ND555 Impressions

This is not probably an easy or fair question , but if you had to put a % on how much better sounding the ND555/555DR is over the NDS/555DR what % would it be ? 

musicfan51 posted:

This is not probably an easy or fair question , but if you had to put a % on how much better sounding the ND555/555DR is over the NDS/555DR what % would it be ? 

It’s indeed not an easy question as it’s so different accross the board. But with the gun on the chest I would give it 30%....

That's huge!.....as the actress said to th bishop

Bert Schurink posted:

musicfan51 posted:

This is not probably an easy or fair question , but if you had to put a % on how much better sounding the ND555/555DR is over the NDS/555DR what % would it be ? 

It’s indeed not an easy question as it’s so different accross the board. But with the gun on the chest I would give it 30%....

30% is pretty big ! 

Thanks 

Darke Bear posted:

 

 

.......

It was then suggested we change the Ethernet cable to a more expensive one highly-rated by many. We did this and although aspects of the performance became more 'impressive' it lost cohesion and the sense of being special it previously had, so the original cable was returned to duty at the performance also returned. So just a consideration not to assume such things are not of importance.

I then stayed and played music for rather longer than I realised and had a great experience.

Next stop a home demo.

...it would also be nice to have my internet working again too as I've been cut off for a week - so far - and posting this using very primitive connection tech.

DB.

Nice writing from you all! I look forward listen to the ND555! 

D.B can you tell us which Ethernet cables you used and which was the original?

/Ulrik

30%    maybe 3

Will give full report later....

Presently ....Wow Wow Wow ...I think - Not sure if I'm thinking much now.

Best musical experience I've ever had. Must not say that as it is always relative to what I remember - that said yes!

Keep it all simple.

Needs same care and attention to details as CD555 wrt cables, etc. And Naim moved the DIN output to the far left rear so I had to move my Fraim stack. And Minimserv is misbehaving somewhat - and I'm cut-off from proper internet by my ISP - soon ex-ISP, so limited access via primitive tech until week after next.

...but it really flies and knows what it likes and does not like done to accommodate it.
Presently using the 'wrong' server seems to give best performance - more later.

Interesting.

DB.

Richieroo posted:

That's huge!.....as the actress said to th bishop

It’s that much better....

Very different and certainly better in certain areas in an obvious way.

I've got it for home demo for a few days, so will see how it goes over time. Things like this need time to settle-in with me on what they are doing or not doing.

It is very sensitive to music Rip-quality. CD-rips I've done myself are giving best results - very mixed to disappointing with some other material so far, but concentrating on known music from know sources ripped by a known means - the Melco Ripper into the Melco Server box works best that I've tried.

But the night (and weekend) is young! More later.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

Very different and certainly better in certain areas in an obvious way.

I've got it for home demo for a few days, so will see how it goes over time. Things like this need time to settle-in with me on what they are doing or not doing.

It is very sensitive to music Rip-quality. CD-rips I've done myself are giving best results - very mixed to disappointing with some other material so far, but concentrating on known music from know sources ripped by a known means - the Melco Ripper into the Melco Server box works best that I've tried.

But the night (and weekend) is young! More later.

DB.

Looking forward to your further descriptions. You always have a very distinctive ear for the differences.

My chief frustration at present is the User Interface in two respects:

1. The App I'm running it from on my IPad Mini keeps going off to 'find a room' and then locking into a black screen of death for a minute before letting me kill that mode and return to music Navigation. Not a good Feature Naim!

2. The ND555 display at night is akin to a Navy searchlight so I need to find how to knock that down a fair bit.

...apart from that then the music is flowing from the several Albums I ripped at my Dealers that have artworks (he had internet) and my 'Anonymous Artists' that I'm using track numbers to how around. The latter is a know thing that will get fixed when I get my internet back - but the music sound good aside from navigation inelegance.

The system is replacing my CD555 head unit with the ND555 and using the two 555PS on it as I was with the CD555.

This sits atop my two Medium levels Fraim stack - with the once empty shelf under the CD (now ND555) now hosting the Melco music server connected to the ND555 via Ethernet provided by Dealer for the Demo - known quality result previously at the Dealer demo I had.

The lowest shelf in the source stack is empty and - must - be empty or the bass goes thick and over-heavy wall of sound. I discovered that as the Melco Ripper box was at first there and then quickly removed once I realized it was spoiling the show. The Melco is set to run in 'dark mode' and you hear the difference.

