ND555 Impressions

Make sure you have the ground switch in the correct postion- default or floating makes a huge difference in my system 

ken c posted:

Darke Bear posted:

Update.

Big improvement wrought.

On intuition more than any reason I decided to swap-out the HiFi Ethernet cable between the ND555 and Melco for a cheap and cheerful commercial bog-standard floppy blue lead I had laying about to hear what if anything it did. It may be rescuing things.

The change was immediate - more boogie-factor, fluid easy-going things come back into the room and the room even itself makes an appearance.

I never got on with stiff interconnect cables before when I tried on the CD555 so perhaps it is not a big surprise.

More later.

DB.

mirrors my experiment when I tried out different ethernet cables sometime ago. out of the ones I tried, including some quite expensive ones -- the best performing (for me, in my system etc etc) was the cheapest German made one...

Glad you seem to have 'arrived' at last!?

enjoy

/ken

Cables matter. How they work with your system is very important!  Experimenting with different ones always important to get the right sound ! 

Darke Bear posted:

The Beast is released!

Ok that was significant - the Ethernet lead was seriously constraining the ND555, now it is behaving like a wild force of nature in my system, which is actually what I constructed my system to allow.

A freedom from constraint now. Music ranges and goes where it likes and massive increase in perceived usable dynamic range.

Compare wild horses vs dressage in-harness.

Smoother more easy-dynamic with micro-detail now in better relation to the whole.

Less 'well-behaved' more dangerous.

Music I didn't know you could dance to - you have to.

A great change - I'll soak this in for a while.

DB.

Was already getting concerned that you heard something significantly different than me. But fortunately you are back on track. While I respect your statement that’s a very personal journey which it should be .....

The stories above also tell me to be cautious with the Ethernet connection. I have the feeling I have great results with my Vodka Cable between the Melco and the ND555, so will seriously consider in case I would get tempted to go to a Chord Music .....

Paul Stephenson posted:

Make sure you have the ground switch in the correct postion- default or floating makes a huge difference in my system 

It is in 'Default' and not floating.

It is a single-source system so I assume this is correct position - not touched it as installed by my Dealer for home demo.

The other things I have changed as discussed.

DB.

Still getting used to the easier more enveloping sound.

This is now a new and different demo.

DB.

I miss my ND555.... 2 nights away from home, so will resume feedback on Wednesday. Mine is definitely floating!

Darke Bear posted

It is in 'Default' and not floating.

It is a single-source system so I assume this is correct position - not touched it as installed by my Dealer for home demo.

Correct it is. 

I'm letting the new presentation come to me with different music. The fact there is any difference is surprising to an extent and in a weird way reassuring. To be very fair to my Dealer - I auditioned the Ethernet cable in their Dealer Statement system against another more expensive one and we both preferred the one I was fitted with for the home demo.

What this reveals is that home demo results may differ!

I'm not saying this is the best Ethernet cable - but it gave a reference pointing toward a different ultimate cable being the eventual best result. This gives an easy-going if possibly a bit looser sound - certainly less edgy which I prefer.

Hopefully this conversation is useful to others - it has been for me.

I want to assess and make the right choice for me and I don't please easy. It will be good if all the people already with ND555 any happy - stay happy! For me finding out there may be more to come is better than being told you have it all and be quiet!

Another music - related report later. It takes me time to get used to big changes.

DB.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Darke Bear posted

It is in 'Default' and not floating.

It is a single-source system so I assume this is correct position - not touched it as installed by my Dealer for home demo.

Correct it is. 

Are you having a Yoda moment Simon?

Right you are.

Sloop John B posted:

David O'Higgins posted:

Sloop John B posted:

David O'Higgins posted:

I’ve just heard The Byrds ‘eight miles high’ as though for the first time (from the cd box set There Is A Season). What would it be like in 24bit?

Congratulations David, Naim have come up trumps to make sure your early days of retirement are spent revisiting your collection. 

Enjoy. 

.sjb

Thanks John. Will you risk coming over to hear it....?

David

Sure if you're willing to risk listening to HQP upsampling to DSD512 via ultraRendu/LPS1 in to the HoloAudio Spring DAC Level 3 it would be churlish of me not to reciprocate. My listening room is nearly cleared of boxes 9 months after the renovation!

.sjb

That’s a double date, once the day job is dispensed with!

Darke Bear posted:

I'm letting the new presentation come to me with different music. The fact there is any difference is surprising to an extent and in a weird way reassuring. To be very fair to my Dealer - I auditioned the Ethernet cable in their Dealer Statement system against another more expensive one and we both preferred the one I was fitted with for the home demo.

What this reveals is that home demo results may differ!

I'm not saying this is the best Ethernet cable - but it gave a reference pointing toward a different ultimate cable being the eventual best result. This gives an easy-going if possibly a bit looser sound - certainly less edgy which I prefer.

Hopefully this conversation is useful to others - it has been for me.

I want to assess and make the right choice for me and I don't please easy. It will be good if all the people already with ND555 any happy - stay happy! For me finding out there may be more to come is better than being told you have it all and be quiet!

Another music - related report later. It takes me time to get used to big changes.

DB.

Is it the True Signals Ethernet cable you have been using DB or perhaps a QED one? Signals used the QED one for my home dem which sounded great in isolation. Interesting comparing a more expensive cable to a bog standard cheap one and the differences they bring.

For now, Dark Bear, the nd555 and cd555 seem to be very close with cds format. So i imagine that with hirez the nd555 must be well ahead ( ?).

I would like to suggest, if i may suggest, to try some other ethernet cables like chord indigo or audioquest diamond.  Perhaps it can change something.

A new and recent model of cisco 2960 switch can perhaps lift a bit the sound too. It lifted for me a little bit, vs an old refurbished cisco 2960 model.

