Just received news from Naim that my HDX is unrepairable. It seems if either the control SSD or the storage HDD fail they no longer have any sort of replacement. I’m particularly upset with them because I have been having problems since last year with the HDX not seeing or connecting to any external shares so my backups stopped. Had numerous email and phone exchanges and at no time was it mentioned this might be the firmware on the control SSD , and by the way we are running out of all replacement disks . ( Having looked at some old forum posts they did know this was happening but not contacted their customers) What has happened to The legendary Naim support…
I’m now faced with buying a Unity Core to replace the storage and serving element ( how long will they support that) Then need a player. do I go for a cheap Dac to feed my Supernait 3 or a streamer which gives me future proofing.?. Frustratingly I don’t stream anything at all I have my collection of over 2000 cd’s so no interest in streaming. NDX 2 nice but very expensive even used or ex demo. Now retired so cost conscious.
Any thoughts ?…
How about buying a used Naim nDAC with an affordable streamer attached to it (e.g. a Wiim Pro)?
As a server I would probably install AssetUPnP or minimserver on a Raspberry Pi and add an external hard drive with your music files to it.
There are lots of options. But regarding the UnitiCore, this is a current production model so you could expect support for a long while yet. It uses Linux rather than an outdated Microsoft operating system and it’s designed for you to be able to change the internal HDD/SSD yourself if you need to. You would need to buy an DAC, as you say, but there are many options. I know less about DACs than I do about the Core, so I’ll let others advise on those.
It’s most disappointing when this happens and you effectively have to bin something that was really expensive.
The HDX as standard ripped to WAV, but could be set to flac and the machine can convert WAV to flac. Are they already in flac, and are they backed up to a NAS? If they are, and the NAS is compatible with the Asset software, you can simply use the NAS as your server and forget the Core. Then you could get an ND5XS2, which is a lot cheaper than the NDX2.
You say you have 2,000 CDs, so thinking laterally maybe a CD player is what you really need.
Is waring in the thread title supposed to read warning? If it us and you can’t edit (I know there are lomitations), ask Richard.
I think all of the ‘premium players’ in the hifi space are going to come to this point with older products sooner or later, many with prices significantly higher than Naim’s.
Regrettably the half-life of modern technology components, eg SSD’s etc., gets shorter every year with manufacturers striving to produce bigger, better, faster, cheaper competing against each other for an ever diminishing market of which hifi, particularly audiophile hifi, can only represent a tiny fraction.
Therefore it’s inevitable that their ability to source spares for earlier products becomes one of diminishing returns and product support with be discontinued, frequently at very short notice.
To Naim’s and others credit, they have tried their best, but as exemplified by CD mechanisms, the end often comes sooner rather than later.
There appears to be two solutions;
- Build an upgrade/update plan into your purchase of hifi gear and replace it at the first signs of the above; eg no replacement displays or mechanisms.
2, Buy cheaper, mass produced ‘good enough’ gear and bin it if it fails.
As ever, you pays your money……. but that doesn’t make it any less painful when it happens to you 
.
ATB, J
Is lomitations in your response meant to read limitations? If it is and you can’t edit, ask Richard.
I shouldn’t really say this, but that did make me laugh.
Will Naim or a dealer do you a deal on a Core? If they can sort of do part exchange with the old HDX and supply a Core with a new disk and at least move your music over for you, that might be something. You mentioned the control SSD was knackered but if they cannot salvage the HDX, maybe they can assist or direct a dealer to assist moving the audio data for you.
Why not buy a NAS. say a Synology DS224+ with two 4TB drives run it as a Raid 1 ??
hi HH, virtually all the cd’s are ripped to WAV with some FLAC downloads . All backed up to QNAP NAS. It’s a bit long in the tooth and whilst I have spare HDD’s put by I wouldnt want to trust it as my server source and of course I loose the Naim App access. I also have NAS backed up to USB HDD. Def wouldnt go back to playing CD’s what a hassle !!! not to mention the space they take up. I think I’m edging towards uniticore plus dac to get me going and I can re rip the CDs’ over last year that I hadn’t backed up yet. Then I can decide if I need the streamer. Still have a very nice Tuner plugged into my Supernait 3 and a bluetoooth receiver to stream internet radio BBC sounds from my phone.
see reply to Hungry Halibut
i do have a NAS backup a year old so only need to re rip last years CD’s. Unf HDX now has no trade in value
caught out by blind faith in Naim repairing and refurbishing the old kit for 20/30 years. Never occured to me they would let me down. We live and learn . I did upgrade the Supernait 1 to 3 . HDX was next to look at …
Thank you for pointing out my typo. FWIW I did wonder if there was such a thing as a Waring HDX. (N.B my note about possibly being unable to edit was because I know that editing of thread titles is more restricted than post text, with it not being uncommon that people can’t.)
(Poor guy has just lost his Music source but apparently his biggest problem is his spelling. What have we come to?)
Humbly, there are also a fair few of us still hanging on to CD555s and other legacy CDPs who are going to meet the same fate, eventually. The mech’s will run out, and I’ve always viewed streaming kit as tantamount to a specialised computer processor, with allied physical & market lifespan. The thankful piece is that, as the many comments above identify, you have options at various price levels.
Just for your info, if you load Asset on the Qnap, it works perfectly on the Naim app, and Asset is much more comprehensive than the Core software. The key thing is that you’d need the HDX to be well enough to convert the data to flac, which you’d do with the desktop client. I’ve been using a Qnap for years, and it sounds just as good as a Naim server.
That is what I would try as well if I already had a NAS. The Uniti Core is not exactly a new product either and I would be concerned with running into the same problem as with your HDX in the not too distant future.