The sq between 2&3 was difficult to tell apart…not a significant difference and both are equally good I thought although slightly different in character.
ND5x2 was also good but no better than using my atom surprisingly.
The nd5x2 with Hugo tt2 was the winner for me. The sound was definitely just as good as the ndx2 if not smoother, more musical and the harshness of the qutest disappeared!
Haven’t made any decisions yet but veering towards selling my qutest and atom and getting an ex demo. Hugo when I can.
I am trading in that combo tomorrow to fund new speakers, but I really enjoyed my time with them. I also had an Mscaler, which takes things even further.
Maybe so and you are probably right… I still however feel strange about spending thousands of pounds on a separate power supply and would rather spend that money on an mscaler … maybe it’s just me!
A few updates from me about my journey.
I am considering buying either a used innuos zenith SE or a zenith mk3 as a streamer and server and pair it with a used Hugo tt2 to complete the ‘front end’ of my system. Can’t get an m scaler yer due to lack of funds but that might be a plan for later.
Have to decide on the SE version of Zenith vs the Z zenith MK3, reviews suggest the the SE version might be better but am not sure yet.
Thanks Michael. I loved the musical sq of the Hugo tt2 so have gone for it now. Should arrive in a few days. The next dilemma is about the streamer. I haven’t heard the zenith & Hugo combination yet. I heard a nd5x2 with Hugo combo and to me that sounded better than ndx2 on its own. As I am dabbling in the used/ex demo market, can’t find a used ndx2 to buy anywhere atm. So am considering the zenith SE which is on the second hand market for £3000. But have a question about the zenith mk3 and wondered how it compares with the SE version which was a limited edition
I had planned to plan to use the nd5x2 as a Roon ready streamer only to go with the hugott2. That’s why it didn’t make sense to me to go for an ndx2, as I won’t be listening the Naim sound essentially!
Looking for a streamer with or without a server to pair with Hugo tt2 as I can’t find any nd5x2s in the second hand market. Thinking about whether it’s a good idea to have the server and streamer in one box like the innuos zen or zenith or buy a Roon nucleus and add a pure streamer to it? Have heard stories about innuos freezing up from time to time and read some views that it might work better to separate the Roon core and the Roon end point into separates.
I suggest you phone a few Naim dealers to see what might be coming up with the ND5XS2 either ex-demo or as unpublished special offers.
You could also consider:-
Stack Audio Link2
Auralic Aries range
Lumin range
DCS Network Bridge (as I have now, replacing NDX2 / power supply for firstly Hugo 2, then TT2 (long demo/loan) and now DAVE as the external DAC)
Sonore UltraRendu or OpticalRendu
Meridian 210
Others will chip in with RPi based devices.
If you are mainly streaming from Qobuz or Tidal then a Innuos or Melco becomes superfluous- I have traded my Melco for a Chord 2Go/2Yu with MicroSD card as my on-premise server.
There are posts, mainly in other forums, that are critical of roon’s sound quality and I tend to agree, but I have also found this depends on the streamer/end-point.
Well it can certainly be bettered, but many people implement it using budget solutions which don’t always sound wonderful despite their belief that bits are bits.
Well, I’m very happily surprised. My Statement and PN have already come into the dealers. Hopefully I will get the Ethernet LMS stuff done today as well.
I have located a dealer who has a pre owned nd5xs2 this afternoon which I would be happy to go for. I have now a dilemma between going for the nd5xs2 vs innuos zen mk3, both a somewhat similar price point. The innuos adds the advantage of a roon core but my decision will be based on SQ. I would be grateful for any thoughts from members who may have had the chance to compare both!
Having owned both I would definitely go for the ND5XS2. The Zen is good as a server, but for an end point as well most go for a Zenith - which separates a further power rail from 2 (Zen) to 3 (Zenith).
Remember the Innuos products are using a standard Intel PC motherboard (not ‘custom’ as per marketing), a standard CD ripper (Sanyo?) , and a standard disk drive (WD) in a pressed metal case with a ‘quiet-ish’ operating system, and internal power supplies designed for them by Sean Jacobs.
There I was a strip-down video from Steve Guttenberg on line, and I opened my old one to check.
Naim and DCS use streaming boards designed for the purpose from StreamUnlimited Engineering GmbH which are then integrated into a hardware/firmware solution designed from the ground-up for hi-Fi.
I am not-anti Innuos - my next demo will probably be of a PhoenixNet…
. A joke of course.