking of adding a streamer for similar reasons (albeit at a ā€œlowerā€ level to you). I need to be careful not to lose that Naim signature, especially since I recently changed amps and now only have the NDX2 to provide it.

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Hi, have you spoken with Bob from Rhapsody Audio, I believe they may be located within reasonable distance of you. Iā€™d recommend listening to the Pilium Elektra DAC for an afternoon if you can arrange a demo.

On a side note, I wouldnā€™t be concerned about living with 3.8.4.5453 longer term, it was the pinnacle of performance for Naim streamers. Fair enough if you need a feature from a later release, otherwise there is little to gain and a lot to lose.

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Interesting that youā€™ve tried the Antipodes K50, it is on my list as a replacement for the NDX 2.

Wadax Studio Player too, although that is a bigger consideration given it is a streamer and DAC. When David Baker receives his demo Wadax Iā€™ll definitely be taking a listen to see where it sits in comparison to the Elektra DAC.

At least we can listen to 3.12.x to assess it without affecting our own streamers by demoing an equivalent Naim model through S/PDIF input, given thereā€™s little difference on the StreamUnlimited side.

Look forward to your posts and do hope you can find what you are looking for ā€¦and stay married!

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My advice is just try what you can afford and see how you get on.
System matching will definitely come into play and you may need to make other changes to fully exploit the new dac.
But if you are happy with the naim sound then maybe just stay put is the right thing to do until it becomes a problem

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Sure?

I have recently been amazed how adding a very cheap Primare streamer has uplifted the sound from my NDS but still kept a very ā€˜Naimā€™ signature. It has removed worries about streaming architecture obsolescence, and I can only assume liberated the NDS DAC to keep doing its magic. I was looking at lots of money for a new source, No longer. I appreciate I am not operating at quite the high-end of your system but that was my conclusion.

I decided that the Naim source flavour is largely from the DAC. If you love the ND555 2x 555PS then maybe the idea of a new streamer front end has mileage to explore more?

Bruce

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Hah, so @drago was right - FW3.8 on the ND555 was and still is the best! :smiley:

And nothing yet, has come back close to matching the sound of FW3.8 on the ND555
Whatā€™s worse I didnā€™t realise the impact affected the 333 in the same way.

How long has it been, since FW3.8 was replaced by a non-reversible OTA update?

No way moving off my NDS with twin power supplies and working Roon integration through UPnP.

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