I’m another one but into the nDAC. I agree it’s one hell of a transport and the automation is wonderful into a Naim pre(SN3 for me)… FWIW I ran without an external DAC (just the ND5XS2) for well over a year and adding the nDAC was the first of a nice upgrade path for me.
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Hi @frenchrooster unfortunately it could be a compromise, it depends on the quality of the bridge used to convert to usb to coax of vice versa.
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Interesting, Have you always used Naim DAC(or non-Naim)? sorry if you have already answered it, What is the obvious change adding nDAC to ND5XS2? And what is subtle? Glad you confirm ND5XS2 as good streaming transport, I don’t have funds for NDX2 at the moment but in a perfect world it sounds like the way to go, which reduces box count without compromising sound quality.
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Maybe through this thread, from the beginning…
It’s a very good resource and answers your questions. 
Best wishes
R
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No worries. In short, “So what will adding a nDac to a ND5XS2 bring? IMHO NDX2 Sound quality for a lot less money.”
Check the 2nd response to this thread for my entire nDAC journey
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Hi Simon, I opened a thread on usb to spdif converters for a naim dac, and in general, usb decrapifiers (within budget) asking forumites their take on those devices for a naim dac. May I request your opinion there (or here), I’d be very grateful! Thanks!
https://community.naimaudio.com/t/budget-ddc-between-mac-mini-and-naim-dac/35049/17
Thanks, yeah I did look up brands like Innuos, Lumin and Aurrender, they seem to make dedicated streamer transport. With Naim it’s often the case of buying more boxes, maybe NDX2 will solve the box count but that’s out of my budget, hence reading up what people say about ND5XS2, which looks good in used market.
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Ndxs2 with SN3 is a nice combo. You will see if you prefer it to Bluesound Node with Topping. If not, you will not loose money when selling it . Of a little.
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Hi @violinhead thanks for your question. The ND5XS2 is initially a streamer with an integrated DAC. It therefore only has one BNC digital output to send the digital signal directly to an external DAC. My Naim DAC also has a BNC input and accordingly I now use a 75 Ohm coax cable with BNC connectors (Neotech NEVD-1001). My CD transport (Audiolab) has an RCA digital output and here I use the Audioquest Coax Carbon cable. One advantage of the Naim Dac is that it even has 2 RCA and 2 BNC inputs. Many newer DACs only have one S/PDFI input (BNC or RCA), but also have AES/EBU (110 Ohm) inputs. I don’t quite understand why they save on S/PDFI inputs. Re-plugging is very inconvenient and not an option for me. I also think that converters and adapters are basically a compromise and should not be a permanent solution.
I bought the ND5XS2 second-hand, as well as the NDac. The combination is really recommendable and plays at least at NDX2 level, albeit with a warmer tonal characteristic. I thought its an advantage to stay with Naim as far as possible and not to mix devices of to many different manufacturers (this may fit or not….).
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What will adding a Ndac to an ND5XS2 bring - #525 by Igro
@Igro you asked for my opinion on USB to SPDIF converters. My view is that these are media converters and as such the quality of the conversion, clocks, decoupling and power supplies etc will dictate the performance. A good converter is unlikely to be very efficient cost wise - as essentially they are performing what the front half of a streamer would otherwise be doing.
If you want to use async USB as a digital input I think looking for a DAC that natively supports that would be the best suggestion overall.
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Noted, thanks a lot.
In the other thread it would appear that some forumites in the same situation, with ndac, had better results using a streaming transport, roon endpoint, with spdif output such as ifi zen stream. Made me think maybe it’s a valid budget approach.
In my perception the benefit of adding the ndac to the nd5xs2 is substantial.
