Just finished Led Zep 4, 2014 IV Deluxe Edition (Remastered) - 96K download. The imagery, neutrality, and detail simply continue to amaze. I’m noticing this particularly in the upper half of the range. Cymbals, acoustic guitar, vocals are really very good indeed. I had tears in my eyes and the end of ‘stairway to heaven’ - it was that good. Going back to TB, the glockenspiel was excellent as were the tubular bells; you could hear all of the harmonics on the 'bells. If anything I’d say the upper bass is a little subdued compared to the outgoing ndx but lower bass is still there unchanged. However, I feel the sound is more balanced with equal weight across the whole range; there are no enhanced sections of the frequency range. So upper bass down a little but there’s buckets of extra detail and transparency at the upper ranges. Some people might say it’s a little clinical but I’m perfectly happy.
Now I can’t say how an NDX2 would compare but I kept hearing how you really needed to add an XPS power supply to bring the ndx2 out of it’s shell and then we’d have been at c. the same price as the bartok and, tbh, I think I’m going off the idea of needing to add external power supplies to bring out the best in equipment. Plus SWMBO simply loves the look of the bartok… she’s twice commented, in the last few days, how classy and sexy the bartok looks compared to the somber black of the naim products.