Digital output on CDP to NDS

AussieSteve,

Do you plan to stream music from a hard disk to the NDS?  Trying to understand why you simply wouldn't rip your CDs and then play back through NDS.

Graham

Yup, that connection will work, no probs at all. And never even mentioned the Hugo – oh, damn!

+1  ...........  The two people I know who kept CDP when they went to network players, (fear of the unknown),  soon found the CDP became unused.

 I ripped all my CD's & even sold the CDX2 before the NDX arrived.   

Mike B. That's about it to be honest, I love the ritual of putting in a disc, but because I am still pretty lost on all this modern kit I try to be safe. At least I can have a second kit later with a CDP, 172 and amp. I have had a 172 for 18 months and used it as a preamp and radio, now just radio because I get afraid and confused about terms I have never heard before, I am like my old pop! I am embarrassed to admit that but people here talk in code about digital stuff and it's like it is Greek.

Tell me about it -- I have a CD5XS sitting unpowered on my Fraim; unpowered for over two years. (It occupies a shelf because if I sell it off I will be tempted to fill that shelf with something else   )

Steve, you may find that having the CDP as a 'backup' will free your mind and imagination to learn this streaming stuff!  Get a nas (if you don't have one), and try to get the home network / streaming music up and running. If it falters, you won't be without music as you've got the cd's.  Once it's all up and running you can decide how much you still like CD replay . . . or don't.

Playing your CD5XS through the NDS DAC gives you a benchmark against which to compare the results you get over the network.  If the CD player through the NDS sounds vastly better, it is likely your network configuration is not optimized.  Good to know. 

If you have the room for it, why not keep the CDP?  I use mine often, especially when I first get a new CD and cannot wait for ripping before listening.  The rest of my family prefer the simplicity of the CDP versus streaming using UPnP.  That said, I use UPnP more than the CDP, and listen to FM on my NDX-FM most of all.

Best of luck with your experiments.

Nick

Hi Steve. I run the CD5XS into my NDS using the BNC sockets. I currently have Chord Indigo BNC-BNC (not the TA version, the one with 3 wires). Previously I used a Naim DC1. There's a subtle difference and it'll be a matter of what suits you, but do try two or three (or more) digital interconnects - remember your NDS DAC is the top of the range offering from Naim and it will show you the difference in digital cables (& don't let anyone persuade you otherwise).

We both have CD5XS, but I have a piggy bank with "CD555" written on it... not even 1/10th full at the mo .  CD's aren't going anywhere in the foreseeable future, and whilst streaming is wonderful and ultra convenient and satisfying and well worth having (if only for those times you suffer a broken leg & can't leave your armchair to change disks),  the act of selecting and playing a physical CD is almost as good as doing so with vinyl.

If you do go NDS, there will be folks here (including me) who will be interested to hear which digital cable you end up with.

Roger 

When I ran a CDX2 and HDX into the DAC I found this area to offer the most variability. I heard some significant differences and ended up with two digital interconnects between HDX and DAC which I swapped as required for certain kinds of presentation. 

I ran the CDX2 alongside an HDX but the former became a dust collector fairly quickly. 

The DAC in the NDS is essentially the same at the nDAC but implemented with more attention to detail and with lavish engineering. I doubt that you will end up running an NDS/555PS alongside a CD5, even through the excellent DAC in the NDS. The NDS will win out, even though "bits are just bits". It's special. But hey! Whatever does it for your needs and your ears.

I sold my CDX2.2 2 months after the NDS/555PS DR was settled in my home. Even when the CDX2.2 was using the NDS as DAC soon it couldn't catch up with the performance of my always improving streaming setup.

That said, I have a Blu-ray player connected to the NDS as my secondary source and now it's a Pioneer BDP-LX88. Not as good as CDX2 though not far behind. It serves well especially when I still have thousands of CDs that haven't yet gone into my Streaming source storage.

All I can say is that CD5 XS to NDS via DC1 is absolutely exquisite.  

I had reboxed the 5XS when I unboxed the NDS thinking I would be ripped in three months and be listening HD for the most part anyway. How wrong, how lazy and how attached I was to the ritual of opening the little swivelling drawer. 

Chag -