ND555 Impressions

I have been neatly installing some cables in trunking...inc ethernet to nds....looks great but it appears to have killed the sound quality...doh....back to the snake pit...her indoors will not be happy....

musicfan51 posted:

Bert how is your Naim ND555 sounding now ? You have had it for awhile . Have you noticed a big improvement from you first plugged it in and played it. How much has it improved ? 

It does sound better in my memory. While I have been on holiday, so it’s also difficult with musical memory to recall. I am not sure if it will further improve, but I also have gotten into the mode of just listening and not analyzing anymore what improved as i anyhow wouldn’t be able anymore to distinguish with the older NDS. I did notice however a couple of general things which are remarkable for me...

1. Authority and slam for live recordings is even developed further. It’s an immense energy which comes accross.

2. Initial edge in high area is completely gone.

3. When i now walk from the kitchen to my place to listen, i quite often feel an urge to dance, while I am not a dancer by nature.

4. In the past I very much like the audiophile classical piano and classical orchestral albums. Now I notice that i more and more start to listen to classical orchestral at the price of jazz, as it sounds so full and detailed.

so in general a very good experience and very happy I made the blind buy. Still expecting to hear more. And as I am still on holiday but home, I have a lot of opportunity to take it to further warm up...

Bert Schurink posted:

musicfan51 posted:

Bert how is your Naim ND555 sounding now ? You have had it for awhile . Have you noticed a big improvement from you first plugged it in and played it. How much has it improved ? 

It does sound better in my memory. While I have been on holiday, so it’s also difficult with musical memory to recall. I am not sure if it will further improve, but I also have gotten into the mode of just listening and not analyzing anymore what improved as i anyhow wouldn’t be able anymore to distinguish with the older NDS. I did notice however a couple of general things which are remarkable for me...

1. Authority and slam for live recordings is even developed further. It’s an immense energy which comes accross.

2. Initial edge in high area is completely gone.

3. When i now walk from the kitchen to my place to listen, i quite often feel an urge to dance, while I am not a dancer by nature.

4. In the past I very much like the audiophile classical piano and classical orchestral albums. Now I notice that i more and more start to listen to classical orchestral at the price of jazz, as it sounds so full and detailed.

 

so in general a very good experience and very happy I made the blind buy. Still expecting to hear more. And as I am still on holiday but home, I have a lot of opportunity to take it to further warm up...

Thanks for the report . Sounds like 555 smooths out and is more dynamic and musical as time goes by !  This is good to know . 

 

There was initially a very simple reason in the early days. Twonky was not transcoding from Flac to WAV and Wav was such a step forward that I decided to move initially to Asset and later to minim. I don’t know if Twonky does that in it’s current version, but didn’t feel the urge to change back. And in addition, I would not like to retain things again as things get presented slightly different when using different servers.

Hi Bert!

Is the transcoding from Flac to WAV done in your Melco?

I don’t see an option to do that but I’m using Twonky version 8.5-18 and SW 3.80 on my Melco.

Best regards!

Marcus

As a rough rule of thumb, when I can't stop analysing, something is wrong. When I can't be bothered to analyze because I'm busy enjoying the listening, something is right.

Going back to something DB was alluding to over the weekend and touched on above by Bert; as another general rule of thumb in my little universe, well recorded HiRes material, streamed on a capable streamer is particularly good at revealing the intricacies of complex performances without pulling it to bits (did you see what I did there?). As a lover of classical and prog, this is something that particularly sings to me. Although of course, it's one of many strengths. 

The Strat (Fender) posted:

nigelb posted:

Richard Dane posted:

Nigel, I think you know the answer to that one.  If I were your dealer I would be lining up a NAC552 and an ND555 for a demo at yours.  I'd definitely be interested to hear such a demo myself. The NAC552 is very special but then, from what limited amount I've heard of it so far, and from the reports on this forum, likely so is the ND555.  Enjoy yourself...

Yes a demo of both the 552 with my NDS and the ND555 with my 252 would make sense. It has to be those pairings though as I can't afford both a 552 and a ND555, unless my numbers come up of course.

My gut tells me 552 first both on SQ grounds and because you can find second hand (sorry, pre-loved) examples and I could possibly trade in my 252/SuperCapDR if I can find a dealer with a cherished 552. But then the ND555 seems such an advance from the NDS and I already own a 555DR.

