What will adding a Ndac to an ND5XS2 bring

First of all thanks so much for keeping me updated. I really do appreciate it. I will think about it and if it hasn’t been sold before they reopen on Tuesday I may at least ask about it. I am pleased to see ndacs’s appearing suggests even if I have to wait for a better time they are still relatively available. It is weird they’ve accidentally mentioned the new power supply.

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Are you sure about that? If the 300PS can power an NDX2 or 272 I can’t see why it couldn’t power an NDAC with the right Burndy.

Sure. Remembered that is what Steve ( aka 110db) said…
Several, including myself, asked him. It’s in one of the NC series threads.

edit : @ChrisSU just found it, here…

Unless they’ve since found otherwise :thinking:

Yeah, I had a feeling that was the case. Just odd that Signals would get it wrong as they’ve one of Naim’s most experienced dealers.

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The nDAC arrived here tonight, finally, but without an interconnect (but I have some of those) and more importantly without a link plug in the box :rage:

As I don’t have/want a PSU (for now) this means it’s a beautiful paper weight. Have just contacted the seller which is a Naim dealer in Florence in my best Italian, hope they sort something out, by themselves or via the eBay service. It was not stated to be missing, so in my opinion I could assume from a Naim dealer that both items would be there in the “original packaging”.

Otherwise it’s another call to my dealer and/or distributor, but hopefully not. I did spend some money with them again on a brand new DC1 cable, yet as there is no stock here in NL that has to come from the UK. All in all it will take some time before I have everything in place. Patience is a virtue.

@silverback I hope you’re doing better in this, any first impressions perhaps?

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That sucks daddycool, but your patience will be rewarded soon.

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When I bought my nDAC the link plug was missing iirc and my dealer got one sent to by Naim asap.

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Really sorry to read your story
Hoping things will work out well
Best wishes
R

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Sounds like your having a really bad start, hopefully it won’t be too long before you’re sorted.
We are away at the moment plus I have a horrible sinking feeling now you mention link plug!
I just unboxed it when it arrived put it in the rack and for the life of me I can’t remember if there was a link plug in the back.
Back home tomorrow so hope to get it up and running soon, link plug dependant :crossed_fingers:

I will update when we are up and running.

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It so turns out that Naim dealers in Italy are as friendly and forthcoming as they are in NL.

Got a prompt reassurance that they put/hid the link plug in the carton insert of the box, where indeed I found it! With an apology for the missing interconnect as well, so case closed.

No more blinking lights, will now try and update the firmware while I’m waiting for the DC1 to arrive.

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Happy ending to the story…
Delighted for you. :+1:

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Ndac in system warming through, will be the weekend before we get a proper listen, connected up with adapters until new BNC cable arrives from Mark Grant, fingers crossed it will have a marked effect on the sound.

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ND5XS2 being 5 years old by now , previous gen. mk1 lasted 7 years.
Do you think a new product or revamp to be on the horizon?

The new 333 is in effect the replacement for the NDX2. Naim did say that their intention with the New Classics was to offer a simplified range, so it’s possible that the XS range, which has already been shrunk down to just a streamer and an integrated amp, will shrink even more. Or it may not, but Naim will not make any announcement until new products are ready to be released onto the market, so we can only guess.
If there is a revamped product, I don’t think there will be redundancy in the existing range like there was in the 1st gen streamers. The New Classics (222 and 333) have the same streaming board as the Classic ND5XS2 etc. The functionality may evolve, but they are all a step change over the Mk1 models which were never even designed for web streaming, but had it shoehorned into them years after the streaming board was designed.

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The whole future of the XS series is an interesting topic. I suspect Naim may see the new Uniti series as the replacement for it. Personally, I would be a bit saddened by that as a Nait XS and CD5Xs were my gateway into Naim, but from a marketing perspective perhaps the Nova is too close to ND5XS2/Nait XS. And the upgrade path from XS to New Classic Series 2 is not so straightforward unless a pure streamer at Series 2 level becomes available.

I suspect there will be changes to Naim’s lower price amps, streamers and CD player in the not-too-distant future but what that will be is pure guesswork until the wraps are taken off.

Roger

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The interesting one will be the Supernait 3 and what happens to that PeakMan

I would assume it’s a good seller for Naim but I don’t know

I have one and it’s very good , bit of a sweet spot in the naim range for me

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The SN3 will go in 2024, speaking with Jason from Naim recently when quizzed he sort of hinted at a successor in the pipeline in the NC guise & probably won’t be called SN4. Anyway it’s fairly obvious that the range has to align in to the white light livery.

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Yep agree

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Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on the DAC, reckon you’ll like it :slightly_smiling_face:
I also use the Mark Grant cable, very nice quality.

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Early days, had a couple of 2 or 3 hour sessions so far, first session was in the evening , system is always powered up even streamer is fully powered up it has been paused on a track something I don’t usually do but wanted to try and eliminate any warm up or very little.

Played a few fav tracks then an assortment from female vocal, rock, heavy metal a real mixture, I have very varied tastes but no jazz or classical sorry folks.

Much more bass, more layers, seems to go deeper the stuff you can feel, more detail, voices are a little clearer more life like, there is still a hint of sheen at certain frequencies but it is not as steely as I found the Nd5xs2 on it’s own. Feels almost like the music has slowed down giving you more time to hear all the notes, more easy to focus on individual parts of the mix, best way I can describe it is imagine looking out of a window on a speeding train you can see all the scenery but as the train slows everything becomes easier to focus on and take in, if that makes sense.
Dynamically it’s very quick much as it was before to be fare, as the volume increases I think the 200dr starts to struggle just a little and maybe starts to add a little more edge to the sound but it certainly doesn’t disgrace itself considering what it’s trying to drive, a 250dr has always been on my shopping list I think it would bring that final piece to the jigsaw.

Really looking forward to many more hours of music but pretty happy so far, l hope when the dedicated mains is fully up and running we will get another benefit.

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