Newby and question on ND5XS

Posted by: fred40 on 10 February 2013

Being new in the field of digital audio, but willing to give it a go.

So I''m still waiting for a ND5xs to arrive at my local dealer. The bit which troubles me and most likely to go wrong is the chain computer- to modem-to router- to nas en into the streamer. Now I wonder if its possible to avoid all the above and simply connect a USB external hard disk ( with my music in wav files stored on this) in to the front usb connector of the ND 5xs.?

Posted on: 10 February 2013 by jobseeker

I'm not sure you can do that can you ?

Posted on: 10 February 2013 by fred40

Originally Posted by jobseeker:

I'm not sure you can do that can you ?

Hence my question. IMHO it doesn"t matter if you connect a usb stick or an external harddisk into the nd5xs. Í

Posted on: 10 February 2013 by Plant Pot

Hi Fred,

I can't answer your question - sorry - but I would say that connecting the HDD to the router is very straight forward. It also makes for more simple backing up and ripping of tracks - and it an be tucked away.

I have an ND5 and I was a bit sceptical too - the interface can be a bit fiddly at first but, with automatic upgrades, it has become much simple and reliable in the 4 months I've been using it.

Good luck,

Matthew

Posted on: 10 February 2013 by Cbr600

The USB ports on the naim are designed for memory sticks, not for connecting drives,which require power to drive the discs

Posted on: 10 February 2013 by rca/sun

run a 500gb usb powered portable drive for the past year or so . nd5 runs perfect all the time

Posted on: 12 February 2013 by fred40

Thanks. The answer I was looking for.

Still waitng for my ND5XS to arrive. If this takes any longer Naim introduces A Naim ND5XS mark II in the mean time

Posted on: 15 February 2013 by catalinmetal

while some HDD external powerless drives will work ok, especially the slim ones, who need less power, some woun't.

the stick requies very little power, that's why works all the time.

BUT, for the ND5 (or for that matter, other Naim streaming device) to read audio data from it, the formatiing should be FAT32, not NTFS.

there is however the possibility to hook up a powered external HDD, with USB output, if networking is not handy.

anyway, you can hhok up a NAS attached on ethernet cable WITHOUT having a network in the house, and without setting one.

you can connect the NAS initially to a PC/laptop to install the interface and upnp server and media tools, and then, just connect the regular Ethernet RJ45 cable to the ethernet port on the ND5xs.

going on upnp/ipod input, the ND5 will set up the network for you, if first, from service menu, the "use wireless" option has been disabled first.

then, in a few minutes (1 or 2) the ethernet direct link to the NAS is established, and the ND5 will start read the media library...

Attention, though, that, if the NAS has slower drives, or, if there is a lot of space used with lots and lots of media content, the ND5 will fully synchronise in more than a few minutes, maybe an hour or so, so don't get mad if at first you woun't see all the media you know you have on the NAS drive.

Posted on: 09 March 2013 by fred40

And Yes..The ND5XS arrived yesterday at my place, hooking up is a piece off cake. But the sound! Well Hard and Flat at the moment. I gues this has to improve during the warm-up period? I hope so.

Posted on: 09 March 2013 by Singlespeed

Originally Posted by fred40:

But the sound! Well Hard and Flat at the moment. I gues this has to improve during the warm-up period? I hope so.

Keep us posted on developments there Fred40 I'm sure it gets better....

Posted on: 10 March 2013 by Mort2k

Originally Posted by fred40:

And Yes..The ND5XS arrived yesterday at my place, hooking up is a piece off cake. But the sound! Well Hard and Flat at the moment. I gues this has to improve during the warm-up period? I hope so.

Fred, dont panic it should warm up well sat listening to mine ATM and it sounds sublime . From cold it's very flat with no emotion at all, also took a couple of weeks to settle down when it was new.

keep us posted

Rob