Usage problems with NDX

apart from this: how does it sound? ;-)

Hi Ralf,

do you have the same problems or am I just too stupid?

I like the sound of the NDX. I compared it to a CDX 2 at my dealer and it was much better. CDX 2 sounded bright, nervous and small against the NDX. But I have to admit that - so far - I liked the nDAC even more. With the DAC my room was 'burning' (very fast, tight bass, maximum resolution) whereas the NDX is only a nice, bit soft sounding player. Maybe it will improve when ran in.

Best,
Oliver

Hi Oliver,
to be honest, I didn't test fast forward etc....I just play track by track, but I'll try it this evening!
I run NDX+XPS - really love this combo (better than my old NDAC+MDS)
Yes: it will really improves with time: fluid, quicker, not too harsh, more body and much better prat;-)
Don't switch your NDX off!

Best,
Ralf

Hi Oliver,
I've had a NDX at home this weekend and I too noticed that the fast forward did not "fast forward" when playing flac or other; can't say for podcasts.

All the best
Stefano

Thanks Stefano, maybe somebody from Naim can help here.

Thanks Richard,

I've noticed a further problem: You can't select album songs by their number via remote (although correctly tagged).

We do not support either track search by number or fast forward and back on any of our Uniti products or the NDX

Oops, that's a bit disappointing, Steven. Even a Squeezebox for 200 Euro has all these basic functions. IMO Naim should discuss a firmware update.

Squeezebox does not use UPNP. OK it does not solve your issue.

Honestly, I have never felt the need to fast forward or rewind through a track, what purpose does this serve yourself? Have you for instance ripped LPs to Harddrive. In this case there are programmes that will easily split up the single track

Eh ?? You can't rewind or fast-forward through a track ?? Whose idea was that ?? Oh well back to Linn DS....

I am surprised as well.  I use it all of the time in those "did you hear that" moments, or to skip through lengthy live show introductions that are a part the first track rather than separate.

This is a fairly standard procedure with music replay going back to cassettes.  I wonder why Naim decided to eliminate it?

Can you use a slider to seek through tracks in the Naim iOS apps?  Hopefully this isolated to the supplied remote control?

-Patrick

Those who start streaming with Naim may find what they have is quite sufficient.

But I'm using SlimDevices (now Logitech) product for years and when I recently took UnityServe for a home demo I had a constant feeling I was robbed of the most of my usual browsing facilities. Other than this UnityServe was definitely a good product to replace my Transporter on the rack. 

At this point it's really important to see where Naim is moving in software development. We don't buy gears every day, but if we know where Naim is moving we can get on hold and wait for the updated product.

I realize Naim may be behind on the software side (mainly the iPhone and iPad Apps), but getting a polished software out is a time consuming process. Lets hope the about to be released Apps will bridge the gap.

The positive side is that it is relatively easy to issue firmware updates for subsequent releases for the hardware and also release polished versions of the Apps in the future. The nDAC already has 2 firmware updates since it was released. For the Apps, it is not as if we have to live with the Apps as they are. Naim is very likely going to add new features and will be almost there in the very near future.

ASenna04

NDX sounds so great....I really don't miss FF/RWD etc...so I guess this is only a question of (Devl) time to get better control SW!

To be fair n-stream/serve feel like stopgaps and at the time even Apple had all but forgotten about Remote.

However, Naim is playing with the big boys and Airplay allows (for a licence fee) just about anyone with an electronics firm to join the streamin' party ... not that 99% of them will be any good.

Tog

Yet another issue: You can't pause a track longer than around 5 minutes. After that the player stops the song and you can't proceed from this position.

To be fair I don't think Naim advertised these as features that would be available and if I was Tom or any of the guys at Naim who had worked on the NDX I know what thoughts I might be thinking reading some of these posts. If you want a Squeezebox go get one.



Some of this gear is pretty amazing but I suppose familiarity breeds contempt.





If it helps the NDX won't do the washing up either and I'm sending a very stiff letter of complaint to Naim HQ about that one.







Tog

Sorry Tog, I think your comment is not fair. I'm not talking about exotic features here but absolutely basic functions that every music player from a 20 euro mp3 stick up to Linn Klimax has (without advertisement). I don't see why a 4.000 euro NAIM streamer should lack funktions like FF/RW or pausing. And I hope the developers take my critisism seriously and don't think in the way you believe.

I am sure Tom  can answer some  questions on April 1st in the chat event about functions but I can never imagine a scenario in my listening experience when I would need fast forward or rewind, waste of time for me.

I tend to agree with Paul S. here. Just because some other, cheaper products, have a feature it does not mean that it is necessary, just like tone controls are not necessary (and in fact are very harmful to sound). Minimalism can be advantageous in software as well as hardware. For example, more functions mean a more cluttered front panel or, worse, more functions for each button.

Now, if I were a music producer, or a school teacher needing to let pupils hear specific bars of music, then fast-forward and so on would be useful, but when listening for musical enjoyment, then in my humble opinion, such features are little more than gimmicks.

I used to use fast forward on my Technics tape deck. This turned out to be the quickest way to destroy a cassette tape and to this day I can't work out what advantage there is in doing it. Sometimes I think people want functions for the sake of them but in reality we only use a few. The guys at Naim are doing a great job. Keep it simple.



Mind you I wonder what a Naim tape deck would have looked like if they had made one?



Tog

Quite surprised at this, fast forward and rewind are very common, and I use it a lot on CD, especially rewind, to enjoy a particular piece of music again.. and again.. not that I'm obsessive :-)  and I see the rewind function has been added to many DAB radios because of it's usefulness as well..even though I am not sure why you would to listen to anything on a DAB radio in the first place...



I am sure this will appear as a software upgrade before too long. I can't imagine Naim launching a platform that is less capable than the ubiquitous CD.

Wasn't the whole point of streaming about added convenience?



Simon

Then why does Naim (as well as every other manufacturer) include FF/RWD in every CD player?  In this thread are mentioned some common scenarios in which it can be useful, e.g.

- search or repeat a particular part of a song
- skip long live show intros
- browse through a talking book

A pausing function for podcasts and an unrestricted pause function for songs (not quitting after 5 minutes) are IMO even more necessary, for instance when you are interrupted by a phone call or something.

Hmmm, when I opened this thread, I thought Naim has just forgotten these functions in the first firmware release and would tell me here that they will include it with the next update. No big deal. But instead I'm told that these basic functions which I and others customers use regularly are 'waste of time'.

I like the sonic performance of the NDX and I don't want any exotic features but I expect a minimun of convenience from a 21st century streamer. So if Naim wants me as a customer of the NDX, just include it. The FF/RWD buttons are already on the remote.

Buffer size, gents, buffer size - why waste valuable RAM on scrubbing (the technical term, of sorts) when you could use it to maximize sound quality? Think about it - FFWD and FRWD would be nearly impossible over Wi-Fi as well, if your device is a true streamer (bits pulled across the network at a time), as your buffer would constantly be emptied and re-filled based on your transport control....