And I’ll also mention that I definitely preferred the nd5xs2+dc1+ndac+xpsdr to the ndx2+xpsdr
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As mentioned above, I supplemented the ND5XS2 with a second hand NDac in January. It was a big step forward in SQ. Now I have taken the next step. After reading many experiences with external power supplies on the NDac in the forum, I added an Olive XPS. I was in Hamburg last week on business and visited ‘Sound&Vision’. They specialise in Naim, especially Olive and old Classic series equipment. They offered an Olive XPS freshly recapped and calibrated. The listening test on site was convincing, better detail resolution, clearer separation of the instruments and improvement in the treble range. So I bought the XPS and installed it today. I now have a three-generation system (Olive XPS, NDac and ND5XS2 from the Classic series and Nait50, which is closer to the New Classic series). The Olive XPS is also a clear gain at home. The resolution is finer with more detail, especially with more complex music. Even my wife (who is not an audiophile) came out of the next room and spontaneously commented that the system sounded clearer and more differentiated than before. I listened to my favourite playlist and enjoyed the afternoon. With the upgrade of the system (NDac XPS) I have reached a new level. The downside: I now have 3 boxes for streaming and had to take the Audiolab CDT 6000 drive out of the Fraim rack. I think I will put it next to it on a separate base. I don’t have a solution for that yet. But there’s always room for improvement…
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Great story.
Thank for sharing
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Thats a lovely looking setup 
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Welcome to the three box streaming club!! 
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Lovely setup!
I’d like to add an XPS to my nDac soon… but need to sort things with my nDac. Yesterday, I got tired by the sound of the nDac, it had a glaring midrange on some recordings. I sometimes notice this glaring, glassy midrange, especially on piano notes. So yesterday night, I decided to bypass the nDac and connect the nd5xs2 directly to the 282, and it was a Wow moment… I wasn’t expecting this result at all. The rhythm was emphasised, bass was fast and agile, no glary midrange even though the presentation was less detailed, less airy and less open. I guess something must be going wrong with the nDac. I doubt the coax Audioquest Carbon could make such a difference and create this glaring midrange. Anyway, I have contacted Mark Grant Cables (HDX1) but it appears they do not ship to France, and I’m not sure the DC1 would solve the issue. I have also considered to perform a factory reset on the nDac: maybe the firmware update wasn’t done properly by it’s predecessor… Oh, and when I change the input on the nDac from input 3 to 4, I get less high frequencies on the left speaker. Input 3 seems fine though… Any thoughts on why I get a glaring midrange and not fast bass with the nDac?
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Very surprising. As you pointing out, my first guess would be to try the DC1. Switching inputs does sound strange to me (I’ve never tried). Firmware issue? Maybe.
Perhaps you have a grounding issue. I have my nDAC set to Chassis and my nd5xs2 set to float.
As mentioned above (post 427) I have also tried Audioquest Carbon with the NDac, but with BNC adapter on one side. I am now using Neotech NEVD-1001 digital BNC cable. It is faster and more neutral than the Audioquest. Many users have had good experiences with the original Naim DC1, which I have not tried myself. Like @marcusman , I have NDac on chassis and ND5XS2 on floating for earthing. I also have no differences with different inputs and can’t tell that the NDac sounds glary. Rather the opposite. Compared to the bare ND5XS2, it sounds warmer in the bass and fundamental range (see post 429) and offers a wider sound stage even without XPS. The ND5XS2 sounds brighter and somewhat edgy in comparison. So I’m also a bit perplexed by your problem.
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In my experience that sounds more like room reflections and room comb filtering. Forwardness and glassiness often can be the product of room/speaker interaction in the 1k to 4k area.
The NDAC has likely a different balance to the nd5xs2. If you have strong reflections you dont need much of a tonal balance shift to significantly change the sound and drive nulls or prominences.
The acid test is use very high quality headphones and amp… if you hear the ‘damaged’ audio here, it is almost certainly the electronics, if not it’s the speaker/room interactions.
One of the reasons why I say speaker/room selection and setup comes first before source.
The NDAC on its own is a relatively forward sound in my view, this becomes a slightly more U shaped performance with the addition of the 555PS non DR.
In the few times I have listened to a nd5xs2 I would say the sound is a little filtered and smoothed… possibly not the best for immersive listening but a safer performance.
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