More Naimnet: NNP 02

Only that I would need to hear it to make a sensible comment!

I hope these things will be readily avaliable soon.

Once again, I would prefer if the ourputs, and real world capabilities like local analogue DIN out to pre-amp, or that it outputs to four rooms in the digital domain, etc., were what we were told. You might as well tell my the capacitance of the capacitors in my Hi-cap, for all this technical gobbledegook tells me.

I am interested in replay, not PC-lingo, nonsense!

George

quote:

Any thoughts?

The top of the range one may be able to archive vinyl in hi-res format.

Strange that we should still use IP in the 21st century - it should have been buried in 1980, but I guess we are lumbered with the great networking millstone - at least all its faults give me a constant stream of work - if the world had gone Appletalk then things would just work and I'd be out of a job.

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
Strange that we should still use IP in the 21st century - it should have been buried in 1980, but I guess we are lumbered with the great networking millstone - at least all its faults give me a constant stream of work - if the world had gone Appletalk then things would just work and I'd be out of a job.

Ah yes, Appletalk, you're right ROTF, one of Apple's goodies. But IP paid for your Naim system ;-)

Have you read this by the way?

To return to the subject, from the Naimnet brochure the NNP 02 looks very interesting in its Hicap case, probably steerable by a laptop, with a DAC. I was just wondering if it's perhaps an overlooked offering.

George, I got your point also from the other thread but really there wasn't too much techno-babble here.
You are right of course, that the only way to find out is to see and hear it.

I was just wondering if more people have scanned through the PDF trying to understand the Naimnet product offerings, and the NNP 02 interests me..

Dear Daddycool,

I am all in favour of including the technical stuff at the end, once a description in plain English.

The technical things must be understood by those who are retailing! They can then explain any particualr technical points to the customer, or else the product can remain something of a mystery!

If someone described a particualr server, for example, as having the ability of storing and accessing 550 CDs, in a single box with analogue outputs for use as a normal source component, or having digital outputs for so many rooms each discretely fed and controllable from those rooms, etc etc., then I would have got what was going on from the start.

As it happens I have by now caught up! But the point is that many music lovers are hardly interested or capable of understanding the technical aspects! CD was not launched on its technical aspects in the main, though some of the English was exaggerated! It was clear what a CD player did from the start!

For those who want to spend their time learning all the technical stuff, of course these should be available as a supplement to the plain English description.

Only a thought, but certainly this is the first product whose initial conception remained a mystery to me to start with, because it was explained in a technical way with describing its function in the early stages!

George

Hi George,

You are right, of course, in fact since my IT days it has become a daily interest to study what we can do with technology rather than the technology itself.

In this case I think the amp's description follows its function as a "concealed amplifier", so aimed at Naimnet installers. Looking at it as a stand-alone product as I did indeed does ask for clarification function-wise.

This is exactly why I started this thread, to investigate possible uses. I am interested in the hybrid or crossover between computers and audio.

George,

I appreciate exactly where you're coming from and have similar problems to you wading through the swampland that is this clash of computer and audio industries. Unfortunately, unless the manufacturer describes precisely the connection methods available to a netowrked unit, it's impossible for an installer (be it a one-ff home installation or a multi-room custom install situation) to know how the unit can be used.

Therefore, it is important to list out all the options. If you don't understand what those connections are for, it's time to do yet more 'background' reading - and I admit that this 'background' reading is fast becoming 'foreground'!!! I do wish that all you had to do was just plug it in and fire it up (whatever 'it' is), but I fear those days are long gone. Even golden oldies like vinyl have newfangled separate devices called phono stages!

FWIW, the NNP02 appears to be a NAP140 with a built-in 4-source analogue preamp, built-in 2-source digital preamp and network card...

quote:

Originally posted by Frank Abela:
FWIW, the NNP02 appears to be a NAP140 with a built-in 4-source analogue preamp, built-in 2-source digital preamp and network card...

Like I said, it looks like a 21st century Nait 2.....!


thank you for the explanation, Frank.

Thanks for pointing this out, it really does look like an interesting product, when I first saw it I thought it was just some power amp, but it reall also seems to function as a - dare I say it? - proper integrated amp.

Could we have some more information, Adam, Alan?

If one could control this thing by using an ipod touch or an iphone, then it might indeed turn into a very interesting product, and even - as others have said - the nait of the 21st century.

I assume it is equipped with bought-in class D amplification, otherwise it would be difficult to put all this into such a small case?



Samuel.

The functionality of the NNP01 and 02 are identical–each has three analogue inputs and two digital inputs (which get re-sampled to 44.1/16 for transmission over the network, as Alan pointed out) which can be selected for local playback or streaming (one outbound stream) onto the network.

The NNP02 is a switching amp topology, but is smaller than the shoebox NAITs, runs much cooler as I remember, and sounds quite good. A DC version is available which can be powered off a NetStreams PowerLinX 28VDC high-current power supply.

There are no controls on the unit.

quote:

Originally posted by David Dever:
There are no controls on the unit.

Yes that is one of the other interesting feats.
(the other two being the all-in-one design and the built-in DAC).

So how does one control it, through a Netstreams interface on a computer?

Thanks for your explanation, David.
When you say sounds quite good does that mean Nait 5i level and/or n-Vi level?

Any ideas on the projected price point?

My guess is that the guys at Latham could tell you.

Perhaps so,

I did miss their Naimnet presentation at the ISE show in Amsterdam at the end of last month, unfortunately. They demoed the NS 01 but not the NNP 02 if I understood their text correctly.

Haven't seen them on the forum yet, but I could give them a call. Still it is nice to get input from forum members and from Naim directly, though.

ABout the prices, on the tech.co.uk website the prices are 2600UKP for the NNP-01 and 1300UKP for the NNP-02.

On the audioplus.co.uk/naimnet.htm website, one sees that the NNP-02 does indeed not look like a hicap style naim product.

I assume that the NNP-01 looks like a supercap? Does it also use switching amp topology?



Samuel.

Rowan and Malcolm were both at ISE (as I was), and the NNP02 was also on demonstration with a pair of n-SATs.

Great David! Was it an interesting show?

So how would you rate its performance?

Nait 5i level, n-Vi level, worse, better...

And how was the amp controlled, by computer?

quote:

Originally posted by David Dever:
The NNP02 is a switching amp topology, but is smaller than the shoebox NAITs, runs much cooler as I remember, and sounds quite good. A DC version is available which can be powered off a NetStreams PowerLinX 28VDC high-current power supply.

David - what is a switching amp topology? I have not heard this term before.

I'd reckon it's a derivative of a class-D topology ( PWM power amp ) likes of n-Vi maybe?

Yes it would make sense some n-Vi class-D components made it into the NNP 02.

Perhaps the DAC section is that of the n-Vi as well.

That's why I'm curious as to wether we should see it as a two-channel n-Vi performance wise.