ND555 Impressions

yeti42 posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Bert Schurink posted:

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....

I'm not sure if Roon would work with the Ethernet connection running via the Melco - maybe someone has tried this?

Hard luck Dusty.

What happened, i was listening to my ND555 and lost track of time...o well...I definitely  want to be the 3000th post. Come on my forum colleagues..lets be having you!!!!!

Dusty, lend me your ND555 and I can then post away on here and get you to 3000.

Sound reasonable to you?

nigelb posted:

French Rooster posted:

Thanks Yeti.  When I heard the nd555 on the last demo, I forgot to ask why the digital volume was configured. The volume of the nac 252 was set at minimum.

If I understand you FR, this demo only used the digital volume control on the ND555, and the analog volume control on the 252 was overlooked. If this is correct and it was a Naim demo, it sounds very weird. But I have probably misunderstood you.

I begin to understand your humor Nigel.  Yes, the sound was horrible, I had to put the fingers in my ears!   

I was more seriously asking if the sound would be just better without the digital volume....

If you don’t use the digital volume control and only use the preamp volume (as I intend to if my ND555 ever arrives), to what level should the digital volume control be set?

Darke Bear posted:

 

The noise-floor was already very low after the insertion of the S1 Pre and especially the 500DR (the DR dropped the background). I'd say the ND555 is possibly also very slightly quieter than CD555 although it is more the evenness of the response that makes it more apparent.

 

DB.

I think ND555 has 13 circuits that got the DR treatment so I have no doubt the ND555 has a lower noise floor than CD555

French Rooster posted:

nigelb posted:

French Rooster posted:

Thanks Yeti.  When I heard the nd555 on the last demo, I forgot to ask why the digital volume was configured. The volume of the nac 252 was set at minimum.

If I understand you FR, this demo only used the digital volume control on the ND555, and the analog volume control on the 252 was overlooked. If this is correct and it was a Naim demo, it sounds very weird. But I have probably misunderstood you.

I begin to understand your humor Nigel.  Yes, the sound was horrible, I had to put the fingers in my ears!   

I was more seriously asking if the sound would be just better without the digital volume....

Actually FR, my query to you was a serious one. I don't understand why only the ND555 digital (variable) volume was used in your demo when there was a perfectly good 252 analog volume control to try!

Maybe I am being thick, but you credit me with too much humour.

nigelb posted:

French Rooster posted:

nigelb posted:

French Rooster posted:

Thanks Yeti.  When I heard the nd555 on the last demo, I forgot to ask why the digital volume was configured. The volume of the nac 252 was set at minimum.

If I understand you FR, this demo only used the digital volume control on the ND555, and the analog volume control on the 252 was overlooked. If this is correct and it was a Naim demo, it sounds very weird. But I have probably misunderstood you.

I begin to understand your humor Nigel.  Yes, the sound was horrible, I had to put the fingers in my ears!   

I was more seriously asking if the sound would be just better without the digital volume....

Actually FR, my query to you was a serious one. I don't understand why only the ND555 digital (variable) volume was used in your demo when there was a perfectly good 252 analog volume control to try!

Maybe I am being thick, but you credit me with too much humour.

I don’t understand too.  So I asked here because it surprised me.  Michael is a naim specialist in France, he is working with Focal now but before with the french distributor of Naim.

I found the sound specially good, and the nd555 had only 20 hours !    But without the digital volume, I guess it would be better.

Perhaps they choose this option for commercial appealing, because it can be cool or fun to control the volume within the app.   I am curious to know if the digital volume of the nd555 is enough good.

Clive B posted:

If you don’t use the digital volume control and only use the preamp volume (as I intend to if my ND555 ever arrives), to what level should the digital volume control be set?

At the demo, the volume of the 252 was around 6 and the digital between 60 and 80 .   But like you I try to understand.     The sound was specially good for a 20 hours burn nd555, so perhaps the digital volume of the nd555 is very good.

Well I visited [@mention:1566878603867476] this week with my cable testing playlist on a USB stick.

