They’ve definitely sorted the (my) 333 out, back to where I remember it being so well balanced, so I’m sure they can tweak the 555 and correct the balance.
Loving my system again. I hope you all get to that happy place soon.
G
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Surely the flagship is the Statement pre/power amps and Naim demo them with the ND555 as a source, so wouldn’t that be more revealing of problems than the 500 series?
There is always a bigger fish. Statement should also show the ups and downs best. 
The ND555 is at the moment Naim’s flagship Streamer. It remains an open question which kit the ‘Golden Ears’ utilise when assessing the sound signature of updated FW. @Cohen1263 will hopefully get to the bottom of that question when he visits HQ.
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@Geko
The Spotify tweak is not so bad. System sounding better today - first time in a long time.
Still not 3.8 (I think) but better.
I am still on floating position as I do not want to reverse the effect - and touch the (running) system. What was the effect in your system switching back to ground?
AFAIK they use the systems available at Naim, the main one of which is the ND555 and Statement system with Focal speakers in the main demo room.
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I find the “default” has less unwanted resonances in the high medium and high frequencies and is more “organic” (whatever that means) and that is, despite my LP12 providing another ground. Sorry to answer your question rather than @Geko. But 2 data points is always better than 1 :).
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In an ideal world I’d have 3.8.8 sent back to me to usurp 3.10.1 
. What we can achieve in reality is unknown.
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I’m still going round and round on the Spotify on/off.
On: deeper soundstage, more air around instruments, instruments sound more lifelike not facsimiles, but there is more HF glare.
Off: soundstage flattens, warmer sound due to less HF, bass is more tight.
Wish I could have the ‘On’ effect without the HF glare and less tight bass. But: is the ‘On’ sound real, or is it a fabrication, something added.
Hi Richard, is that the demo room that I heard described as containing wall to wall sound treatment?
Exactly as it is here!
And this is the exact same effect with floating ground:
- ground / tidal on: more air, details easier to hear, bigger room, sharper edges, sibilance
- Floating / tidal off: more organic, warmer, more together and more analog with less pronounced detail.
I currently prefer off/off
Not sure about “sound treatment”, it’s quite lively but does have some wooden battening on the walls (not sure what it does sonically but it looks quite nice).
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So… Anyone here with Statements in their system?
Is this a high-class waiting room?
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Cohen and darkebear have the s1 pre!
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And they both experience shrill…
I am now at 15 variables aside from sources (streamer+amp+amp combinations) for factors affecting HF. One important one in this case is which samples you judge the sound signature on. I can optimize for the best recordings/digital transfers or I can optimize for most recordings, but not necessarily both. So, I could imagine NAIM optimizing for the recordings they know are best (in terms of sound recording) without optimizing for most recordings (which will include bad recordings/bad digital transfers). Just a thought.
It’s still strange in my opinion that that shrill wasn’t there before. But I am a nitwit on these matters.
Yep, still strange, I agree. Although I have always found streaming has a tendency to be on the edge when it comes to HF since I started streaming (with 2 distinct streamers, one not NAIM), as compared to my LP12 and vinyl (never listened to CDs except in the car, so can’t judge that). So, from my point of view the new FW might only have tipped over what was already sonically on the edge (pardon my metaphor).
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I can relate to that. I have always been trying to get the sound as much to my liking as possible in every way that I stream. At home I find Audirvāna in my set up sounding way friendlier than the native Naim app. The latter is always sounding somewhat harsh to my ears. That harshness is totally absent when playing vinyl on my old Logic DM101.
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