NDX - Install, Set Up & First Impressions.

Took 3 months for my NDX to come on song.  Was a bit of a roller coaster at times, resorting to watch TV when it was having a hissy fit and sounding a pile of rubbish !

Have since moved to an NDS, and the journey is alot smoother to run in, however, it too can sound a bit off occasionally !  The joys of owning Naim !

Enjoy the journey Mike

Good for you.  Interesting that you noticed a bigger volume change on recordings, I've heard that too but never really connected that thought.

Thanks Mike, a nice concise read.

I am glad that you have experienced tha normalities and ease of setting up a UPnP audio streaming system for your cherished music. I remember you saying a while back that you had trepidations about entering the audio streaming world, your experience just goes to show that it is not dark magic or nightmarish when simplicity is always at the head of every decision made.

Keep us posted on your progess.

Jason.

Mike, good update from you - and I agree the NDX is a cracking player - and I certainly enjoy it without an off board power supply as well.

Simon

Mike-B if you are a classical fan then look at eClassical http://www.eclassical.com/ they charge much more sensible prices, but as the name suggests it's just for classical fans.  I have noticed downloads on the Linn site which are twice the price of the same item on eClassical.

But yes you are right.  Too careful and too expensive applies to the European sites £20 for a 24bit remaster of the analog tape is taking the Mickey I think.  They are charging the same sort of price you would pay for a DMM 180g vinyl LP, which is fairer because you are buying something that has to be made with care and is an expensive process.

Mike

think we got our NDX about the same time, almost the same set up use QNAP 210 with x2 red TB memory - dBpoweramp for ripping -

yes the Cache memory can get a bit blocked, so just clear down on IPAD and reset - could not be any more pleased - Phil from Cymbiosis was the master at setting up and giving me some real tips -

I too was from the CDX2- XPS- 252 etc etc - but I have to say I am delighted with the results and so are my ears - the NDX has rarely been off since installation - I am a real fan of this machine

I use FLAC (losses) but I am not going there! brilliant and the 3 studio 24 bite masters purchased from Naim (Holly Ghost Marc Ford ) Linn (so Peter Gabriel) and B&W (Jean M Jarre) are truly beyond belief -

If the NDX gets better after 3 months I can't wait - just need to fine tune 202 with Hi Cap

also the ease of having 800+ albums at the touch of your fingers using the IPAD is a delight

I'm sold................................................but still get a buzz putting LP on the LP12 though  

Glad it went well Mike. I have not been able to hear a difference between HDX and NDX and much of what you said compared to a CDX2 sounded familiar. 

While we are well ripped off over HiRes material there are some gems, it depends on what you are into. Qubuz are good and while UK IPs are blocked by default, they will lift the block on request. Any number of IP blockers will take care of HDTs restrictions and DG also sell HiRes stuff online. The B&W Society Of Sound may be of interest also.  In addition, there are a number of DVDs and Blurays out there at OK prices with good RiRes material, but again, it depends on what you like.

All the best with it.

Have you tried enabling transcoding on the NAS so it Transcoding to WAV for the NDX. Not a massive difference but just adds that lass bit of "air" that makes it more enjoyable.

Some disagree but its a free option to try

Mike, interesting write up, thank you.  Like Simon I think the NDX is very capable without external power supply - much more of a "complete" unit in itself than most other sources.

I would be interested to hear your views on a comparison with versus without external power, if you get the opportunity.

Ears

Hi Ears,  I listened to the change with & without an XPS2 at the dealers - I heard clearer detail, more rounded, natural, sharper leading edge notes & rimshots, better sense of space & separation around the sound stage. It was much the same as the changes an XPS brings to CDX2 but not so pronounced as I remember, maybe that was because of different room & other system parts,  but it is a step up for sure. 

Not much hope of me trying the NDX without the PSU with mine unless something unforeseen comes up.

It's installed in the same shelf position as was the CDX2 & all its connections & cable dressing unmoved - except the install of the ethernet cable.  

All my power cables are made to measure & fit the various boxes without much wiggle room & with the PSU's located 2 shelves below the NDX there is not the spare cable to do that. 