I was fully expecting to politely say, indeed the ND555 sound good, but leave feeling underwhelmed and my suspicions that this thread was mostly sycophancy reinforced..

Indeed the ND555 sounded very good and David's setup definitely sounding the best I've ever heard it. The sound was both beguiling and attention grabbing. Both visceral and smooth. I left with the opinion that there is perhaps a little more reality in this thread than I had presumed and a little peeved off that I had not kept my 555PS for just this eventuality.

.sjb

And what power amps were being used by this demo may I ask?

Bailyhill

Bailyhill posted:

And what power amps were being used by this demo may I ask?

Bailyhill

Nap 500 dr.  They had not 552 available, so the dealer used his 252.   The speakers were Apertura Adamante ( around 11k french speakers).  Cisco 2960 switch.   I brought my usb stick.

I was trying to access upnp via the display, but it is not there. Also chromecast and tidal are not there, altough on the app. I could not find a way to setup in the settings. How do I fix this on the ND555? Many thx Lars

LarsDK posted:

I was trying to access upnp via the display, but it is not there. Also chromecast and tidal are not there, altough on the app. I could not find a way to setup in the settings. How do I fix this on the ND555? Many thx Lars

These inputs all require the app to control them, so I guess putting the input on the front panel is pointless as you can’t select them with the remote. 

I was hoping to scroll through those inputs and then click like it was possible on the nds. On nds all sources were available on the display. Lars

This is an album to play on the ND555 the low notes on the first song are very well rendered, quite a number of people might not like this by the way...

LarsDK posted:

I was hoping to scroll through those inputs and then click like it was possible on the nds. On nds all sources were available on the display. Lars

It's an odd deficiency of the new streamers/Uniti range - I'm sure it could potentially be accomplished in software.

More than anything it would be nice to be able to use the unit many years down the line without the need for an app, which if for any reason fails to be updated may fail to work with future phones/tablets.

LarsDK posted:

I was hoping to scroll through those inputs and then click like it was possible on the nds. On nds all sources were available on the display. Lars

Not sure if I'm misunderstanding, but with my ND 555, when I start the app, and it finds the streamer, pressing on the streamer icon takes me to the next page, where all servers connected to my networks are shown.

I then select the UPnP server I wish to engage, and all is well.

I agree that with my previous NDS, there was  a line of inputs shown on the app, e.g "UPnP', Tidal, etc, but it seems all that has changed is the route to finding them.

My sole UPnP server at the moment is my NAS, but my HDX will be back in use next week, so I'm assuming that it will show up, and I will be able to select it from the list of UPnP servers.

I'll report back if this is not the case, but hopefully you will have sorted things out before then.

Regards,

Dave.

Thanks for clarifying alley cat - indeed quite odd. I will miss that feature..

I still get the icon layout on my front page when browsing the ND555. I have uPnP, Internet Radio, USB and Chromecast. with Radio presets below them.. I haven't found how to hide the Chromecast icon.  It seems familiar compared to the NDS. Have I missed something?

Bert - thanks for the pointer to A Blooming Bloodfruit in a Hoodie - certainly comes over in a deep base realism via my new high res Qobuz stream subscription.

 ....  that should read 'deep bass realism'. Earthy drum roll [tympani?], Rap and string quartet - now that's a new combination to me - made for the ND 555. Wonderful trumpet ....

“The Beast” arrived yesterday - after a very extended home loaner. Nice to now have my very own and it is sounding lovely right out of the box.

Is anybody else missing the ability to choose tracks directly with the remote? (my young kids especially are missing this feature when mum / dad are not around to unlock the ipad)

How did you used to be able to chose tracks directly from a remote?

I am not using an ND555, but an earlier Naim streaming transport.. and the track selection via IR remote is probably used as much as the iPad.... can be a lot more convenient than iPad... that would be a potential issue for me... perhaps it’s a feature they couldn’t get working reliably for launch and will be introduced later..

On the NDS I could see the list of albums etc on the player’s front screen, and was able to select these tracks directly via the remote. We used this a lot so sorry to see this feature has seemingly gone.