Oooh, this is a tough one.

I think Nigel these are First World challenges!

Indeed. I'm not losing any sleep over this decision! Interesting we are over a 1000 posts though.

MarcusM posted:

 

There was initially a very simple reason in the early days. Twonky was not transcoding from Flac to WAV and Wav was such a step forward that I decided to move initially to Asset and later to minim. I don’t know if Twonky does that in it’s current version, but didn’t feel the urge to change back. And in addition, I would not like to retain things again as things get presented slightly different when using different servers.

Hi Bert!

Is the transcoding from Flac to WAV done in your Melco?

I don’t see an option to do that but I’m using Twonky version 8.5-18 and SW 3.80 on my Melco.

Best regards!

Marcus

Yes the transcoding is done on the Melco...

The Strat (Fender) posted:

A server has a sound? I would seriously have thought the differences would have been functional?

Are you suggesting 'bits are just bits'! Burn the witch!

Bert Schurink posted:

musicfan51 posted:

Bert how is your Naim ND555 sounding now ? You have had it for awhile . Have you noticed a big improvement from you first plugged it in and played it. How much has it improved ? 

It does sound better in my memory. While I have been on holiday, so it’s also difficult with musical memory to recall. I am not sure if it will further improve, but I also have gotten into the mode of just listening and not analyzing anymore what improved as i anyhow wouldn’t be able anymore to distinguish with the older NDS. I did notice however a couple of general things which are remarkable for me...

1. Authority and slam for live recordings is even developed further. It’s an immense energy which comes accross.

2. Initial edge in high area is completely gone.

3. When i now walk from the kitchen to my place to listen, i quite often feel an urge to dance, while I am not a dancer by nature.

4. In the past I very much like the audiophile classical piano and classical orchestral albums. Now I notice that i more and more start to listen to classical orchestral at the price of jazz, as it sounds so full and detailed.

 

so in general a very good experience and very happy I made the blind buy. Still expecting to hear more. And as I am still on holiday but home, I have a lot of opportunity to take it to further warm up...

Bert, No. 3 would be the clincher for me. Only difference is that I am a superb dancer, although my wife begs to differ!

Darke Bear posted:

I'm very positive about the ND555-Melco combination.

Control can be solved one way or another is my thinking. It works ok-ish but could be a lot nicer user-interface experience is what I've found.

But for me I'm going from CD replay to Streaming for the first time so I'm hitting head-on what many have already solved for themselves long ago. I've been strongly recommended Roon by another Forum member I know, who has just taken the plunge from NDS to ND555 so there is another possible way ahead.

I can also initiate and control from the Twonky server interface directly and it works reasonably well and is stable. I also prefer so far the Twonky presentation over the Minim one. I listened again to Minim and Twonky does more - like being able to tell what region of UK a singer is from that is not obvious via Minim.

DB.

DB, I cannot argue about SQ between minim and twonky.

BUT: in terms of metadata robustness and flexibility there is no contest. I was always having artwork issues with twonky - none with minim.

Also minim allows to configure it so as it navigate with any kind of obscure tags -including your own tags-.

You can dynamically add “information” to what is being displayed without having this stored in the database: for example I add the “composer” I formation to each track, quite useful on albums with non unique composer. 

It takes some effort to learn how to use these options but it’s an one-off investment of time (and patience). 

My only complains about minim is that it doesn’t automatically rescan once new content is added (twonky does it) and it doesn’t allow to have artwork for tags like artist, genre etc (an area where Asset is great)...

Yup bits are not just bits.....they are pretty darn delicate.....as for not settling and analysing music...that is so right...... it means something is not right...

Has anyone checked if the ND555 can handle gapless from external sources such as Bubbleupnp or via Chromecast?

Keith

Richieroo posted:

I have been neatly installing some cables in trunking...inc ethernet to nds....looks great but it appears to have killed the sound quality...doh....back to the snake pit...her indoors will not be happy....

My other half's main issue is with untidy cables she will stand for great big speakers, hifi racks, turntable shelves and even shelves full of vinyl but untidy cables drive her mad.

nigelb posted:

The Strat (Fender) posted:

A server has a sound? I would seriously have thought the differences would have been functional?

