ND555 Impressions

Mrs B is away for a couple of nights, so I’m maximising my opportunity to spend time alone with the ND555... it’s certainly an affair of the heart!

I think my one is now fully run in with over 2 months on the clock, and it’s sounding very special right now.

I had no external internet access over the weekend, so I used the time to listen to a lot of music on the ND555/252/250DR with the Devore Gibbon X loaners.  So fabulous . . . really reinvigorated my desire to SIT and LISTEN!  It's that 'I want to snap my fingers and tap my feet' feeling . . . (yes, the dog DOES look at me funny!!!)

Richieroo posted:

Just been told  it's the dreaded casework quality issue.........doh....

Me too, but "possibly towards the end of this week". Yikes!

My low point with harshness was listening to Daryl hall and John Oates......the usual smooth high voice was very harsh. Took 24 hours it then snapped back into place....smooth sound, great high male vocals....now listening on Yutube to live Hall and Oates live in Dublin. It’s a cracking piece of kit, hard to drag myself away.

Still running-in here with some ups and downs but generally going in a good direction. My main issues are still with the App and on occasion having to re-boot to clear a stuck Artwork image on the ND555. I've just joined the Beta test team so hopefully some of these things can get chased-down and resolved.
Any comments on the Beta-test stuff will go onto the Beta test team portal when I convert over to that in a few hours from now. Everything I've mentioned to this point has been of the formally-released App and ND555 firmware.

Apart from these things the ND555 in musical operation is quite special in its way to re-open my music collection in ways that pleasantly surprise me.

DB.

Not had frozen artwork for 8 months or so, did on my Nova for quite awhile now and then, but not the nd555, so far????

Darke Bear posted:

Still running-in here with some ups and downs but generally going in a good direction. My main issues are still with the App and on occasion having to re-boot to clear a stuck Artwork image on the ND555. I've just joined the Beta test team so hopefully some of these things can get chased-down and resolved.
Any comments on the Beta-test stuff will go onto the Beta test team portal when I convert over to that in a few hours from now. Everything I've mentioned to this point has been of the formally-released App and ND555 firmware.

Apart from these things the ND555 in musical operation is quite special in its way to re-open my music collection in ways that pleasantly surprise me.

DB.

 

Thus, a very concise summary of about 2000 posts on the ND555 could perhaps be: hardware outstanding, software demanding. Would you agree?

It happens every few days and needs re-boot via the 555PS off-on to clear it. Only happened three times so far but I've only had the ND555 a couple of weeks.

The App - when it works which is mostly - is great... apart from its big faults when it goes wrong.

This is the 'WiFi-block' screen which is incredibly annoying and makes me have to run through re-registering it to use it on a wired-LAN - then it works until you minimise it and then it will block again. The previous App did not do this and let you run it without telling me I'm not using WiFi - I know - it works on a LAN fine and sounds better in my system that way. When I turn-on the WiFi (which I can) then the system noise-floor is ruined and I get a whoosh of murky mush 'normal' for WiFi in my house and I just prefer to have the full system capability. Actually I think most people have normalized themselves to this level of noise - but I don't want to at home if I don't have to, as a wired-LAN does the job.

The other niggles is that App Artworks on folders don't work right (for me) and that sometimes in-folder navigation freezes with the 'search' circle going forever and then you can't navigate any other folder - until you re-start the App ... and for reasons above given this is currently a real pain.

...I'll see if the Beta App solves these things.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

It happens every few days and needs re-boot via the 555PS off-on to clear it. Only happened three times so far but I've only had the ND555 a couple of weeks.

The App - when it works which is mostly - is great... apart from its big faults when it goes wrong.

This is the 'WiFi-block' screen which is incredibly annoying and makes me have to run through re-registering it to use it on a wired-LAN - then it works until you minimise it and then it will block again. The previous App did not do this and let you run it without telling me I'm not using WiFi - I know - it works on a LAN fine and sounds better in my system that way. When I turn-on the WiFi (which I can) then the system noise-floor is ruined and I get a whoosh of murky mush 'normal' for WiFi in my house and I just prefer to have the full system capability. Actually I think most people have normalized themselves to this level of noise - but I don't want to at home if I don't have to, as a wired-LAN does the job.

The other niggles is that App Artworks on folders don't work right (for me) and that sometimes in-folder navigation freezes with the 'search' circle going forever and then you can't navigate any other folder - until you re-start the App ... and for reasons above given this is currently a real pain.

...I'll see if the Beta App solves these things.

DB.

I had all sorts of initial problems with my Nova with App and Screen problems......Cisco 2960 switch seemed to sort out the issues. No clue why, as the Virginmedia hub 2.0 did not change. Others on the forum like Si in Suffolk perhaps can give some pointers. I think the App and ND555 firmware is sound if everything else is perfect.....perhaps a big ask?

DB, I've had my ND555 for coming up to five weeks and I am using the Beta App.

The screen has frozen about half a dozen times and as you say needs a power down to clear the frozen screen artwork during this time my ND555 had been set to screen on during replay.