Anyway this thread is perhaps the most interesting i had the pleasure to read.

Hi Drake is the cheapo replacement ethernet cable a shielded cable???

A hiatus in my demo and music listening.

So more successful today - as you don't know what you don't know until you know it.

The Ethernet cable thing tells me there is an optimization ahead there, but for now it has let the cat out of the bag and I have fulsome music in a way I like to hear. The Ethernet in non-screened really cheap stuff I've had decades as patch-cables.

Sometimes screening is bad as the Ethernet itself does not need to be screened but rather the screen is meant to prevent RF or general HF fields coupling - but it is very hard to make a screen work at all frequencies and sometimes it actually makes it worse exactly where you don't want it.

The effect was as if the ND555 has been lifted from a burden of handling high-frequencies it did not need to see. With Ethernet it is best if it is just 'good enough' at the receive end that there is a valid open data-eye to get the data correct and no more energy than that.

Anyway my assessment so far:

I'm now very impressed with the ND555 capabilities. Perhaps I really need one - or at least I want one!

What impresses me is the big picture it opens on the music without favoring anything - things are just there and happen and retain their own character. There is no feeling of being held-back or that there is a constraint on the music possibilities - for Active system use this is very good.

I play a lot of older recordings from 70s where they can be very dynamic and untamed in that the performance does not sit within a narrow volume range like most modern recordings do.  For example an early copy of Renaissance 'A Song for all Seasons' of the Album of the same name ranges all over the place and can be a challenge - but the ND555 in this config did it spectacularly well. Lots of ability to convey emotion.

I seem to be trying the top Melco box as well tomorrow to finish-off the home demo before it all goes back at some point in a day - will report if that makes a difference.

Decisions.

DB.

Are you not inspired by the stubborn yearning of the ND555 for a Core to try that as well?

I did inform my wife I wanted to buy a $20,000 Streamer today ! She says we can discuss it and said I am not saying no. But I would like to know how much we can get for the NDS.

if any you previous NDS owners who now own ND555 streamer can write a list of the sonic benefits of ND555 over NDS that would be very nice of you . Just something I can show her . Be enthusiastic!

' Morning DB,

Thank you for your precious reveiew.

Regards

Roberto

Michael posted:

Is it the True Signals Ethernet cable you have been using DB or perhaps a QED one? Signals used the QED one for my home dem which sounded great in isolation. Interesting comparing a more expensive cable to a bog standard cheap one and the differences they bring.

This area intrigues me... as some with a ND555 can hear no effect of the network and cables.. ie when the cable is physically disconnected, the music plays out identically, which I understand was a design objective... Now given how it works with the new streamers, data only flows and handshakes for a period of time and then stops.. and no one is reporting a shift in sq as a track play out or at the end of albums or play lists etc.

Therefore I suspect the effects some might hear with cables etc is not network related at all, but possibly more about circulating common mode currents... otherwise known as earth loops.. or common mode RFI from physical conductive connections.. and that suggests inappropriately shielded Ethernet cables or non optimal / or electrically noisy switches etc, or coupled common mode noise. In such circumstances it might be Wifi yields a better result if you are plagued by things, or at least non shielded cable...but I would suggest the effects one hears aren’t actually network related but more a side effect of physical connections and coupled RF noise from other sources as well as earth loops, and DB’s post hints at that. Ie the Ethernet itself is irrelevant !... and actually less is more.... sorry bling merchants 

Michael_B. posted:

Are you not inspired by the stubborn yearning of the ND555 for a Core to try that as well?

I agree,why does nobody use the Core,with a DC1 cable directly into the ND555? Surely this would eliminate Ethernet problems,as it appears to do for me with my lowly N272.Besides that,it is Naim’s own server,new technology and all that.

Michael_B. posted:

Are you not inspired by the stubborn yearning of the ND555 for a Core to try that as well?

Why should a ND555 be yearning for a Core? Melcos, Antipodes CX, Innuos Zenith all offer isolated, direct LAN outputs, far better UPnP servers, standard metadata file formats, better interoperability ... 

No quarter posted:

Michael_B. posted:

Are you not inspired by the stubborn yearning of the ND555 for a Core to try that as well?

I agree,why does nobody use the Core,with a DC1 cable directly into the ND555? Surely this would eliminate Ethernet problems,as it appears to do for me with my lowly N272.Besides that,it is Naim’s own server,new technology and all that.

Snap here. I use a Core to Nova, though connected through a wired Cat 6 home network. It’s works well. One promoted benefit of the Core is that it’s a dedicate Hi-Fi To Hi-Fi system, whereas any other system involves some sort of non Hi-Fi computer type arrangement with the potential for noise pollution for whatever reason. Whether  a direct connection would be better would be interesting, I haven’t tested that as my Core and Nova are in separate rooms and I don’t have the cable.

No quarter posted:

Michael_B. posted:

Are you not inspired by the stubborn yearning of the ND555 for a Core to try that as well?

I agree,why does nobody use the Core,with a DC1 cable directly into the ND555? Surely this would eliminate Ethernet problems,as it appears to do for me with my lowly N272.Besides that,it is Naim’s own server,new technology and all that.

I guess because a significant part of the costs of the ND555 is justified by the effort at implementing a very good Ethernet input. If one was interested in using the ND555 as a SPDIF DAC, then perhaps a Naim DAC or a Chord DAC with SPDIF input would be more natural and much cheaper options?

Yes,my Core is on my Fraim,with the DC1 connected to the 272.It also has an Ethernet connection to my router,but that only allows for metadata,and allows me to operate it from my iPad.Shortest distance is usually best,unless they have optimized the ND555 to work better using Ethernet...when all the switches,cables etc. are in order.

Or am I missing something here?