I started with a ND5 XS 2 and used it into a SN3 for around 8 months. I then upgraded to the NDX 2, which is even better, as is to be expected considering the price difference. I then upgraded again with a XPS DR, with which i still have after two years of use. I’m of course now very happy. 
P.S. when i had ND5 XS 2 i preferred it without the HiCap DR into a SN3. With NDX 2 i brought back the HiCap DR as it then made for an appreciable improvement to the SN3.
Hi NO-QUARTER I’m interested in your further experience with the P1 now that you have had a couple of weekends more with it since you upgraded to Tidal Hifi Plus and have add use of MQA HiRes material.
Also interested in what streamer/dac you previously had before upgrading to the P1 and the improvements you have found with the upgrade.
Thanking you in advance for your further observations and experience with the P1.
Hi MoonDrifter
I have used the P1 with MQA here and there for a couple of weeks now. To me it still comes down to the quality of the recording in the first place. I have had a few “wow” moments and a few reaching for the remote to turn it down moments.
All in all, I am going to stick with Tidal MQA for a few more months before deciding one way or the other.
The P1 itself is definitely all I need, it is at least equal to my previous ND5XS2 into Chord Mscaler/TT2 in terms of overall enjoyment.
One thing I will point out is at one time last week I was listening to some music after work, and I literally felt like I was transported to the venue that the musicians were playing at. This has only happened to this level a few times in my life, it is a mesmerizing experience that you do not want to end.
Tomorrow I will have all the hardware to hook it up with optical Ethernet, so that should be interesting.
I have not got around to trying music videos yet, work has been taking up a lot of my time.
More to come when fibre is installed.
I received the hardware today to hook the P1 up with optical Ethernet. Hoping to be scraping my jaw off the floor when I get home from work.
Little update on the Fibre Ethernet… Huge upgrade over regular Ethernet, if you use Lumin, Fibre input will unleash the beast inside.
It is like a whole new machine for $70 dollars, cheapest, stunning upgrade I have ever done.
Hi NO-QUARTER, sorry for the slow response i have been in the middle of the Timor Sea all week on a job with no internet access.
Good to hear your initial findings with Tidal MQA Hi- Res material, your previous source components were impressive so good go also hear that the P1 is performing very well against that benchmark.
Interesting to also hear your experience with the uplift in sound quality going to the fibre connection, was this with connection to local streaming from a NAS or other storage device or from streaming via the internet from your modem connection?
I’m only using internet streaming from my modem so interested in the fibre connection set up and if its worth getting for internet streaming.
Also interested if you are using the pre-amplifier output of the P1 directly into a power amplifier or the power amplifier input of an integrated amplifier or using P1 fixed output into a pre-amplifier or normal line input thus using the inbuilt pre-amplifier of an integrated amplifier or your experience of comparing the different P1 outputs?
I’m interested as it maybe that the P1 pre-amp output is better than my SN3 pre-amp and would therefore be better to bypass SN3 pre-amp input and go straight into AV bypass input of SN3 straight into power amp section of SN3. All the professional reviews of the P1 say that its pre-amp section/output is really great. Your experience on the P1 pre-amp output would be appreciated.
I’ve just now bought a P1 in the EOFY sales based on my demo comparison experience, the multiple positive professional reviews and helped with input from your experience and am now waiting delivery.
Could not be bothered with waiting any longer for Naim, NAD or Marantz etc to maybe bring out new high end streamer/dacs as the P1 is getting such rave reviews.
Glad to hear you ordered a P1, good job. My listening has been 95% Tidal I would say.
Since I am trying to evaluate MQA, Tidal is my only option for that really.
I am still using the Preamp of my Nagra integrated, no amp direct yet, since I just switched to fibre.
What I am trying to do is only make one change at a time, to properly assess what each brings.
I do have my own music too, but have only briefly played a few albums here and there. I think I mentioned that I have a Roon subscription, so have been using Roon App, Tidal App, and Lumin App separately to see if there is a sound quality difference…not hearing any difference to speak of.
I used to own a Supernait 2, but never tried bypassing the preamp when I did, so can’t offer you much advice there.
Hope yours arrives soon.
Hi NO-QUARTER
Ive been using/burning in my P1 for 5 weeks now and have had it connected to the AV input (pre-amp bypass straight into power amp section) of my SN3 using the P1 pre-amp output and the sound quality was good and has improved a little over the burn in period.
However a few days ago i changed connections to the SN3 Streamer input (now using the pre-amp of the SN3 which is enhanced by my HiCap DR) and disabled the P1 pre-amp output and changed the P1 output to fixed output level and the sound quality improvement is very significant and so much better so i will be now staying with this connection option.
I have to say i was quite surprised by how much the improvement was because when i demoed the P1 it was using its pre-amp output straight into a Chord Ultima 6 power amp and that sounded awesome feeding into Wilson Audio Sasha SE speakers which is what sold me on the P1 compared to the other streamers i had also demoed which were NDX2, HiFi Rose 150B and Moon 780D.
Hope your going well with your P1, how are you finding Tidal HiRes MQA as Im really impressed wifh it compared to their CD quality tracks?