I did set the screen to off last Friday evening and unbelievably is stayed on whilst playing I didn't bother to change the setting back to screen on. Whilst playing a ripped CD on Sunday the screen froze even though it is set to screen off during replay. Powering the ND555 off and restarting has reset the device and the screen goes off during replay.

I've not had any problems with the app and you can play and control whatever you like with the app when the screen is in it's frozen state.

The app on the iPad shows exactly what is playing its just the screen that stays frozen and will stay that way until you power down and restart.

The screen has only frozen whilst playing ripped CDs never when listening to the Internet Radio.

When this first happened I contacted Naim Support and they have run my ND555 in remote diagnostic mode and downloaded stored information. I spoke to a member of the R and D team on Monday to update and they are still looking into this problem.

Hopefully a fix should be in the pipeline?

Wow only 17 to go. But seriously the ND555 is a dream, while the app is annoying. Luckily I don’t have issues which need a reboot of the ND555, but the app itself regularly creates issues.

magical points are...

1. Immense PRAT

2. Soundstage

3. Tonal accuracy

4. Detail retrieval

5. Bass extension

6. Live feeeling for live albums...

I'm positive - just reporting problems as I think they can be sorted out.
It is why I volunteered to test the new Beta App, as I think the particular problems I encounter can be resolved.

The main achievement is the ND555 itself which is excellent.

DB.

I find I'm enjoying music that I know I don't generally like when rendered via the ND555.
Very weird - it has an at-ease 'neutralness' that allows everything to speak without distracting me from what the performance was about. It renders the 'whole' performance with a natural grace and ease without embellishment that puts the listener at ease to go into anything there in the music.

The rendering of timing of vocals and instruments is very good. Subtle changes and inflections in voicing and playing are done better than I recall hearing before.

DB.

nbpf posted:

Darke Bear posted:

Still running-in here with some ups and downs but generally going in a good direction. My main issues are still with the App and on occasion having to re-boot to clear a stuck Artwork image on the ND555. I've just joined the Beta test team so hopefully some of these things can get chased-down and resolved.
Any comments on the Beta-test stuff will go onto the Beta test team portal when I convert over to that in a few hours from now. Everything I've mentioned to this point has been of the formally-released App and ND555 firmware.

Apart from these things the ND555 in musical operation is quite special in its way to re-open my music collection in ways that pleasantly surprise me.

DB.

 

Thus, a very concise summary of about 2000 posts on the ND555 could perhaps be: hardware outstanding, software demanding. Would you agree?

As you know from reading the forum, the software issues vary from user to user. Eg for me, using the Naim App, or Roon, the software is simple and effective and "just works."

Bart posted:

nbpf posted:

Thus, a very concise summary of about 2000 posts on the ND555 could perhaps be: hardware outstanding, software demanding. Would you agree?

As you know from reading the forum, the software issues vary from user to user. Eg for me, using the Naim App, or Roon, the software is simple and effective and "just works."

I'd say that the software issues are, now, relatively minor and (for me) confined to the control App.
I would not let this put you off the ND555, once you are aware of how you operate it in practice in your own system. This is what, for me, the Dealer allowed me to become familiar with enough to accept and purchase.

I saw progress and a commitment from Naim to bottom-out these problems and the Beta testing group for me also shows an ongoing commitment to improvement.

I think the fact it works well in some system configurations and only has issues in others shows that it can be got right and that a wider base of system configurations (like mine) need to be more fully tested.

Musically the device delivers - otherwise I would not have gone down this path. I used to develop software and write Apps so I'm always more annoyed when things don't work right as I know they can be made good.

DB.

Quick question - with the unit set to switch off the artwork - does this mean that the artwork will still be visible prior to play during the selection process - and then switch off during play?

Richieroo posted:

Quick question - with the unit set to switch off the artwork - does this mean that the artwork will still be visible prior to play during the selection process - and then switch off during play?

Yes you will see the artwork momentarily if you press the illumination button this will also bring back the artwork for a few seconds or you can double click the clock button and this will do the same.

Darke Bear posted:

Bart posted:

nbpf posted:

Thus, a very concise summary of about 2000 posts on the ND555 could perhaps be: hardware outstanding, software demanding. Would you agree?

As you know from reading the forum, the software issues vary from user to user. Eg for me, using the Naim App, or Roon, the software is simple and effective and "just works."

I'd say that the software issues are, now, relatively minor and (for me) confined to the control App.
I would not let this put you off the ND555, once you are aware of how you operate it in practice in your own system. This is what, for me, the Dealer allowed me to become familiar with enough to accept and purchase.

I saw progress and a commitment from Naim to bottom-out these problems and the Beta testing group for me also shows an ongoing commitment to improvement.

I think the fact it works well in some system configurations and only has issues in others shows that it can be got right and that a wider base of system configurations (like mine) need to be more fully tested.

Musically the device delivers - otherwise I would not have gone down this path. I used to develop software and write Apps so I'm always more annoyed when things don't work right as I know they can be made good.

