In this case, Stephen is talking about his Hiline, and not a PowerLine.
The fact that the Hiline is pulling down on the decoupled din socket is nothing whatsoever to worry about - it’s all part of the design. Just enjoy the music!
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I would assume that the natural partner is the Nait XS, on the strength of them both being in the XS series. While bigger and better amplifiers would also no doubt work happily with it, it’s also worth considering poor old Stephen’s budget. The £14,000 282/Hicap/300 is not exactly in the same ball park as the £2,000 Nait XS that’s on the radar. The ND5XS2, Nait XS and Neat Motives would be a delightful system that should keep anyone happy.
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Yes, my mistake - posted too early.
Although Hi-line also needs some care installation for best performance. Much written about on Naim forums present and past.
Yes it is the term ‘natural partner’ I was querying… there is more to partnering in my opinion than a branding naming convention, it’s also about synergy. From a performance perspective the ND5XS2 will work wonderfully well into Classic Series… and who is to say that is not equally a natural combo… Certainly from a budget point of view it deliberately hits above its weight compared to its predecessor and that should be applauded… and I suspect to get the most from it one might benefit from more performant electronics than the XS amp range…but yes one can start with XS amps and upgrade them as and when one feels it’s appropriate… your source should survive a few upgrades if that was your approach.
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Ok thanks everyone for your replies, much appreciated. The DIN socket is very bendy and I am not used to this, certainly not from my previous entry level Naim kit. Anyway, other than me being concerned about the wobbly DIN socket, the music making from this wonderful player soon has me forgetting about such idiosyncrasies.
Thanks all!
Hi Richard,
yes my DIN socket bends and sort of rattles if I move it with my fingers with no interconnect cable inserted in it, i’ve not come across this before. I was just a little worried about the weight from my Hi-Line pulling the socket down and touching the back plate. It doesn’t (just). I guess this is normal and nothing to worry about. All is sounding well. Thank you.
Thanks Simon, that’s very handy to know. I am so pleased with the sound from this player even though it’s through my baby NAIT 5Si. I can clearly hear that this is something special indeed. Wonderful!
Now listening to Sam Fender - Play God!
Stephen, yes, it’s normal due to the compliantly mounted boards inside the ND5XS2 that also carry the output socket.
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That’s great. Thank you Richard.
What a nice touch from Naim to give us all a 90 day free trial with Tidal.
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Yes, it’s good to be able to try before you buy, and all these online streaming services offer some sort if trial. I milked the free trial offers for about 2 years before finally returning to Tidal. Roon do one, too 
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Partnering with a service provider to entice punters in isn’t anywhere close to dealers handing out free heroine wraps to create and maintain a market, but it’s somewhere along the same line on that spectrum. Tidal need customers for their premium service, Naim required a good quality music streaming service. Bingo, a good fit. It’s not really in my definition of nice tho, just a sound business decision for both parties.
Tidal is one of three pillars that makes a streamer purchase more worthwhile: local streaming, Tidal, internet radio. Remove any one and a streamer loses a lot of its attractiveness.
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A nice item of clothing for a heroic woman?
Tidal (other streaming services are available) is one of the best reasons for having a a streamer. The chance to listen to new music easily without a huge cost is so good.
I operate a like-it/buy-it policy so my local stock increases but not with duds or stuff I’ll never listen to again.
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Well: I can tell you from my own experience so far that HiFi Tidal is not a patch on locally ripped CDs and then locally streamed back. It’s nowhere near it! I cannot believe how these streaming services charge so much for music you do not own…
I’m assuming that your NAS is transcoding to to WAV, or you ripped to WAV rather than FLAC in the first place. This would give your local stream a bit more of a jump in SQ.
If the Tidal album you are playing is an MQA version then it’s down on quality - see my comments in the “Tidal vs CD” thread. Sadly you can only see if it’s an MQA version in the Tidal desktop App.
Also read.
No. It’s ripped to FLAC and then transcoded to WAV but I do have a choice if motivated. Tidal is good but there is something missing, can’t quite put my finger on it?
Good, that’s the right thing to do.
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Note that one Album has an ‘M’ - this is the MQA version and should be avoided if possible.
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I can hear why vinyl has made a huge comeback. With local streams it brilliant but with the rest of it, it’s a bit…
if you add something like a cisco 2960 switch, not expensive on used market, tidal will come very close to local streaming.