I'll describe the sonic signatures a bit later once I get more listening time one this. It is very different and it is easy to make it go off with poor install items, but on certain material it can excel musically.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

My chief frustration at present is the User Interface in two respects:

1. The App I'm running it from on my IPad Mini keeps going off to 'find a room' and then locking into a black screen of death for a minute before letting me kill that mode and return to music Navigation. Not a good Feature Naim!

2. The ND555 display at night is akin to a Navy searchlight so I need to find how to knock that down a fair bit.

...apart from that then the music is flowing from the several Albums I ripped at my Dealers that have artworks (he had internet) and my 'Anonymous Artists' that I'm using track numbers to how around. The latter is a know thing that will get fixed when I get my internet back - but the music sound good aside from navigation inelegance.

The system is replacing my CD555 head unit with the ND555 and using the two 555PS on it as I was with the CD555.

This sits atop my two Medium levels Fraim stack - with the once empty shelf under the CD (now ND555) now hosting the Melco music server connected to the ND555 via Ethernet provided by Dealer for the Demo - known quality result previously at the Dealer demo I had.

The lowest shelf in the source stack is empty and - must - be empty or the bass goes thick and over-heavy wall of sound. I discovered that as the Melco Ripper box was at first there and then quickly removed once I realized it was spoiling the show. The Melco is set to run in 'dark mode' and you hear the difference.

I'll describe the sonic signatures a bit later once I get more listening time one this. It is very different and it is easy to make it go off with poor install items, but on certain material it can excel musically.

DB.

Melco ripper and music server sounds better than the UnitiCore ? 

...it looks like the bug I'm trying to work around is one Naim put there to look for the Core. Not present so it keeps looking and it is very annoying.

Apart from this 'feature' which can probably be disabled by someone who knows how, I like the Melco.

DB.

I’m listening to the Prom - West Side Story- via an iPad 320k stream- connected to digital input 4, and I really think I have cracked the problem of how to replace NAT01 in Ireland (being too far away for a good FM signal). 

Apart from - hopefully temporary - awful navigation from this Naim App blocking my music selection - the music sounds really good and I will give a report later on that part.

I'm separating user navigation issues - bad, from music quality - excellent.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

from music quality - excellent.

DB.

Don't let the "new technology" blind you.
Rip some CDs you know really well (with the CD555), does the ND555 provide the same (or more?) weight, depth, focus, soundstage?
The NDS doesn't.

Waiting for your report...

BP.

ND555 is way better than NDS.

Female vocals are more separated in a good way from instruments. Voices sound mere natural without losing detail - similar detail as CD555 on voice but possibly better-structured presentation with ND555. Need more time and material to give fuller report.

On dynamics it is very good - excellent even. Sound-stage is bigger and a bit better defined in depth on some material I've played so far.

Weight is not lacking. Main problem is managing the install to allow it to breath properly. It goes very deep and fast in a very linear sounding way. Bass-riffs are easier to follow for example.

This is very preliminary so will say more later once I've got a better perspective. Lots of other musical aspects to say more on later.

Very engaging presentation though - draws you in to the performance.

Navigation UI stuff always irritates me when not right though. Apologies for raging against the machine! 

DB.

The ND555 presentation is a bit brighter than the CD555. So far I've not found this in a fatiguing way - but depends on particular music.

Generally I find streaming systems so easy to get wrong and lose their performance at this level - so far this combo of ND555 - Melco is doing well. I've tried to limit the distributed network aspect as much as possible for the demo.

When good streaming goes wrong it can become relentless rather than engaging, so part of the extended demo is to get past the short-duration listening to see how it fairs over a longer time.

It is very different in presentation from the CD555 which never, in my set-up, became relentless and just did the job and got out of the way of the music. The test is to see how the ND555 does longer term listening - so far it is doing some good things in a different way.

A very cohesive, measured performance with all the larger-scale and smaller micro-dynamics present. It is done differently from the CD555 and I'd not say it is greatly better or worse at that so far - just different.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

Apart from - hopefully temporary - awful navigation from this Naim App blocking my music selection - the music sounds really good and I will give a report later on that part.

I'm separating user navigation issues - bad, from music quality - excellent.

DB.

I was having App issues on my Nova. Try putting the ND555 into a deep sleep (3 second loss press on the power button), then restart. If that doesn’t work, reboot your modem/router and the App. If running a Core, try restarting that from a deep sleep too. That should reset the IPs for each device.

D.B. so glad you are enjoying the sound of the ND555, mine is running in nicely and my Melco will be in next week.

Regarding the screen display you can turn this off by pressing the home button on the remote then select settings, display, then tick Display off during playback.

Look forward to further reports.

Darke Bear posted:

The ND555 presentation is a bit brighter than the CD555. So far I've not found this in a fatiguing way - but depends on particular music.

