NDS - only plays hi-res audio...

nigelb posted:

robert_h posted:

nigelb posted:

... It just so happens I am going on the Naim factory tour this Friday ...

 

Sorry off topic - you must have special powers. I have asked twice, today was told no factory tours for next 6 to 9 months as they are having extensive building work done

No special powers. This tour was organised in conjunction with Audio T. I luckily saw it mentioned on the Audio T website and got the last place. It will be interesting to see and hear what the new building work is for if indeed it has started yet.

Sorry again for off topic - Hi Nigel, suggest you speak to Audio T, Naim are not expecting a tour tomorrow and say it's cancelled, I've enquired about sneaking along.

robert_h posted:

nigelb posted:

robert_h posted:

nigelb posted:

... It just so happens I am going on the Naim factory tour this Friday ...

 

Sorry off topic - you must have special powers. I have asked twice, today was told no factory tours for next 6 to 9 months as they are having extensive building work done

No special powers. This tour was organised in conjunction with Audio T. I luckily saw it mentioned on the Audio T website and got the last place. It will be interesting to see and hear what the new building work is for if indeed it has started yet.

Nope, checked with Audio T who spoke to Naim yesterday and the tour is definitely on.

Ok - Nigel - can you ask them about this faulty NDS? I'm intrigued...

Will do if an appropriate opportunity presents itself. If they have not received it back yet or have not looked at it yet then they will not of course be able to comment. To identify which NDS it is, was it sent direct from the factory to your dealer in Poland? If so what is the name of the dealer?

nigelb posted:

Will do if an appropriate opportunity presents itself. If they have not received it back yet or have not looked at it yet then they will not of course be able to comment. To identify which NDS it is, was it sent direct from the factory to your dealer in Poland? If so what is the name of the dealer?

There is one distributor in Poland (Audio Centre in Krakow). They've had this unopened NDS for 1 year and simply sent it via one of their Warsaw dealers to me.
Typically no more than 2-3 NDSs sell in Poland each year.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Hungryhalibut posted:

Perhaps - perish the thought - the DAC might be holding the NDX back...... Maybe it's time to do a GraemeH and revisit the nDac with the new firmware. 

Oh - I do run another NDX wth nDAX (supercharged by an XPS) - that one resides in the music room. Tricky to compare directly as it's used with a SuperNait2 and Ovators 400.

But - for what it's worth - that combo did sound as good as NDS > 282 / SuperCap / 250. I'm not saying better or worse but as enjoyable. The amount of details extracted from a recording seems to be on the same level.

I was using an ndx, ndac and 555dr (tried on both ndx and dac). I was using this for a couple of months before trying an nds. I was astonished at how much better the nds/555 sounded. It was so much more detailed and natural sounding. It took just a few seconds to realise how special it was, and an hour later I had bought it. Ive now owned it for almost a couple of years and it just gets better and better.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Ok - Nigel - can you ask them about this faulty NDS? I'm intrigued...

Hi Adam,

While in the test facility on the Naim factory tour today I asked about the curious problem you had with the loan NDS not playing iRadio or CD rips but able to play hi res files. We were taken through the test procedure that every black box and cable goes through. Firstly a thorough electronic test procedure on an automated test bed with a full report of that particular black box's test results. Any failures are returned and fully stripped down and rebuilt. When an item has passed the electronic test, it then goes on for a listening test. I was assured that every item has a listening test before despatch.

When I explained the nature of the problem with your demo NDS, I was assured it could have never left the factory with such a fault and it must have developed afterwards. We were being shown around by a regional salesman so it was impossible for him to speculate what could be the cause of the problem you describe with the NDS.

Draw your own conclusions and inferences from this.

Very interesting factory tour by the way. I was extremely impressed with the care and attention to detail at every stage of the manufacturing process. The kit we invest in is of the highest quality, evidenced by the chap from Audio T (UK regional dealer) on my tour who said other manufacturers he had visited simply aren't as diligent as Naim in component selection, manufacturing and testing procedures.

The best bit of the day was at the end when we got to play with a full Statement set up in their demo room.

How is the replacement NDS sounding?

Hi Nigel

Thank you for the summary. Looks like a very good day for you! Glad to hear that the testing criteria at the Factory remain as stringent as ever.

NDS is starting to sound very good indeed. It sounds very grown up, if you know what I mean. 
So I think I will be placing that order for the 555PS first and then once my wife warms up to the idea of the NDS....

A friend of mine will come over on Monday and help me move the Ovators from the other room. Will hook them up in place of GX300....  Also a test SuperLumina DIN is arriving on Monday (I already own SL speaker cables).

So - an interesting week ahead 

Adam

PS My UnitiServe SSD is also back from service - had a faulty BIOS that required a service re-set.

Hungryhalibut posted:

Adam - my comment was in respect of Simon's observations above. 

HH - i didn't understand your post - what do you think is being held back.. I might not have made myself clear currently not get any issues with my set  up at all, far from it, its never sounded better but then I am using a Hugo currently driven by my NDX  and not the NDX DAC itself  - and   quite frankly the NDAC just couldn't provide that presence and immediacy  and inner naturalness for me  (really noticeable on layered recordings and voices - listening to Amy Winehouse right now.. and yes!!!!!)  - this is what a different technology and architecture  brings and it wasn't what the NDAC specific strengths were about  - but yes the NDAC is probably closer to that CDX2 sound - although with the latest firmware perhaps less so but I suspect Hidef recordings do sound better with the new NDAC firmware with the lower digital noise floor - but I certainly did enjoy the NDAC/555PS when I owned it and I did prefer it to the NDS/555PSDR for much of my music at the time but technology has moved on and so have my tastes. Certainly am aware how firmware can change the sounds with Naim due to timing and noise - so I tend to appreciate what characteristics  can be changed and what can't ..

I can't get into details but even the DAC on the NDX can be 'tuned' with different firmware producing quite a different (surprisingly so) performance within its performance envelope.