ND555 Impressions

Bart posted:

musicfan51 posted:

Jonn posted:

 

That is very very interesting Yeti42.  It is very possible the ND555 is better sounding with one 555dr power supply. 

FYI my own experiments at home prove that the ND555 is better sounding with one 555Dr supply than none.  Happy to contribute!!

I had not thought to try this Bart... I'll put it high on my 'to do' list for tomorrow.  Which of the new firmware versions are you using, the "Up to date" one or the secret one & do you find this make a difference?

Oh, and I meant to add, going back to one ps after the dancing to two, the boogie magic was significantly reduced ....

Has anyone tried 3 power supplies?

musicfan51 posted:

Jonn posted:

yeti42 posted:

This evening I heard an ND555 with 2 power supplies. Not for me I’m releived to say. It loses what makes the 555 special, the sense of flow. There were others for whom the lowered noise floor and wider dynamic range were more important but my attention started to wander when the second ps was introduced.

Now that's interesting. I used 2 DR power supplies on my NDS and there was a clear improvement over a single PS. 

Last week I exchanged the NDS for an ND555 and connected the two supplies. While the ND555 is appreciably better than the NDS there are two areas that are not ideal.

First, the the ND555 has a more forward musical presentation which is OK on most recording but occasionally drifts into stridency which can become wearing after a while.

Secondly, the soundstage on the ND555 is much wider and deeper than the NDS. Again this is mostly OK but on some recordings there is a lack of coherence, with voices and instruments emerging from odd places in the mix making it difficult to get a sense of the whole.

Not being entirely satisfied with what I was hearing I tried a single PS last night and this was a definite improvement. The stridency on some vocals disappeared and the soundstage locked into place.

I'll reinsert the second PS after a few days to see if the difference is still there, but at the moment I'm much preferring the single PS.

That is very very interesting Yeti42.  It is very possible the ND555 is better sounding with one 555dr power supply. 

Pull the other one, if there is one!  !

Mike Sullivan posted:

Has anyone tried 3 power supplies?

Some use a 30k german powerblock, the stromtank ( it gives completely clean power).  It weighs around 200 pounds, if I remember well.

It will not surprise me if the ndstatement streamer will have the streamer separated from the dac, each powered by 2 555 ps.   6 boxes streamer.

Mike Sullivan posted:

Has anyone tried 3 power supplies?

Running three in my system one each on the 252,300 and ND555 works well????????????

rjstaines posted:

Bart posted:

musicfan51 posted:

Jonn posted:

 

That is very very interesting Yeti42.  It is very possible the ND555 is better sounding with one 555dr power supply. 

FYI my own experiments at home prove that the ND555 is better sounding with one 555Dr supply than none.  Happy to contribute!!

I had not thought to try this Bart... I'll put it high on my 'to do' list for tomorrow.  Which of the new firmware versions are you using, the "Up to date" one or the secret one & do you find this make a difference?

I'm using the firmware version that is ONLY accessible via the ND555 remote. It's a "feature" of the remote that few know about . . . most think the remote is only good for use as a paper weight -- they are SADLY mistaken.

I had posted earlier announcing the imminent arrival of my 555 and when I did so I fully expected to follow up with a further post raving about its sound quality.  Expectations were very high following some feedback from trusted friends who had heard it in Munich earlier in the year.  Unlike many who reported on their very positive initial findings I was actually a bit underwhelmed. Sure it was better than my NDS but it seemed to me to be more of the same rather than the game changer I had anticipated. Best then to hold fire on a report and not to panic of course as after all I know of no Naim piece of kit that doesn’t improve dramatically after some run in. Over the inial 2 weeks nothing dramaticallychanged other than it was up and down a bit but after a month away I can hardly believe what I am now hearing. Frankly it’s incredible and is delivering what I had dared to hope for. For me as good as the NDS was  I always felt that it lacked something and was possibly holding the system back somewhat. Hard to describe but the ease and emotional connection that you seem to get from a good turntable just didn’t seem to be there to grasp.Well that sense of ease and flow, musicality and emotional connection is now present and seemingly correct. There is a lot I could say about what it’s doing but a couple of things have captured me in the 24 hours since I have been back home. The first is guitars. One thing amongst many that the Statement brings to the party is that it does guitar really well whether acoustic or electric but the 555 has taken this to another level entirely. They are just so realistic and captivating. The second is low level listening. Generally I play pretty loud. I think in part because to me digital always seems to loose something at low levels almost as if the volume has to get over some form of noise floor. Well no more at low levels my system is sounding sublime retaining all of the information and musicality that my system would previously deliver when cranked somewhat. Finally live music seems well just live really. Neil Diamond has just released Hot August Night 111 ( I know what you are thinking )The original is a record that I have grown up with and never tire of. I love it. Well the new one is a real surprize listening to it now I have seeminly been transported to the Greek ! I suspect there is more run in to come as I’m about 6weeks in so who no’s where it will go next but for now this I believe is an extraordinary product.

