I’m thinking of getting an HDX: prices look reasonable and there’s something appealing about having a direct, hard-wired source that doesn’t rely on networking. While the new Naim & Focal app has cleared up a lot of the connectivity problems I was having, there are still problems with 24-96 files sometimes: the dreaded ‘Please Wait, Connecting’ / ‘Can’t Play, Skipped Track’. Switching to a 16-44 track doesn’t work: I have to restart the ND5 XS to get it going again. ND5 XS is hardwired to Mac Mini and router.
So, the question is, is it worth it? I’ve heard that it only works with the nServe app, not the N & F app, so will Naim continue to support it…?
I would focus on getting the ND5 sorted, somethiong is not right with the set up.
I’m not an Apple/Mac user but what UPnP software is installed on the Mini ???
My NDX (the ND5 big brother) works perfectly everytime.
Ethernet to Synology NAS running Asset UPnP & BT SH2
Control is iPad & Naim app.
Hi Tim, I’ve used to own an HDX for several years and was delighted with it. I can’t recall for how many years it stayed in my system. I also loved the one box does it all approach.
However, the HDX was introduced in 2008 and how lovely it is, one should realise that it is ‘old’ technology (whatever that may be) and that it can happen that a defect means return to Salisbury if it is repairable at all …
The HDX was a vey good idea (I used to own a HDX-SSD 10-12 years ago). Unfortunately in practice it was also a hopelessly overcomplicated Windows XP-based product and I would at least check with Naim what kind of support you can expect over the coming years. If you decide buy one try to hear it with a Naim DAC with some old XPS2 power supply. It will kill the modern stuff …
There are regular threads where people struggle to get an HDX or Unitiserve working (there is one at the moment) and the bottom line is that almost any problem will only be resolved by sending the unit to Naim. The fixed price service charge is around £500. Personally I was glad to see the back of my Unitiserve and wouldn’t recommend one of those old servers to anyone now. The UnitiCore, although quite expensive compared with third party options, can be used as a hard disc player if you want and it’s a much better supported unit than HDX.
The HDX is a very special machine. On its own (with a power line and hiline) is very good and with a NDAC it is at a reference level. I used ours with a NDAC/XPS2 and 555PS and it’s out if this world. Ours had had only one problem since 2010 and that was a SMPS power supply issue, both hardware and software have been faultless. It holds our 1700 CDs and also the internet radio is very good. Vastly underrated machine and well ahead of its time sonically. It takes a CDS/XPS to slightly better it and then you can see how many would prefer it.
I had the HDX. Over time I became increasingly nervous about having my music stored in a proprietary box which was non user serviceable and non scalable, requiring a trip back to base for disaster recovery. Being familiar with some things IT, it seemed like a high risk, high hassle headache waiting to happen. When the SSD version came out I had my HDX converted and used it with a NAS, having previously established that there was no difference (that I could hear) between the quality of the music streamed from a NAS, compared to pulled off the internal HDD.
When first introduced it was a user friendly and convenient option for me, comparable to the audio quality of the CDX2, and it did good work in my system. My last incarnation of it was HDX-SSD/DAC/PS555. It’s an irrelevance now, and compared to NDS/Asset it doesn’t sound too good. Apart from anything technical, I would rule it out on sound quality grounds alone nowadays. Naim’s insistence of not tagging WAV files ripped by the HDX also turned out to be an annoyance.
If you have a streamer and for some reason it won’t reliably make friends with your network, why not try a USB drive? Some say it sounds better than Ethernet.
A dissenting view here… Definitely get one! Send it to NAIM for a 2TB update and service and it will last for years. Some authorized distributors/service centers will even install an 2TB SSD for greater reliability. Hard to beat for the prices they are going for today!
Really really easy to beat for the price they are going for today, take the blinkers off dude. At this stage the only advantage to HDX is that it has a little naim badge on it for your hifi stack.
A Uniticore second hand will cost the same as buying the HDX and sending it for repair. ( around 800 euros for repair if I remember a recent thread).
The Uniticore into second hand Ndac will outperform easily the HDX. And nothing to worry about for the future. If the ssd or hdd fails, you replace it in 5 minutes.
The drive doesn’t just contain your music files, it runs the whole OS so a straight swap of the hardware wouldn’t work.
Such a thing might theoretically be possible as a DIY job if you know what you’re doing, although discussing it here may be a breech of forum rules.
Returning a unit to Naim will likely seem rather expensive if you see this as just a hard drive change out, but the cost would usually cover a full service and given the age of these boxes that usually finds and fixes a number of other issues the user may not have been aware of. Potentially worthwhile if this is a Naim source that you want to keep using.
