I presume you wouldn’t consider a 172?
I paid £1775 for a Nov 2018 ex demo ND5XS2 from a Naim main dealer just last week, gets delivered tomorrow 
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I bought an 18 month old nd5xs2 for 1600 … they are about
no I would’t buy a new pre-amplifier 'cause I have the NAC72
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bargain !!!
An alternative to buying a streamer is a separate renderer and a DAC. This presented as food for thought:
I started streaming, essentially only my own locally stored music, with an ND5XS and a (cheap) NAS. It was fine: sounded as good as the CD it replaced, and was easy to set up and use.
Then I was persuaded by the dealer who sold me the ND5XS (ex dem) to try an XP5XS power supply as an upgrade. I did - and was disappointed with the very marginal uplift for such cost (even though the PS was also ex-dem). I returned it, and instead tried a Chord Hugo DAC (less cost), using the ND5 as renderer feeding it. That gave a marked step up in sound quality, with a more natural sound. It stayed!
But my NAS was annoying, physically noisy, and I wanted to replace it with a silent one. And that coincided with my learning of a different approach, With the result that I replaced the NAS with a Mac Mini (secondhand, upgraded by me with twin 1GB SSDs and maxed out RAM). I installed Audirvana rendering software, effectively putting my music store and renderer in the same box, with no need to stream across a network (so none of the fretting that some do about which ethernet cables and switches to get best sound). Fully optimised, and dedicated running ‘headless’ with no monitor or keyboard, the MM is just like a small hifi box, and is controlled by an app just like other streamers. Using a dedicated USB bus output all the non-hifi Mac electronics and drivers are bypassed, however, a computer being riddled with RF, and Hugo being very susceptible to RF as it does not have galvanic isolation on its electrical inputs, it needed an isolator in between, for which I used the excellent and inexpensive Gustard U12, The NAS+renderer change allowed me to sell the ND5XS, the NAS was moved and relegated to a music backup store plus other non-music duties, and the result was not just a silent store, but an additional uplift in sound quality (albeit not major). Overall the net cost of Mac Mini (secondhand) as modified, Audirvana, Gustard and Hugo was about the same as ND5XS (ex dem) plus a QNAP silent NAS - and significantly better sound quality.
Now of course there is the Qutest from Chord, which would negate a need for an isolator.
includes Tidal, Qobuz & Hiresaudio integration though I don’t use them. I do sometimes use Spotify -for which I just switch to that on the MM in place of Audirvana. Ditto if I wanted internet radio stations, or uTube, or anything else.
If you have a Mac of any description you can have a free trial of Audirvana - whilst possibly not quite as good as when on a dedicated Mac Mini it would let you see if you can get on with the software (and it can happily source your music on a networked NAS so no need to move music to try), and you might be able to get a demo DAC to try at the same time to assess.
There are other alternatives to using Audirvana on a Mac, some more ‘DIY’ than others, which may similarly match or beat commercial streamers costing a lot more. As just one example, some people use the microRendu as renderer - and some of those people pair it with Raspberry pi to effectively make their own NAS. Unfortunately for the most part the chances are you are unlikely to be able to hear that sort of setup before you buy - however there have been numbers of posts on the forum over time giving a lot of insight.
It’s your money, of course but you should be aware of the fact that investing into an integrated streamer, no matter whether it is a lot of money or a bargain, does entail certain risks.
A DAC with USB and/or SPDIF inputs is a device whose firmware requires no or very little maintenance. It relies on basically no application level software and rarely needs any upgrade.
A DAC with a streaming board, on the other hand, is a device that typically relies on a full fledged OS (very often a small, dedicated Linux distribution) and a substantial amount of application-level software. This application-level software implies complexity, frequent upgrades, potential compatibility issues and software bugs.
As a consequence, if you buy an integrated streamer, you make yourself completely dependent of the willingness (and of the capability) of the manufacturer to maintain, upgrade and keep up-to-date the system that you have bought.
These are facts that many people who buy an integrated streamer for the first time do not realize or that they realize too late. In my view they imply that, if the choice is nevertheless to go for an integrated streamer, it is better to buy from a company that you fully trust to provide software support, maintenance, updates and bug fixes over the life time of the product.
By contrast, investing in a DAC with USB and/or SPDIF inputs is a decision that implies low risks. Today, one can buy a 1TB micro SD card for about 300$. For 2000 EUR one can buy a great new or second hand DAC . Front end it with a Raspberry Pi running something like GenTooPlayer and you have a very flexible and cost effective server + transport solution. If your DAC only has SPDIF inputs, like my nDAC, just add a DigiOne Signature on the top of the RPi and a decent PSU and you are done.
Or you buy something like the Chord 2go and pair it with a 2yu or directly with second hand Hugo.
Would that be less cost with a MM+2nd hand Chord Hugo?
Right now there are deals. Good deals. I’ll not say what I paid for my new nd5xs2 albeit a very lightly used ex demo.
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I do not know but, apart from the cost, there are other important differences between a 2go + Hugo solution and a MM + Hugo solution that needs to be considered, in my view.