Im still using a copper ethernet connection as i run this cable straight from my modem to the P1 which is 25m so only have a basic ethernet network connection and have not yet bothered with a fibre converter kit to see if that improves the sound quality, but the best fibre converter kit is AUD1500 so thats an expensive experiment if it does not bring significant sound quality improvement. Im assuming your ethernet network is more complex which is why your achieved better sound quality switching over to the fibre connection?
Hi MoonDrifter, I am still listening to MQA if the album has that option. Honestly I have not done any A to B testing versus regular CD quality. My plan is to live with it for 6 months or so before making any decisions on paying the extra for it or not.
Here in Canada it is a long weekend, so maybe I will finally get around to trying Amp direct. I suspect your demo with the Chord amp sounded better because Naim amps are very picky about using other brand preamps…so I hear.
I posted what I am using for fibre further up this thread, but the cable is the wrong one, I ordered the right one, still waiting for that.
The SFP’s and cable were only about $60-70 dollars, nothing fancy.
Hi NO-QUARTER
Thanks for the quick reply, must be the middle of the night in Canada depending on what part of the country you are located in.
You must have a device with a built in fibre output port because you are not needing to use a copper to fibre media converter and associated power supply so that keeps your fibre connection costs down, unlike me who needs the full converter/power supply and cable/connector kit.
I will use the P1 as is now and think more about trying the fibre conndction option later because the sound of the P1 is already really very good now and far superior to my previous streamer so im very happy anyway at the moment so will just enjoy what i have already.
Yes it is late here, currently 4:30 AM, I work nights. I use a
Cisco 2960-8tc switch between my router and P1, I think I paid &75 dollars for it a few years ago. It has an SFP port on the far right that the little module slides into.
Moondrifter, I forgot to mention I hope to try Roon only mode this weekend too. I have been meaning to try this for a while now. I realize you are not a Roon user, but to me it just opens up a world of music and info.
Are you just using the Lumin App, or are you also using Tidal connect?
Hi NO-QUARTER
You are right Im not a Roon user and definately not interested in using it ever.
I use both the Lumin App and Tidal Connect, both sound fantastic and I cant hear any sound quality difference between the two.
However, I found a bug in the Lumin App where it will not sequentially play my Tidal Playlists, it will only play an individual track in ang given playlist and not continue on, I have reported this to Lumin for them to look into and fix. There is no problem with playing full albums in the Lumin App they play all the way through from whichever track you start from.
Therefore, when i want to play any of my own playlists, daily discovery, tidal recommended playlists etc I have to use Tidal Connect, its no real hardship, but will be good when Lumin fix the bug in their App.
That seems weird about the playlists, mine will play them all the way through. It did take me a bit of time to figure out how to do it however.
What you need to do is give the folder a hard press, not open the folder. When you hard press it, options will pop up. Hit the first one on the left with the lines and an arrow. That should populate the entire left side of the screen with all the music in the playlist. It should then play it all in order, give that a try.
Hi NO-QUARTER
Thanks i will try that out, Im using an early android Samsung Tab2 tablet to drive the P1 so will see if what you suggest makes a difference.
I’m not really too bothered as although the Lumin App is good as is the BluOS App I use for my other streamer a NAD C658 their functionality for using Tidal is nowhere near as comprehensive as the native Tidal App functionality which i much prefer to use so more than happy to use Tidal App plus Tidal Connect for the P1 like i do when using the C658, i find it so much more practical to use Tidal and the streamers this way.
Yeah Tidal connect is quite good. I use Apple devices so my experience with the Lumin App could be different. The thing is though, you can not access internet radio in the Tidal App, and I listen to radio Paradise a lot for casual background music.
That is where Roon is also better, one App to access everything.
I have limited knowledge and experience with Roon, read a little about it and one naim dealer near me will only demo with it so i have heard it.
However, i cant see the sound quality benefitting the P1 when you have Tidal going to Roon, then Roon doing some processing of the sound and then handing it on to the P1 to finish of the sound processing in particular the Hi-Res MQA, that would to me more likely negatively effect sound quality rather than Tidal going straight to the P1 and the P1 doing all the processing.
I could see why the naim dealer used it to demo the NDX2 to me because as i understsnd it Roon will do the first unfold of MQA so naim streamers will get some sound quality benefit as they cant natively process MQA, but when you have a streamer that can fully process MQA i would think it best to keep the signal path as short as possible to maximise sound quality.
Sound wise I hear no difference between all 3 Apps. Roon is more about music discovery and convenience. It has a feature called Roon radio, which is kind of like my daily discovery on Tidal, but WAY better. To me it is like having a world class DJ selecting music for you, based on your likes and past music selections.
I’m not sure a short signal path is the priority here. Having the processing carried out in the same box that produces the analogue signal has the potential to degrade sound quality which might be avoided by having it done upstream, by a Roon Core or other server.
Thanks ChrisSU
I do not have a local music server of any sort as i have no locally stored music and only stream online from Tidal.
Sound quality may or may not benefit from upstream processing i would have no idea on this, but maybe others who have more technical knowledge will be able to help here, but i cant see me paying for a Roon subscription anytime soon.