In another post we had some discussions about switching mode power supply (wall warts) noise getting into the system & particularly in the Ethernet switch. They couple electrical switching noise back onto the mains power line in the 30 to 100 MHz range. I spent some time with a small portable SW receiver trying to detect this, but not much luck.

Anyhow, after reading some Ethernet installer material & from my own distant past work installing radio & radar – albeit long before the Ethernet word had been invented - I have now IMO done everything that will minimize such noise,  I’ve basically overloaded the SMPS area with ferrite.

I have 4x SMPS on a power socket strip with aprx 1m of Supra LoRad (shielded) 3 core 1.5mm cable. I’ve added 2 ferrites - 1 at each end.

I've added 1 to the NetGear GS105 switch DC power cable with 5 passes (4 turns) thru the ferrite core.   

I’ve fitted a ferrite on each end of the Cat 7 ethernet cable. This cable has foil screened pairs overwrapped with a braid shield which connects thru the metal shrouded switch ports to form an unbroken screen from NAS to NDX.

The Synology DS214 DC power cable came with a ferrite located at the DS214 end & I’ve added an additional ferrite at the SMPS end, plus I’ve added a ferrite on the 240v power cable to the SMPS.

I’ve also added ferrite to SMPS’s for the wireless router & phone,  plus I’ve added ferrite to the phone lines that supply each of them - nothing to do with SMPS noise, but phone lines can carry RF noise & I was able to pick that up on my SW radio & confirm the ferrite did significantly reduce it.

That’s it,  I’m done. Back to listening to music & no more imagining RFI birdies.  

"That’s it,  I’m done. Back to listening to music & no more imagining RFI birdies".  Good stuff whether this phenomenon exists or not the work you have done will hopefully have freed you from the spectre of it.

Most hifi kit uses a Regulator coupled to a paralleled capacitor across its output, so any A/c is short-circuited away from our kit.  They also function as a reservoir of power. The problem is that you need to employ a very large Cap to short circuit any 50Hz or 100Hz etc left behind and so we end up using a large Electrolytic Cap.  Anything else is too expensive, like a Polyprop for example.  Electrolytic Caps have many problems one of which is that as you increase the frequency their impedance drops up to a certain frequency but as you approach the RF it starts to increase.  This is not good, RF goes straight into the works.  The usual answer to this is to connect a smaller cap in parallel to the big guy.  Generally 1% of its value.  So if we are using a 10k micro farad Electro then we can parallel a 100 micro farad polyprop across it. We can carry this on and bypass the polyprop with 1 micro farad cap.

This is commonly done by DIYer but I have no idea if NAIM use this technique, I wouldn't be surprised if they do though.

An even better solution is to use a Choke-Regulated psu and this is common in Valve/Tube designs but has been used in tranny designs.  A 50H choke (inductor) which is basically a one-sided transformer will have a very high impedance to any A/c above a few Hz.  It also acts as a very effective power reservoir.  But like all the best solutions it has problems:

1) Expense - I bet you guessed that one, and

2) You will get a much lower voltage from a choke-reg psu, which means if you are building a single-ended baby that requires 500v for it's output stage (B+) supply then you have to have a transformer with a much higher secondary (go back to point 1).

So eliminating RF before it gets into your kit is a valid pursuit.  I use choke/cap filters for my kit, it's simple choke to make with a ferrite rod.  People often says this deadens kit but I have never noticed this, to mean it just makes it a bit smoother sounding.  But I accept I may be imagining any differences.

One of the difficulties with RF is that it ain't constant and this makes A-B testing just about impossible.

I've got ferrite clamps everywhere. I'm not convinced that they have made a difference in my system but for the cost it seems sensible to cover the possibility.

Hi Mike,

What a concise thread.  NDX is really a great and wonderful device no matter it is paired with PSU or not.  I always put a smile on my face when I listen to this amazing device in the showroom.  

NDX and CDX2 are the same level of sonic performance but NDX sounds smoother than CDX2 while CDX2 sounds punchier than NDX.  It all depends on what are you listening to.  Neither of each can defeat other.  

Enjoy listening.

Cheers,

Patrick