nDAC 4.11.8 upgrade

Posted by: AMA on 17 January 2016

I have just upgraded to nDAC 4.11.8 firmware with and compared the system performance before and after upgrade.

I'm impressed with improvements.

The system is nDAC/555DR + 282/HC/250.2 + Katana Speakers.

Katana cabinets are based on transmissions line and capable of going very low (below 30 Hz).

Transmission line is very sensitive to the bass transient quality -- when you feed it with slow source it sounds horrible.

What I found is that the new firmware provides much better bass articulation. 

Some one-bass notes at specific tracks have completely gone.

I recall a similar effect after temporary replacing 282/250.2 with 552/500 from my main system some 5 years ago.At that time I spent the whole day carrying the heavy boxes from one room to another (thanks god both rooms are on the ground floor !) and then framing/cabling things ...

The next bass improvement was with 555 --> 555DR, which made the bass cleaner and more articulated.

Today I just popped the USB drive into the front  panel and waited for 10 sec to get a very noticeable sonic improvement.

I wish I had the same slots on all black boxes (555DR, 282, HC, 250.2) to improve things in such an elegant way !

I use the nDAC/282/250.2 system to watch movies and 4.11.8 firmware give a much better chest impact. 

Looks like IMAX is far behind the sound quality I have with my black boxes

 

And then I watched The Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall I found that new firmware provides a better "presence" of the individual orchestra instruments. The sound was cleaner, specifically at low frequencies.

I'm curious if NDS/555DR makes a better bass  than nDAC/555DR?

This was a very nice NY gift from Naim -- thanks !  

Posted on: 17 January 2016 by Noogle

Have upgraded but not done any serious listening yet.  Anyone know what the technical story is behind the changes?

Posted on: 17 January 2016 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

Adding the DSD functionality (DSD64 and 128, via SPDIF and USB key) to the existing code has provided sonic benefits to PCM playback. How? You'll have to ask the programmers at Naim...

Posted on: 19 January 2016 by AMA

Actually, I'm not sure that the sonic benefits  I described above came from the 4.11.8 upgrade because I never upgraded the firmware since I bought the nDAC (and I was one of the first buyers when nDAC was released).

 

Posted on: 20 January 2016 by Briz Vegas

I have posted before about the nDAC upgrade, i think i may have also posted before about Pink Floyds Dark side of the moon ( never really worked for me in the past 2 decades that i have actually owned it,  dull prog, liked the clocks years ago and the cash register sounds were novel, but otherwise i don't get it really ).

just been listening to this album again .  Money sounds like a proper jam session. Wow.  Golly.

This is down to the firmware upgrade.  It created music i wanted to listen to and could appreciate out of a boring tired album. Ok, the system itself is pretty shmick as well, but this was lost without getting the DAC right.  Now it sings very nicely thank you.