DB.

I cannot understand why anyone would splash out on an NDS55, and not use Roon to run it (except for Internet Radio). I have mine 8 weeks now, and I have never had to reboot it, in contrast to the many here who have reported problems when using the Naim app. 

David O'Higgins posted:

Darke Bear posted:

Bart posted:

nbpf posted:

Thus, a very concise summary of about 2000 posts on the ND555 could perhaps be: hardware outstanding, software demanding. Would you agree?

As you know from reading the forum, the software issues vary from user to user. Eg for me, using the Naim App, or Roon, the software is simple and effective and "just works."

I'd say that the software issues are, now, relatively minor and (for me) confined to the control App.
I would not let this put you off the ND555, once you are aware of how you operate it in practice in your own system. This is what, for me, the Dealer allowed me to become familiar with enough to accept and purchase.

I saw progress and a commitment from Naim to bottom-out these problems and the Beta testing group for me also shows an ongoing commitment to improvement.

I think the fact it works well in some system configurations and only has issues in others shows that it can be got right and that a wider base of system configurations (like mine) need to be more fully tested.

Musically the device delivers - otherwise I would not have gone down this path. I used to develop software and write Apps so I'm always more annoyed when things don't work right as I know they can be made good.

DB.

I cannot understand why anyone would splash out on an NDS55, and not use Roon to run it (except for Internet Radio). I have mine 8 weeks now, and I have never had to reboot it, in contrast to the many here who have reported problems when using the Naim app. 

I would need to add a running device in the network, which I don't like and I am looking at maximum sound quality. I am a little concerned that it also would negatively influence my sound quality.

Roon doesn't fix anything. It's just a shell.  And a rather expensive one.

Bert Schurink posted.

I would need to add a running device in the network, which I don't like.

Very much the same here keep it simple, I believe you need a computer running to use Room  and the further away I can get from a computer when playing music the better.

Regarding the app and the ND555 my simple set up seems too be fairly bullet proof.

The screen freezing glitch seems to be happening to a few users with various system configurations. I also have heard the NDX2 suffers from the same intermittent problem it will be interning to see what fix Naim come up with.

The slight screen glitch aside the ND555 is a truly remarkable black box you need to hear it in your own system to appreciate all of  its qualities it certainly reinforces the source first principle.

Harry posted:

Roon doesn't fix anything. It's just a shell.  And a rather expensive one.

I'm not sure that it's just a shell - Roon replaces UPnP entirely with its own software. For me, I don't really feel that I need it, or that it offers anything over UPnP controlled by the Naim app, that I particularly want, but for some who have had reliability issues, it has provided a more reliable alternative.

ChrisSU posted:

Harry posted:

Roon doesn't fix anything. It's just a shell.  And a rather expensive one.

I'm not sure that it's just a shell - Roon replaces UPnP entirely with its own software. For me, I don't really feel that I need it, or that it offers anything over UPnP controlled by the Naim app, that I particularly want, but for some who have had reliability issues, it has provided a more reliable alternative.

The reliability part is a minor advantage of Roon. The best part is how it manages your listening experience, and at $495 for a lifetime licence, it’s really not expensive, especially in the context of the price of ND555 and a power supply (or Two!). 

Bert, do you not have a ‘running device’ on your network already, in the shape of whatever stores your music?

David O'Higgins posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Harry posted:

Roon doesn't fix anything. It's just a shell.  And a rather expensive one.

I'm not sure that it's just a shell - Roon replaces UPnP entirely with its own software. For me, I don't really feel that I need it, or that it offers anything over UPnP controlled by the Naim app, that I particularly want, but for some who have had reliability issues, it has provided a more reliable alternative.

The reliability part is a minor advantage of Roon. The best part is how it manages your listening experience, and at $495 for a lifetime licence, it’s really not expensive, especially in the context of the price of ND555 and a power supply (or Two!). 

Bert, do you not have a ‘running device’ on your network already, in the shape of whatever stores your music?

The way Roon "manages my listening experience" is not particularly to my liking - I prefer to manage it myself, and don't feel that Roon really adds anything I want. Other people clearly like the way it works, and that's fine, we are all different, and these preferences are entirely subjective.

David O'Higgins posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Harry posted:

Roon doesn't fix anything. It's just a shell.  And a rather expensive one.

I'm not sure that it's just a shell - Roon replaces UPnP entirely with its own software. For me, I don't really feel that I need it, or that it offers anything over UPnP controlled by the Naim app, that I particularly want, but for some who have had reliability issues, it has provided a more reliable alternative.

The reliability part is a minor advantage of Roon. The best part is how it manages your listening experience, and at $495 for a lifetime licence, it’s really not expensive, especially in the context of the price of ND555 and a power supply (or Two!). 

Bert, do you not have a ‘running device’ on your network already, in the shape of whatever stores your music?

Obviously I have a Melco running in the network. But the Melco shields itself away as I have a direct Melco to ND555 connection and the network connection as such is a different port....