thanks, ndx2 was my first choice but is too expensive… 6.000 euro new, 5000 as ex demo, really too much
EBay sometimes has NDX2s for under £4K
And your existing streamer is with money. Still not cheap though.
An option pursued by several here is to keep the current streamer and add a second hand NDAC.
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Sorry ‘worth’, not ‘with’, in my last one.
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Hi G
I ran an ND5XS with power supply very happily for many years through an XS-2 also with supply and it sounded wonderful, with a variety of speakers, latterly some ATCs (I figured after watching Paul McCartney and Rick Rubin using them on their Apple TV show, they’re good enough for me). But I always wondered what difference the actual DAC chip made? The DAC in the ND5XS is the same as in most NAIM products. But the DAC in the NDS is different. In fact there are two of them, mono, one per channel, old skool. Naim only offer them now in the ND555. Yes there are chassis and circuitry differences between the ND5XS and NDS, but basically it’s the same kit, bar the chips.
So I bought at 2nd hand NDS for just over £2k (peanuts) and plugged it in. Same set up, PS, everything. Oh my sweet Lord. It went from being a representation of music, to music. The NDS is like a sonorous muscial instrument in its own right. Tracks I’ve listened to for years, thousands of time, are not completely different, but sound as if they’re being heard the way were always intended to be heard.
Over the years I’ve played with different amps and speakers while keeping the front end the same. Now I’ve upgraded the front end . For my money, the best and most significant changes have come from 1) speakers, 2) NDS, and 3) power supplies. Changing amps from one Naim amp to another makes a difference - it’s better sound - but in terms of adding enjoyment, it’s the last thing I would change these days.
I rarely play loud and my rooms are small, so I don’t need massive amplification. The ND5XS is now happily in one of my other rooms, waiting for its PS.
Hope that helps.
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I also have an NDS and am constantly amazed at how good it sounds, especially for what they can be had for these days.
thanks Jcc, I also think is not worth running after each and every update of the market. people want to buy last version and pay huge amount of money for that, but going for old stuff means very good sound for little money. now can be founf nd5xs around 1000 eur, ndx around 1500, nds for 2000, where original prices were 3000, 5000 and 9000… comparing to version 2 difference is also bigger. for sure ndx 2 is a great machine, but the upgrade from ndx is worth 5000 euro? I don’t think so. difference is even bigger comparing nds to nd555. the good side is that now all previous line is affordable…
Exactly. And NDS c. £2k - 2.5k is a steal. With power supplies also 2nd hand, you can achieve >95% of Naim’s current top spec streaming solution, which is >£20k retail.
With PMCs, would sound awesome.
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