I mainly hang out in the HIFI Corner room. Well I am halfway there in my purchase of an ND5 XS 2. My dear wife said no to the ND2 and the ND555. That is all and good as my amplifier is an XS2.
I was originally planing on a Qobus streaming account. Though after some investigation on my iMac and having an Apple Family Music account. I was thinking of hooking up an ethernet connection to our modem/router and stream music from the router to the ND5 XS 2 which will be professionally installed in shielded ethernet so it does not interfere with my amateur radios as the home security system does (Grrrr). Having never used our iPad for such an adventure. Is it as simple as I hope to expect.
Download the Naim App, pair with Bluetooth to the ND5 XS 2 and hopefully there is an Apple Icon or something where I can login with my username and password. Setup playlists and that is all there is to that.
Is it this simple or am I in for a network of horrors and should forget Apple Music and go with Qobuz.
The Naim app doesn’t use Bluetooth, it will discover the ND5XS2 over your network using WiFi.
You can only use Apple Music by running it on your phone and using AirPlay to send it to the streamer. It works fine, but if you want the best sound quality go for Qobuz.
Do you already have the Apple Music account? If you do, try using it on Airplay. Then get a free trial of Qobuz and see if it’s better sounding or easier to use. It’s got to work for all of you, and ease of use is important.
Yes I already have an Apple Music Family account. I have yet to see the NAIM App. though was hoping that there would be an easy setup to stream Apple Lossless via the ethernet to the ND5 XS 2. I assume the ND5 XS 2 is controlled via Bluetooth to the iPad where you select your songs or log into your streaming account.
I am already trying the 1 month free Qobuz account and am impressed with their library. Though it appears The Apple Music account has more HIRES songs in 24/192kHz or so it seems. I was just going through some of my favourites.
The issue here is that Apple Music is not integrated into the Naim app. This is down to Apple licensing rather than Naim’s ability to have it, and Naim have said that they’d like to integrate it should Apple agree. Therefore, to listen to Apple Music you use AirPlay from the iPad or iPhone. I’m no expert but it’s my understanding that Airplay is limited to CD quality. There is a big thread on here about how to get high res from Apple Music - I think you need a dac to do it but I’m not sure.
Qobuz is integrated into the Naim app, which is neat and gives best sound quality, and you can stream their high res stuff with no problem.
The Naim app does not connect by Bluetooth. Rather, it’s all done over the network, just like any other app. No music goes from the iPad to the streamer - the app is just a dumb controller that tells the server what files to send.
The only way to stream AM in hi-res is to physically connect an iPhone or iPad to an USB DAC, otherwise you would use Airplay from your device to the ND5 XS2 at close to CD quality (it’s complicated - big thread about it if you search).
The best hi-res options are Qobuz and Tidal, which you can stream direct from the Naim app or through the iOS apps for the streaming services via Chromecast (Qobuz) or Tidal connect. As you have an AM subscription, you could compare that against Qobuz and Tidal using their free trials.
Just curious: are you planning to listen to local music files as well or only streaming services?
If you only want to listen to Apple Music, I feel a ND5XS2 is almost wasted because of the points above made by others.
Something else to consider, do any other brand high quality streamers have hi-res Apple Music baked in? As others have said, the problem here is Apple not Naim.
Maybe a little harsh
All I am trying to say is if the main use case is playing Apple Music, I would probably buy a 2nd generation Airport Express and a DAC and not a ND5XS2.
Big fan of Apple Music. Use it to stream to portable devices, home pods etc. and to nd5xs2 via airplay. Also useful to stream my own library when too lazy to reach for a cd.
Took out one month free trial of qobuz and still have it 5 months on. High res and easy to use with Naim app on iPad. Total cost both subscriptions £23 per month.
Offset by dramatic reduction in vinyl and cd purchases although that partly due to storage issues and satisfaction with music collection I already own.
I wished to make it as simple as possible and it looks like Qobuz is the way to go. As I already had an Apple account though I could put it to better use.
That is OK. Qobuz for the ND5 XS 2 and AM for the Home pod, and our mobile phones.
MY misunderstanding with the Bluetooth antenna on the ND5 XS 2. I assumed that the music would download via the ethernet cable or the WiFi antennas and the Bluetooth antenna received instructions from the iPad on what to download.
Thank you again. Off to see the Financial Advisor today. The real one not Shelley
Both Qobuz and AppleMusic are great to have. I’ve found, over a year, that the HiRes is usually on both, meaning if a piece is HiRes on one service it usually is on the other. There are exceptions. I recommend the Topping D10, as $120 or whatever it is seems pretty reasonable and it certainly doesn’t negatively affect SQ. And it’s cool…lol…I like seeing the display.
I’ll add, I keep the Topping connected between my Mac Mini and Nova. If I want to play Apple Music HiRes I use either adapter (Camera Adapter for iPhone or VGA adapter for iPad.)
We saw the Finacial Advisor and we are holding off to see if Shelley’s Disability Support PEnsion will be approved. The money is staying in the bank for the moment. Though I did purchase Carole King’s MOFI Tapestry album as a compromise deal. Not the One Step one.
