Sound Edge

Sorry I did not give my source which is QNAP NAS with Assett and CD's ripped on PC with dbpoweramp.

philip

Modern popular music recording/mastering is predominantly poor; being optimised for mp3 play-back. It has a tendency to sound nasty/compressed/congested on high-resolution equipment. What sort of stuff are you listening to and making your judgement upon?

NAC A5 might not be an ideal match for your loudspeakers. Have you tried any alternatives? Tellurium QB?

John.

Hi Musica. What mains cables are you using? I tried BR mains cables and they had a harsh edge to them. Went back to the standard Naim mains. The BR cables (lower end admittedly) are tinned which just didnt work on my system.

I also agree with J.N. I've changed my cables to TQ. Far better to my ears!  

musica posted:

... However there is one slight issue I have had all along is that there seems to be a slight hard edge to the sound somewhere in the upper mid region...

That would be consistent with the NAC A5.

musica posted:

It is now four years since I purchased my first Nain system. NDX/Nait XS/Spendor s6e speakers. Since then I have upgraded the amp to Supernait 2 and the Speakers to Proac D30R. I use the standard Nain interconnect and NAC 5 cable. I have really enjoyed this system. My reason for choosing Naim was for the Prat factor which it certainly is provided by this system. However there is one slight issue I have had all along is that there seems to be a slight hard edge to the sound somewhere in the upper mid region. It is certainly over a very narrow band. It could of course be my hearing or even on the CD's. I wonder if anyone else with a similar system has noted a similar issue. I would be interested to know if they have.

 

philip

philip,

What shelf/rack are you using?  Another possible source of "edge" can be vibration issues which can be corrected with rack choice and/or setup, or even cable dressing.  (Admittedly, you have few cables - an advantage of the 'naits).

I must admit I am battling with similar issues. Beginning to think it is a mains issue as sometimes, it sounds fine, other times the cymbals are grainy and really grate I even notice this on the same recording at different times. I would like to look into getting a dedicated mains, only problem is it is not something you can demo in advance!

Have you tried moving  the speakers?

musica posted:

It is now four years since I purchased my first Nain system. ....  there is one slight issue I have had all along is that there seems to be a slight hard edge to the sound somewhere in the upper mid region. It is certainly over a very narrow band. It could of course be my hearing or even on the CD's. I wonder if anyone else with a similar system has noted a similar issue. I would be interested to know if they have.

Philip,

I'm four years in like you, two with a Nait XS and now two with the SN2 both using NACA5. I hear what you're hearing. I attribute part of that to the SN2 having more of a mids forward presentation than the XS. Part of it I addressed with better racking. Part I'm in the process of resolving with acoustical treatments - upper mid reflections can cause  a harsh, congested sound my room, especially as volume increases. Poorly mastered or recorded music will be more revealed on the SN2 than the XS.

NACA5? Hopefully its easy enough for you to demo a few alternative cables and determine for yourself.

I've never noticed this with SN2 but then again I've never used NACA5. Might well be worth trying out some alternative speaker cables as suggested by others. 

NDX is rather 'soft' (relative) but it can be quite sensitive to: power cables, interconnect (suggest to you try one of the TelluriumQ offerings - Black). 

Another thing to try - experiment with your Ethernet cable - perhaps consider some of the streaming cables from the Chord Company.

I'm amazed that well into this thread no one else has suggested speakers or positioning.   True the Proacs may not be perfectly matched with Naca but I've heard the NDX/SN2 pairing on 3 occasions with Kudos, Neat and Focal Sopras and never did it display the characteristics mentioned here.  If he hasn't done so already the OP should at least try different positioning - it could be the solution at zero cost and quick. 

Then certainly try different cables and the rack might be an issue? - if the OP is using the standard Naim mains leads I'm certain it won't be that - but sadly my hunch is that this is either wrong speaker for the room or speaker for the system or both.  

Sorry!!

I suspect you may be hearing the limitations of your Nait XS amp with your speakers.. The NDX is normally quite a soft sound to the point of it being sometimes a criticism.

and/or you might have some RFI creeping into the interconnects / components causing low level intermodulation distortion.. This can make audio sound a little brittle, hard edged or glassy (often referred to as a 'digital' sound). You can try re arranging the cables and racks. Also try putting a few ferrite chokes clamped around the the Ethernet lead as it enters the NDX

Simon

Simon - the OP now has a SN2 if he still had the XS I'd be minded towards your diagnosis. 

Van Den Hul The Mainsstream hybrid power cables are what you should try on both Sn2 and NDX ...cheaper than Naim Powerlines and will plump up and smooth out that sound edge.

Ryder35 posted:

I must admit I am battling with similar issues. Beginning to think it is a mains issue as sometimes, it sounds fine, other times the cymbals are grainy and really grate I even notice this on the same recording at different times. I would like to look into getting a dedicated mains, only problem is it is not something you can demo in advance!

No need to demo - just get it done. It's one of the best value upgrades you can make, so long as there is an easy way to get the wires from the meter to the back of the stereo. 

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Simon - the OP now has a SN2 if he still had the XS I'd be minded towards your diagnosis. 

Ahh ok, then I would focus on the RFI and the ferrite chokes on mains and Ethernet 

Totally agree with HH. A dedicated supply can only be better! 

Absolutely agree with old fish - a dedicated radial is always a win-win but still maintain the speakers are the real problem here.   

Not heard the spendors. Playing with position sounds like a great idea on such a rainy day! 

Guys I think we are missing the elephant in the room here. 

I believe the next Panorama Investigates program with expose a  sound emissions software chip that Naim have installed in all their amplifiers. These can be dealer set up and modified. They have been present for years, the first and most rudimentary caused sound to have an edge after 8 years and thus owners had them recapped. Over the years they have become more sophisticated and can be even controlled remotely. Panorama will exclusively expose how a new very expensive cable had in fact negligible difference on the sound of the system that it is the remote activation of the Statement chip that is the cause of the apparent increase in sound quality. 

Panorma will disclose that a Nait XS with the statement chip removed or remotely activated to it's optimum capacity are sonically indistinguishable from their high end statement  amplifier. 

Many enthusiasts have had their doubts about Naim sound quality in recent years with many thinking the Nait 2 has never been bettered. The Panorama exposé explains this conundrum as the Nait 2 apparently was the last Naim amplifier not to have a chip added. 

Rather ingeniously the internal chip recognised when tweaks were being done to a system, so if burndy cables and interconnects were removed and the amplifier unplugged and moved, the software chip upgraded the sound slightly so when it was powered up again the cable dressing or Fraim reassembly was seen (heard) to have a positive effect. 

Most controversially there was a joint agreement in place for a few years with chord cables where the chip recognised when a chord cable was plugged in and immediately released some of the repressed sound. There are rumours that this situation is strangely mirrored by ferrite chips with the Naim sound emissions chip recognising them as a partnered product and releasing some of the repressed sound  

must set up the program to record  

SJB

Ouch! 

Soooooooooooo what are saying? 

Hi

Just to recap in view of these replies.  This problem existed the same with both amplifiers and both speakers. The only piece of hardware that has not changed is the NDX. The mains leads are those supplied by Naim. I have chokes fitted to all Ethernet and mains leads. I cannot move the speakers but have tried different degrees of toe in, but no improvement. I do not have a dedicated mains supply for the system. It is just not possible in my situation. It is however on a ring main that generally when I am listening to music there is nothing else being used on the ring main.

philip

Change the lavender interconnect for a TQ one 

Philip,

Sorry for asking a fundamental question - did you dem the speakers in your lounge?

Regards,

Lindsay