In terms of power supplies I had used two with my NDS from the outset as I already had two for the CD 555 and while waiting for the ND to turn up I compared one to two on the NDS and definitely preferred two but with the new player I prefer one. It is in my system simply more musical.

murray harden posted:

I had posted earlier announcing the imminent arrival of my 555 and when I did so I fully expected to follow up with a further post raving about its sound quality.  Expectations were very high following some feedback from trusted friends who had heard it in Munich earlier in the year.  Unlike many who reported on their very positive initial findings I was actually a bit underwhelmed. Sure it was better than my NDS but it seemed to me to be more of the same rather than the game changer I had anticipated. Best then to hold fire on a report and not to panic of course as after all I know of no Naim piece of kit that doesn’t improve dramatically after some run in. Over the inial 2 weeks nothing dramaticallychanged other than it was up and down a bit but after a month away I can hardly believe what I am now hearing. Frankly it’s incredible and is delivering what I had dared to hope for. For me as good as the NDS was  I always felt that it lacked something and was possibly holding the system back somewhat. Hard to describe but the ease and emotional connection that you seem to get from a good turntable just didn’t seem to be there to grasp.Well that sense of ease and flow, musicality and emotional connection is now present and seemingly correct. There is a lot I could say about what it’s doing but a couple of things have captured me in the 24 hours since I have been back home. The first is guitars. One thing amongst many that the Statement brings to the party is that it does guitar really well whether acoustic or electric but the 555 has taken this to another level entirely. They are just so realistic and captivating. The second is low level listening. Generally I play pretty loud. I think in part because to me digital always seems to loose something at low levels almost as if the volume has to get over some form of noise floor. Well no more at low levels my system is sounding sublime retaining all of the information and musicality that my system would previously deliver when cranked somewhat. Finally live music seems well just live really. Neil Diamond has just released Hot August Night 111 ( I know what you are thinking )The original is a record that I have grown up with and never tire of. I love it. Well the new one is a real surprize listening to it now I have seeminly been transported to the Greek ! I suspect there is more run in to come as I’m about 6weeks in so who no’s where it will go next but for now this I believe is an extraordinary product.

In terms of power supplies I had used two with my NDS from the outset as I already had two for the CD 555 and while waiting for the ND to turn up I compared one to two on the NDS and definitely preferred two but with the new player I prefer one. It is in my system simply more musical.

 

 

The one power supply vs two power supplies debate is getting really interesting!  Also I am not surprised you found the ND555 improved a lot over a long burn in. Most Naim gear is like that. I know the 555Dr power supply took over two months. The NDS took close to that too. I originally bought the NDS I owned a non-DR version of the 555PS. Then about 4 months later sold my 555PS and bought a new 555DR . Both the NDS and 555DR took several months of continual use to reach their potential in sound quality in my opinion . 

It's not a debate. It's a personal preference. Same as anything else. I would no more trust someone else's ears, than I would buy something based on their recommendations. without listening first. I don't have that kind of money to potentially throw away. Another personal preference - I'm pleased to hear it worked for you Murray. It's always good when it works.

My NDS seemed to work out of the box with comparatively little improvement over time. It was hooked up to a mature 555PS and I think this was probably why. When I went to DR and then to two DR-PS, it took months. Although it didn't sound awful at any point. The ND555 has taken a little while to bed in. Nothing dramatic - I was impressed from the first note - but a degree of improvement none the less. Someone posted earlier that this might be due to the ND555's on board DRs and on the face of it, this seems like a logical supposition.

Well it arrived!

Joy joy joy! Been playing music for last five hours straight so it is very good from cold - and it was finger-chilling cold to begin.

Some App problems if not using WiFi on the control iPad. WiFi mode works well - the Naim App expects WiFi and will lock you out and make you keep re-registering it as a new product to be able to use it in 'wired-LAN' mode, which I prefer, as it sounds better - to me, here. Hopefully Naim can remove the App lock-out screen block when WiFi is not on - really a pain! Only 0.01% of people (or just me) will use it this way. The older App did not have this problem, so it is new with the latest Naim App.

Apart from that - musically very beautiful!

Music that I really was into when I had it on Vinyl-play now has the verve and life in it again in a captivating way. The CD-format was obviously constrained by the players as it seems to offer no constraint at all now - bass is properly deep and controlled and top-end extended, fresh and open.