Generally I find streaming systems so easy to get wrong and lose their performance at this level - so far this combo of ND555 - Melco is doing well. I've tried to limit the distributed network aspect as much as possible for the demo.

When good streaming goes wrong it can become relentless rather than engaging, so part of the extended demo is to get past the short-duration listening to see how it fairs over a longer time.

It is very different in presentation from the CD555 which never, in my set-up, became relentless and just did the job and got out of the way of the music. The test is to see how the ND555 does longer term listening - so far it is doing some good things in a different way.

A very cohesive, measured performance with all the larger-scale and smaller micro-dynamics present. It is done differently from the CD555 and I'd not say it is greatly better or worse at that so far - just different.

DB.

interesting DB, very interesting... looking fwd to more 'observations'...

enjoy...

ken

ULRIKL posted:

Darke Bear posted:

 

 

.......

It was then suggested we change the Ethernet cable to a more expensive one highly-rated by many. We did this and although aspects of the performance became more 'impressive' it lost cohesion and the sense of being special it previously had, so the original cable was returned to duty at the performance also returned. So just a consideration not to assume such things are not of importance.

I then stayed and played music for rather longer than I realised and had a great experience.

Next stop a home demo.

...it would also be nice to have my internet working again too as I've been cut off for a week - so far - and posting this using very primitive connection tech.

DB.

Nice writing from you all! I look forward listen to the ND555! 

D.B can you tell us which Ethernet cables you used and which was the original?

/Ulrik

Our dealer Signals has recommended the True Signals Ethernet cable to connect between the ND555 and the Melco, this is the one they use for their demos.

Darke Bear posted:

The ND555 presentation is a bit brighter than the CD555. So far I've not found this in a fatiguing way - but depends on particular music.

Generally I find streaming systems so easy to get wrong and lose their performance at this level - so far this combo of ND555 - Melco is doing well. I've tried to limit the distributed network aspect as much as possible for the demo.

When good streaming goes wrong it can become relentless rather than engaging, so part of the extended demo is to get past the short-duration listening to see how it fairs over a longer time.

It is very different in presentation from the CD555 which never, in my set-up, became relentless and just did the job and got out of the way of the music. The test is to see how the ND555 does longer term listening - so far it is doing some good things in a different way.

A very cohesive, measured performance with all the larger-scale and smaller micro-dynamics present. It is done differently from the CD555 and I'd not say it is greatly better or worse at that so far - just different.

DB.

Brighter might be because of the Melco, maybe you can get a UnitiCore for the demo.
Cisco switch, Chord Ethernet cables and a hard-drive recommended by naim inside the UnitiCore made a big different for my NDS.

BP.

Michael posted:

ULRIKL posted:

Darke Bear posted:

 

 

.......

It was then suggested we change the Ethernet cable to a more expensive one highly-rated by many. We did this and although aspects of the performance became more 'impressive' it lost cohesion and the sense of being special it previously had, so the original cable was returned to duty at the performance also returned. So just a consideration not to assume such things are not of importance.

I then stayed and played music for rather longer than I realised and had a great experience.

Next stop a home demo.

...it would also be nice to have my internet working again too as I've been cut off for a week - so far - and posting this using very primitive connection tech.

DB.

Nice writing from you all! I look forward listen to the ND555! 

D.B can you tell us which Ethernet cables you used and which was the original?

/Ulrik

Our dealer Signals has recommended the True Signals Ethernet cable to connect between the ND555 and the Melco, this is the one they use for their demos.

Michael, I tried many in admittedly a lesser system including the True Signals cable.....decided on Melco Ethernet cables. Though I must admit it’s a good cable.

Michael posted:

ULRIKL posted:

Darke Bear posted:

 

 

.......

It was then suggested we change the Ethernet cable to a more expensive one highly-rated by many. We did this and although aspects of the performance became more 'impressive' it lost cohesion and the sense of being special it previously had, so the original cable was returned to duty at the performance also returned. So just a consideration not to assume such things are not of importance.

I then stayed and played music for rather longer than I realised and had a great experience.

Next stop a home demo.

...it would also be nice to have my internet working again too as I've been cut off for a week - so far - and posting this using very primitive connection tech.

DB.

Nice writing from you all! I look forward listen to the ND555! 

D.B can you tell us which Ethernet cables you used and which was the original?

/Ulrik

Our dealer Signals has recommended the True Signals Ethernet cable to connect between the ND555 and the Melco, this is the one they use for their demos.

I have not found True Signals ethernet cable on the internet . Is that a local brand