Are you suggesting 'bits are just bits'! Burn the witch!

On continuously fed or the legacy streamers I have undertaken some private investigation here, and servers definitely have a sound.. or more accurately the server platforms/OS create a sound profile on the steamer through protocol stack processing crosstalk.. . and I have used test equipment to identify the differences between different servers and the  sonic footprints they appear to cause. It is all to do with inter-framing timing consistency on the Ethernet connection from the analysis I have done... and this does  vary  from platform to platform.... this has nothing to do with the values of sample data... ie those bits are still bits 

Now I would speculate this would be not so prevalent on the new platforms... but requires further investigation. If the sonic change did occur I would expect a slight shift  between when the track was spooling and when completely loaded... I have not heard anyone mention this yet

KRM posted:

Has anyone checked if the ND555 can handle gapless from external sources such as Bubbleupnp or via Chromecast?

Good question, but I do seem remembering there is an issue / feature (depending on perspective) with the new streamer firmware preventing some pushed UPnP gapless operation unlike the firmware for the legacy devices. The suggestion was this issue/feature would be fixed/addressed in future firmware. Indeed interesting to know if this is now done.

With respect to Chromecast, I didn’t think it supported gapless however.

Harry posted:

As a rough rule of thumb, when I can't stop analysing, something is wrong. When I can't be bothered to analyze because I'm busy enjoying the listening, something is right.

Going back to something DB was alluding to over the weekend and touched on above by Bert; as another general rule of thumb in my little universe, well recorded HiRes material, streamed on a capable streamer is particularly good at revealing the intricacies of complex performances without pulling it to bits (did you see what I did there?). As a lover of classical and prog, this is something that particularly sings to me. Although of course, it's one of many strengths. 

If that prog has you dancing, you have found the PRAT and are enjoying the beauty of the forest and seeing past the detail on the bark in the trees.

Well just booked my demo for next Thursday. NDX2, then 555ps.....then ND555 with power supplies-also with a 252/Supercap/nap300. I have then asked to go back to NDX2 with 555ps.....but with a 552 preamp. The latter was kind of bugging me after recent posts from Simon and others about the 552. Should be a good session, with lashings of coffee from the Signals guys.

Gazza posted:

Well just booked my demo for next Thursday. NDX2, then 555ps.....then ND555 with power supplies-also with a 252/Supercap/nap300. I have then asked to go back to NDX2 with 555ps.....but with a 552 preamp. The latter was kind of bugging me after recent posts from Simon and others about the 552. Should be a good session, with lashings of coffee from the Signals guys.

 

 

 

Now that’s a good day out. Beats a slap around the head with a wet kipper in the office.

Gazza posted:

Well just booked my demo for next Thursday. NDX2, then 555ps.....then ND555 with power supplies-also with a 252/Supercap/nap300. I have then asked to go back to NDX2 with 555ps.....but with a 552 preamp. The latter was kind of bugging me after recent posts from Simon and others about the 552. Should be a good session, with lashings of coffee from the Signals guys.

 

 

 

Good day out, looks like a quite a variation you will hear, hope you don’t get lost in the combinations.

Nigel.....

Bert, No. 3 would be the clincher for me. Only difference is that I am a superb dancer, although my wife begs to differ!

Unfortunatelly wives are brutally honest in these things, and the statistics also speak against you....

Gazza posted:

Well just booked my demo for next Thursday. NDX2, then 555ps.....then ND555 with power supplies-also with a 252/Supercap/nap300. I have then asked to go back to NDX2 with 555ps.....but with a 552 preamp. The latter was kind of bugging me after recent posts from Simon and others about the 552. Should be a good session, with lashings of coffee from the Signals guys.

That sounds an interesting session you have lined up there, Gazza. Hopefully you'll post your thoughts here afterwards.

No problem Clive

Gazza posted:

Should be a good session, with lashings of coffee from the Signals guys.

The coffee should be at its peak around the time of your visit.

Groan.....that normally means a very expensive visit????

Does the coffee persuade you to spend money? I am aware that for some people coffee can be a good laxative, but not in terms of purse strings! (Such a quaint expression from bygone years, what would the modern equivalent be?)