Hi 0.0,
If you are feeling shy, permit me to name the drama. Should I max out my Naim streaming source or might I prefer to use the NDX2 as streamer feeding a Chord M Scaler + DAVE? Or even investigate DCS streamers?
There are plenty of dealers who stock both Naim and Chord streaming products, so will set up the audition for you. Once you hear both combinations in a good demo, you will know which one is for you quite quickly. It took me all of about 10 seconds into the first track.
The Naim, Naim/Chord and DCS streaming options are all very good indeed, so audition them and pick your preferred one. It’s a personal choice.
I’d agree with that, love Naim’s amplification, but DAC is a weak link in Naim’s product offering. A NDX2 + PS555DR is a lot of money, and with that sort of cash, you can get much bang for your buck if willing to consider other DAC alternatives.
A bit tired personally to read that “ Naim dac weak link “ more and more often.
Hopefully there are some who still buy the very prehistoric Ndac over concurrents like Chord, Mytech…
Recently a member with Statements, prefer the CD555 over full 100 k DCS Vivaldi stack he owns too. It means something, the modern and hyper sophisticated DCS, vs the CD555 dinosaur.
Also, hazarding a guess here but I would imagine a large proportion of ND555 users were existing NDS or CD555 users.
Obviously you would tailor a product to a market that is already almost within reach of a new range…
Agreed, It also means that better, best and ultimate don’t necessarily mean the same to individuals.
It’s more about tailoring the sound to your own specifics and ears.
It would be interesting if all products were priced the same, would everyone still have either a 500 level or statement based system?
Now that’s an interesting thought.
Coming into the room initially I would have found it hard to spot that the NDS wasn’t there but listening now I’d say more ‘natural’. Silly term perhaps but listening mostly to classical and jazz those who will understand what I’m trying to say. It’s more real for sure. And it’s not about the new screen - which is set off!
I have moved on from my NDX2. I liked the streaming functionality but the DAC (to me) is mediocre at best and the screen (again, for me) is a waste, they should have done much more with it to make it useful.
Note: I am all in with Roon, listening is 90% streaming, 10% CD’s (2000 LP’s gathering dust in the basement). What did I do? Bricasti Design M3 with network card and remote, around $5K US, less that a NDX 2 in the states. What do you get? A far superior DAC, actually two DAC’s, a delta sigma PCM and a dedicated DSD DAC. You get preamp/volume functionality and lots of digital inputs, and, with the network card you have a Roon Ready end point. From a sonic and features perspective, this thing kills the NDX2. It will also allow me to go direct to a power amp, eliminating preamp/integrated amp.
In my case, going all digital, it makes much more sense.
I love sound of naim dac in my ndx2. It seems to become popular to tell everyone how much money you can save to buy a ‘better’ dac, but i’ve heard different dac with/with no preamp function and naim with naim works best. It’s not just about ‘quality’ of dac, it’s about a lot lot more, about how it all connects together and way different units speak with other ones.
Mind you, running things against my newly fully spec LP12 does for me at least fire things up- at least for this old chap! Shove on a new 45 US Jazz LP - boy, there’s nothing like it! Most of my NDX2 is spent listening to BBC3 - excellent to these sub 12KHZ ears at least!
Understood. Just relating one man’s experience. I was using the NDX2 in a full Naim context, i.e. SN3 and HiCap DR. My new solution sounds much better TO ME. That’s all it means, nothing more, nothing less.
Naim has a much tougher sell in the US. We don’t have a big network of dealers willing to loan the stuff out for home demo’s (you’re lucky in the UK), and the gear is quite a bit more expensive here. The value proposition is very different.
Set up the NDX2 via an S-XPS cable to the newly installed PS555 DR earlier this afternoon. I have to say that I was expecting a night and day difference which has not materialised. It’s a new power supply so I guess there is some settling in time needed and I will add more comments as things progress. There is more to the sound, certain things like voices and subtler details in tracks seem to stand out a bit more. I blasted out Matthew Halsall’s Salute to the Sun first followed by Roger Water’s Us + Them both of which revealed a little more detail, perhaps even a bit more of the feeling of it being live in the latter with a sensation of more space without the creation of a wider soundstage.
I’d say things have improved today, I’ve been playing music for half of it ranging from fourth world jaz to JMJ. A fuller sound seems to be emerging, JMJs electronics in particular standing out from the speakers. Tlon by Nils Petter Molvaer on now has a good old thump in it too. I need to get back to some sounds I’m familiar with to get a better idea as a comparison with and without the PS555 DR from memory but I have to say it’s all rather engaging, I don’t seem to want to leave the music playing to switch or indeed move to the tv room for the evening. The Khmer LP by Nils Petter Molvaer streamed from Qobuz is too good to cut off and is sounding (withdrawing) room encompassing.
I’ll need to get the NDX2 power cable out again to check with and without the external PS but I think I’ll leave things as they are for a week or so in the hope of further improvements.
Set it up yesterday
The upgrade from xpsdr to 555psdr on my ndx2 has been very worthwhile. More organic, fills my large room more easily.
I’m using 52/135s into kudos Titan T88s.
I use an Uptone eR and a Chord Sarum T from ndx2 to 52.
Source first still holds true.
My Titans sound like they are being driven by a more powerful amp.
It’s a big expense though I got an excellent trade in on my xpsdr from my dealer.
Also sold my 01 since I haven’t been using it at all, since I started streaming - especially with the Naim hi def radio stations
David
