Turned my Nova on this evening and 3 unusual things happened:
First, there was a loud mechanical clunk, second, there was a loud unpleasant click through the speakers, I noticed the drivers moving, and third there was an audible hiss.
I’m aware that the mechanical clunk happens when switching on from a deep sleep but normally I only use stand-by. Now when turning off it goes straight to deep sleep mode, I don’t seem to have the normal standby mode any more.
When turning on I’m still getting the clunk, the click and sometimes the hiss, but the latter disappears once I start playing music. I also noticed the unit was cold suggesting it has been off for a while. Now I’m listening to it and of course it doesn’t sound right with some distortion (proper audible distortion, not audiophile subtlety).
Nothing changed in my set up from yesterday when all was good.
Any one experienced anything similar or know what’s going on?
Thanks Hi-Fi-Dog, I hope it’s not so serious. I turned it off and unplugged for a few minutes, when I turned it on it seemed the same. When I turned it off it went to deep sleep but then, there was a mild hiss/buzz from the speakers for 20 seconds or so…
I’ve unplugged it from the mains for now as I’m not sure what’s going on and will look again in the morning.
That doesn’t sound right to me, I would get in touch with your dealer and have it checked out.
My Atom has, on a couple of occasions, made some odd noises when I was expecting just the familiar little click it makes when going in and out of standby mode, and there have been a few other reports of similar behaviour posted here, which makes me wonder if something isn’t quite right with Naim’s implementation of a smps to take over from the main transformer during standby mode.
Would any Nova owners be able to confirm the action on their units when going in to standby as mine definitely has changed? Now when I briefly press the power button, there is the mechanical click (relay I guess?), the switch flashes a few times and it enters standby. Before, there was no relay noise and no flashing light. It also seems it is much cooler when in standby as before it was nice and warm, ready for listening.
On standby there is a linear os keeping everything warm, just ticking over…music on, and the big power supply kicks in. Maybe something wrong with standby power…
Shame if it is. They will sort it, ask for a new one!
Weird, just powered mine down to see and it locked up and I had to unplug to sort. Anyway mine clicks when entering standby but if you have anything connected to the USB’s it won’t click when put in standby as it keeps these powered, have you anything connected? Sounds like a psu issue.
On my nova a single touch of the power button after playing music puts it into standby with no clicks and it remains warm. Another touch and a very slight pop from the speakers and it’s ready to go, no mechanical click though. A longer press puts into deep sleep with a small relay click but a louder clunk when it’s re powered up
Worth talking to Naim support about the standby when you have USB things plugged in because it may be that they keep more powered up if the device is in server mode so that it can serve other streamers on the network even when in standby itself, like it does in what is called “network sleep” in a UnitiCore.
Incidentally it’s a small SMPS (not linear) that powers it in standby and a linear supply that powers it when it’s fully on, just like the Statement amplifier.
That’s exactly what it does, as the streamer is running Naim’s UPnP server, it has ‘network standby’ mode in which the server remains discoverable. You can still hear the transformer humming in this mode, so it’s not just the standby smps that runs it.
(At least, that was how it used to work, I haven’t checked since the last firmware update.)
I left it in standby overnight and this morning it is stone cold. However, the information re USB is interesting. Despite saying earlier nothing had changed, I had removed a drive from the rear USB slot. I just plugged it back in and now it is operating as before with a brief press resulting in no mechanical click and the switch doesn’t flash, it just silently and quickly goes into standby. Strange thing is I checked the setting for server mode and it is off.
It seems that whether a USB is plugged in is altering the standby operation and now I’m assuming it will keep warm in standby when there is a USB drive. No idea whether this is normal operation but it seems odd.
Doesn’t explain the hum that appears occasionally or the newly noticed high frequency hiss. I can’t for sure say it wasn’t there before but I’ve only just noticed and I’d hope if it was there these past 4 months I would have. Else I’m probably wasting my money on this Hi-Fi lark.
I will raise it with my dealer next week, see where it takes us…
I’m sure it’s still like that Chris because you would want the electronics powered properly in network sleep, just as in the Core. I remember the Naim guys have said before that the Core and the new Uniti streamersshare lits of code.
I have my Nova set to never go to sleep, so the amp stays powered and warm. For my NDX2 and SN2, the NDX2 is set to go to standby, but the SN2 is always on, again to keep the amp warm and streamer discoverable from the app.
Cold after been in standby is normal (with no drive connected) mine only gets warm when on and playing for a while, possibly it stays warm with a usb drive connected, I haven’t tested that.
Now I’ve plugged the USB back it has settled down to what I was used to before, including staying warm in standby. It does sound like this is normal but odd nonetheless, especially when server mode is off. Anyway, having cut the grass and washed the car, time to do some listening…