The 4.6 verdict
Posted by: Jack From Adelaide on 14 April 2018
Well, it is now a week since I updated my NDX to use the new 4.6 firmware. My principle purpose was to try and improve the stuttering I had on TIDAL and I didn't expect anything else. The playback through TIDAL is vastly improved. There, post done. WAIT there's more.
What I didn't expect from the description was any noticeable change in sound quality. I don't have a multi-room system (would that I could afford such a luxury!) but I do have quite a good main music system, which includes an NDX.
What I found after the first few albums was that the bass was tighter and more "tuneful". Then I noticed higher resolution. This became apparent almost immediately because my music room is next door to my Mother In Law's bedroom and I usually have to either use headphones or listen at painfully low levels so as not to disturb her. I was reading a book and kept having my attention drawn to whatever I was playing. The instruments and the singers were literally leaping out of the speakers into the room. It was uncanny. At this very moment I am listening to K. D Lang's "Hymns of the 49th Parallel" on UpNP server (minim server - rendered to WAV) and the piano in Hallelujah has this wonderful dynamic presentation, the loud and quiet passages are rendered more noticeably. K.D.'s voice and her exquisite control of the pacing and phrasing is there to hear. In a way that I have never noticed before. A couple of days ago it was Imogen Heap and her Ellipse album on TIDAL. Again the sense of her being in the room was remarkable. At some points it made the hair on my arms stand up. I have listened to E. Power Biggs playing Handel, the bizarre and ultimately rewarding Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's "The Kid", Dami Im's new album "I Hear a Song" and Ryan Teagues "Block Boundaries". Every album is surrendering new details and expression that I have never heard before.
For those of you as ancient as me it is equivalent to the first time I put a moving coil cartridge on my turntable: I am rushing to listen to old favourites and new music to see what it sounds like now! In some cases I am discovering that they aren't as well recorded as I thought (Scartaglen's "This Nights Fun" was closed in and you could hear each microphone feed was in a separate acoustic) others are better than I ever suspected.
This upgrade was extremely painful to load (see my recent posts on the issue) but it was well worth the effort. Here is the magic of digital audio: a simple firmware upgrade is like a multi-thousand dollar improvement in your system.
My advice: If you can't load the firmware after an hour of effort, simply take your gear to your dealer and offer them $20 or something to do it for you. It is well worth the effort.
Posted on: 15 April 2018 by Laxton
Just did the update today on my NDS. It’s like getting a whole new better streamer after the update.
Instruments and voices sounds so focused now. There seems to be a lot more air between musicians.
Amazing to say the least.
Naim should’ve called it the NDS2 update.
Posted on: 15 April 2018 by Robiwan
My ND5XS has trouble issues with connecting to the Spotify server after the 4.6 update. And i thought sound was less good overall. So back to the 4.4 version.
Posted on: 15 April 2018 by Bert Schurink
I will contact my dealer as it seems I also need the 4.6 upgrade on my NDS. Interested to see how much the ND555 will than be better.
Posted on: 15 April 2018 by GST
I didn't like the sound of my NDS after the 4.6 update. No great problems but the sound was a bit boring and lifeless.
(No changes after a Factory reset)
Now after some days i've changed back to version 4.4 and the good sound is back.
Posted on: 16 April 2018 by Madgepie
Upgraded tonight and initial impressions very good. However resisted doing the factory reset and after reading the forum decided to go ahead. I have now lost volume controls in app 5.91 for NDX. The option has disappeared from other settings? Tried reinstalling app but still no luck. Anyone have the same issue?
Posted on: 16 April 2018 by nigelb
I lost the volume control after a factory reset (after 4.6 installation on my NDS). It also didn't appear as a setting in the set up listing in the app. From memory I deleted and re-downloaded the app and the volume setting reappeared. Possibly powering down and up everything could achieve the same.
It is also possible you may need to go into System Automation on your NDX and reset something.
Posted on: 16 April 2018 by Madgepie
Thanks NigelB, all sorted. Enabled pre amp within system automation and the volume option appeared in app. Cheers
Posted on: 16 April 2018 by ChrisSU
Thanks NigelB, all sorted. Enabled pre amp within system automation and the volume option appeared in app. Cheers
Yes, system automation settings are removed by a factory reset. Kind of obvious when you think about it afterwards, but a head-scratcher at the time!
Posted on: 17 April 2018 by Zackwater
Just got my 4.6 update completed yesterday, my nds still dropping Tidal. It is going back to Naim. Good luck to everyone else, hope it works for you.
Posted on: 17 April 2018 by Clive B
Thanks NigelB, all sorted. Enabled pre amp within system automation and the volume option appeared in app. Cheers
Yes, I turned on system automation for the first time after the 4.6 update (by plugging in the worlds cheapest interconnect (£1.43!)). What a wonder it is. I can now control the NDS and preamp from an iPad in the kitchen whilst cooking dinner. I can even switch source to and from the tuner. What a great discovery.
Posted on: 17 April 2018 by jmtennapel
Can anyone point to clear instructions how to enable system automation? I bought a cheap 3.5 mm interconnect, read the manual, but don't understand how to get it working. ND5XS / XS2 combination.
Posted on: 17 April 2018 by Manu
Can anyone point to clear instructions how to enable system automation? I bought a cheap 3.5 mm interconnect, read the manual, but don't understand how to get it working. ND5XS / XS2 combination.
What amp?
Posted on: 17 April 2018 by ChrisSU
Can anyone point to clear instructions how to enable system automation? I bought a cheap 3.5 mm interconnect, read the manual, but don't understand how to get it working. ND5XS / XS2 combination.