Again, with 2go + Hugo, one has to rely on Chord to maintain and update the system. With MM + Hugo one has direct control on the system. And also more responsibility, of course.
But why would you front end a Hugo with a MM? An RPi4 costs a fraction of a MM, is easier to set up, more flexible and can be complemented with very good I2S to SPDIF transports like the DigiOne Signature.
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oh my god, lot of stuff to read and clearly understand 
thanks all
my NAS is Qnap HS-210 (Fanless) with 2 x 1To (SSD) inside.
I will soon by a ZeroZone Power supply to power NAS and Netgear GS108 switch
Mac mini, why not, all my device are made by Apple (iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, MacBook) but I’m not sure to tweak it as good as it can be.
I prefer an all made solution, but I keep it in my head.
I think there is a number of members here using MM into Chord DACs (Dave, Hugo, etc.).
You can get away with a NAS if your (SSD) hard drive has sufficient space for your music library, plus you can choose Audirvana or Roon or generic native music app players (iTunes, Spotify, Qobuz, Amazon, etc).
A good point.
Naim and Linn both offer very reliable support and fairly regular software and firmware upgrades for their streamers and amps. The Linn firmware update process is particularly easy - no USB sticks or manual processes required. A simple on-screen ‘Yes’ in reply to the offer of a firmware or software upgrade is all that is required. Select ‘Yes’ and the upgrade is instantaneously and seamlessly applied.
It’s as easy as that.
It’s only easy if you have no issue! There was a time I had to do hard reset and restore, but that was a long time ago, and it happened to me just once, finger crossed.
One thing of which I am very wary is any firmware update that changes sound quality, unless I have the option to reverse it (while of course still benefiting from bug fixes etc that’s a firmware upgrade my bring). If I have bought something because I like the sound quality then I definitely want to have the option of accepting or rejecting any change to that sound quality! If what I have read on this forum is correct Naim does not separate out amendments to the DAC section that affect sound quality/character from firmware updates that provide bug fixes or feature updates. I am pleased to say the DAC I have is fixed and does not have firmware updates: it doesn’t need them because not having the computer section that a DAC has it does not have software bugs, nor features that need updating to work.
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But of course, you can also treat a ‘streamer’ as a firmware update free DAC by simply choosing not to apply the update.
My normal policy is to not apply the firmware ‘update’ immediately, but wait for reports from early adopters before applying. It’s really pretty straightforward - your choice! Certainly in itself, not a reason to buy a separate streamer and DAC rather than a streamer/DAC combined such as those from Linn and Naim. I personally have both - a streamer/DAC combined (Linn Klimax DS/1) streamer/DAC in my maion system and a microRendu ‘streamer’ and Mytek Brooklyn+ (or Chord Hugo) DAC in my second system.
You could add to your list:
- nDAC
and - Allo Digi One Signature (as Roon Endpoint)
Later a power supply could be added to the nDAC making the whole thing a brilliant streamer
Non upgrading a streamer is not really a viable option. As soon as the API of a relevant application-level software is changed, one is forced to upgrade or loose functionalities. It happened with Qobuz last year, it will happen with other applications over and over again.
The fact that streamers heavily rely on application-level software and thus require frequent system upgrades that can have an impact on their sound quality is indeed, for me, a very strong reason to separate DAC and front-end.
Meanwhile, I only use Raspberry Pi devices as front ends. I have never owned a Linn or a Naim streamer but I understand that Linn has a more mature software system and better support, e.g., for reverting from software upgrades.
Still, I do not see today an obvious reason for buying integrated DAC + streaming platform devices apart perhaps for convenience and, of course, the number of boxes.
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The only truly valid reason for purchasing either an integrated streamer/DAC (such as those offered by Linn and Naim) or separate streaming device and DAC is that one or the other offers the best value for money and subjective sound quality at a particular price point.
Other advantages one way or the other (such as convenience and ease of installation into ones system) may be important to some, but ultimately of secondary concern (at least to me) than value for money and sound quality.
The Linn (Klimax) Renew DS/1 in my view is an item that sits pretty much towards the top end of options available at any price, let alone the target price of around 2,000 Euros. However, whether or not it definitely outperforms an ND5XS2 or NDX2 I can’t say because I have never heard either of those units. I have listened to some Naim streamers & DACs (ND5XS, nDAC, NDS and ND555). I was quite impressed by the NDS and especially by the ND555, but neither of these are remotely in the price range of the OP and even more so when you take into account the need for one or more separate power supplies.
There are actually no “truly valid reasons” but just subjective reasons, in my view.
What for me is a valid reason, does not need to be a valid reason for others and vice versa: some people care about value for money, others care about value alone or money alone.
Some people care about being at the mercy of the maintainers of niche software solutions, others do not. Everything goes. What I do very much value in solutions like GenTooPlayer is transparency: just tap “SystemInfo Software” and you get a list of the available software components together with their version number. By contrast, software solutions like those embedded in Naim, Linn, Sonore, etc. network players, are typically opaque: it is very difficult to know even which components are used, let apart their version number. I guess this fact doesn’t matter to many happy users of these products. To me, however, it matters a lot!