But I will have some run-in ahead for sure. Normally I expect a few days of great, then a wobble and back into gradual improvement after three weeks so I shall see if that apples this time.

Nice to get it finally!

DB.

Enjoy!

It really is a quite stunning piece of Kit. 

Darke Bear posted:

Well it arrived!

Joy joy joy! Been playing music for last five hours straight so it is very good from cold - and it was finger-chilling cold to begin.

Some App problems if not using WiFi on the control iPad. WiFi mode works well - the Naim App expects WiFi and will lock you out and make you keep re-registering it as a new product to be able to use it in 'wired-LAN' mode, which I prefer, as it sounds better - to me, here. Hopefully Naim can remove the App lock-out screen block when WiFi is not on - really a pain! Only 0.01% of people (or just me) will use it this way. The older App did not have this problem, so it is new with the latest Naim App.

Apart from that - musically very beautiful!

Music that I really was into when I had it on Vinyl-play now has the verve and life in it again in a captivating way. The CD-format was obviously constrained by the players as it seems to offer no constraint at all now - bass is properly deep and controlled and top-end extended, fresh and open.

But I will have some run-in ahead for sure. Normally I expect a few days of great, then a wobble and back into gradual improvement after three weeks so I shall see if that apples this time.

Nice to get it finally!

DB.

 

 

Welcome to the club, looking forward to your reports as it develops.

Congratulations. I hope you have big fun and lots of it.

Hopefully mine is installed next Tuesday.......I will follow your journey with interest. Enjoy your evening.

congratulations DB :-)

Honest, I'm not jealous! :-)

enjoy/ken

It just loves a 24/192k wav download, sham it appears twice in the list and you can’t add an album cover.

yeti42 posted:

It just loves a 24/192k wav download, sham it appears twice in the list and you can’t add an album cover.

I think you’re doing something wrong. 

Solved the double listing by removing the USB stick I used to transfer them but I think the album cover is a lost cause as they were downloaded as zipped wav files, the track names are there but the artwork only appears in the book icon and unlike rips there’s no option to change the default.

Neither Core nor 555 can find music on my pc though they see a directory I named “music share” which I’ve shared they can’t see the music in it. I’ve given up trying to solve this one and put it down to only having “homegroup” and not “workgroups” in this version of Windows 10.

Use something like dBpoweramp to strip out all tags from the files (if any are there) and put in the ones you want. Put the album artwork in the same folder as the files, call it folder.jpg and tag accordingly. The good news is that WAVs are really easy to tag. There can be a misconception about this because of the unnecessary proprietary method used by Naim rippers to tag them. 

After all the praise of the sound of this fantastic machine, some huge dissapointment about the app. It get’s really annoying if you are faced with issues every time you use the machine....

1. Multiple times a day you can’t use the app, and you are forced to swipe it away and start new.

2. Multiples times a day it comes on the room selection screen. I only have the ND555 in this network, and it happens when being busy with selecting something new or searching something new.

3. You can’t select a direct move back to your server if you have been listening to Tidal. When you click on the server it always switches back to Tidal. And the only way to achieve the result without newly starting the app is to push multiple times the back button and cancel selections, to get back to your original selection before you started your Tidal session. 

So all in all a disgrace for such a high quality streamer.

Nice one Gary. Enjoy.

The ND555 does seem to sound flippin' good, right outta the box.

John.

Can't disagree with your conclusion on the app Bert. I forgive it a lot because the iPad is mainly closed and I'm lost in the music. But as a control point for a £20K streamer it's not good enough. Actually, as a control point for a £250 Sonos it wouldn't be good enough.

Bert Schurink posted:

After all the praise of the sound of this fantastic machine, some huge dissapointment about the app. It get’s really annoying if you are faced with issues every time you use the machine....

1. Multiple times a day you can’t use the app, and you are forced to swipe it away and start new.

2. Multiples times a day it comes on the room selection screen. I only have the ND555 in this network, and it happens when being busy with selecting something new or searching something new.

3. You can’t select a direct move back to your server if you have been listening to Tidal. When you click on the server it always switches back to Tidal. And the only way to achieve the result without newly starting the app is to push multiple times the back button and cancel selections, to get back to your original selection before you started your Tidal session. 

 

So all in all a disgrace for such a high quality streamer.

Is this Naim App problem or ND555 problem?  Or combination of Naim App and new streamer?

 Thank 

J

Congratulations DB ... seems we did talk it up when you were here on Thursday. Yes it’s a shame about the app ... in my case it keeps losing the Melco server, using Twonky, switching the iPad on and off solves this but you shouldn’t have to do that. Frustrating to say the least!

Enjoy your new listening experience... look forward to hearing it in due course.