Have a look at this for starters:
https://www.naimaudio.com/site...ystem_automation.pdf
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by mezza
I updated to 4.6 on my Superuniti, but after 2 days I have gone back to 4.4, to my ears and my system the sound on 4.6 firmware was not good, best described as closed in, bass seemed to prominent, so pleased I could go back to 4.4, each to there own but for me I prefer 4.4
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by Minh Nguyen
The experience of a cloth eared NDS owner after the 4.6 update.
It feels like I'm waiting for the melody to arrive: the new synchronicity appears to be out of phase with my stored memory engrams. It feels so slow: it feels as though I'm waiting for each note. What happened to the immediacy? What happened to the visceral rawness? The topiary shears have come out to 'prune' the leading sibilence but the sparkle remains under a sprinkle of fairy dust. The vocals are one step closer to being 'analogue' but they have 'digital' clarity with improved texture and separation. The bubbling cauldron of cacophony that often reduces complex passages to a gelatinous stew of muddle is now a clear broth with an infinite number of musical 'layers' for each ingredient. The bass is tighter with more distinction. The timing of the decay can hit with the force of a sledgehammer or the softness of a feather. Sting like a bee but float like a butterfly. I'm lost for words...
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by Antonio1
The experience of a cloth eared NDS owner after the 4.6 update.
It feels like I'm waiting for the melody to arrive: the new synchronicity appears to be out of phase with my stored memory engrams. It feels so slow: it feels as though I'm waiting for each note. What happened to the immediacy? What happened to the visceral rawness? The topiary shears have come out to 'prune' the leading sibilence but the sparkle remains under a sprinkle of fairy dust. The vocals are one step closer to being 'analogue' but they have 'digital' clarity with improved texture and separation. The bubbling cauldron of cacophony that often reduces complex passages to a gelatinous stew of muddle is now a clear broth with an infinite number of musical 'layers' for each ingredient. The bass is tighter with more distinction. The timing of the decay can hit with the force of a sledgehammer or the softness of a feather. Sting like a bee but float like a butterfly. I'm lost for words...
Just a couple of words , Naim has definitely entered the hi-end territory this way and about vocals... well it's not an analogue ancillary.
Also, you were an hi-fi critic, maybe you are do not know, I would like reading your notes they're great and contagious.
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by Antonio1
tasty and contagious I'd say.
Keep on writing ,please.
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by Minh Nguyen
I will contact my dealer as it seems I also need the 4.6 upgrade on my NDS. Interested to see how much the ND555 will than be better.
Bert, I think you will agree with me that Naim know that the ND555 is going to leave us NDS owners salivating over the 'umami' flavour of the new culinary delight. I'd be interested to read your experience of the 4.6 update. ATB Minh
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by Minh Nguyen
tasty and contagious I'd say.
Keep on writing ,please.
Prior to the 4.6 update, the meal served up could be considered tasty with continuity. The old firmware retained the mix of all the ingredients with the most prominent flavours often being the most palatable, but the current firmware offers up each ingredient individually before they become an amalgamation of cohesive sensibility. The 'finer' ingredients are often in lesser quantity but they add their unique characteristics: from my experience, the backing vocalists are more audibly distinct and they have become a more integrated part of the performance. I would describe the taste be to exquisite but this very much depends upon the quality of the ingredients and their method of preparation.
Posted on: 18 April 2018 by GraemeH
Posted on: 19 April 2018 by musicfan51
I had the 4.6 firmware update 2 days ago. I wanted to give a through listen before I posted . I am using a Naim NDS/555Dr with CDs ripped to Naim Unitcore for playback . So far I have pleased with the result. You can hear individual perfomances within the overall recording better. Stereo imaginng seems improved! I have Kef Blade twos as speakers , and the firmware update has really tightened up the bass. Better layering on the musical presentation. Nice that Naim did this.
Posted on: 19 April 2018 by seakayaker
Day 7 of after receiving my NDX back from service to replace an outlay relay to repair a DIN output that had one channel out. While in the shop the 4.6 firmware was installed and since arriving back at the house I have played approximately 40+ albums steaming on the NAS or TIDAL. For my old ears the overall sound has improved, as other have mentioned more detail and deeper bass, an overall impression that the presentation of the music has been improved.
The two box system, with the NAS or TIDAL streaming to the NDX > SuperNait2 has had a very nice uplift in performance.
Obviously, JMHO...... and others have had a different experience.
Thank you Naim!
Posted on: 19 April 2018 by musicfan51
Day 7 of after receiving my NDX back from service to replace an outlay relay to repair a DIN output that had one channel out. While in the shop the 4.6 firmware was installed and since arriving back at the house I have played approximately 40+ albums steaming on the NAS or TIDAL. For my old ears the overall sound has improved, as other have mentioned more detail and deeper bass, an overall impression that the presentation of the music has been improved.
The two box system, with the NAS or TIDAL streaming to the NDX > SuperNait2 has had a very nice uplift in performance.
Obviously, JMHO...... and others have had a different experience.
Thank you Naim!
After several days of listening to 4.6 firmware update , I’m in agreement with you seakayaker!
Posted on: 19 April 2018 by Bananahead
My NDX is currently away for repair together with my 250 getting a service and something called a DR. If I don't like the new sound then I won't know what to blame.
Also, I let the NDX decode sound from Sky. Will it make Carol's weather forecast any better?
Posted on: 19 April 2018 by Richieroo
Hi I upgraded my NDS - a definite improvement - bass is much better defined and my sub really loves it - it's far far more tuneful now - as for the rest its a win win for me. A decent unexpected upgrade .... thank you Naim! If the ND555 can significantly improve on this - I will be amazed (hope I am!).
