Was sat thinking my iPad Mini heck even an IPod new style but probably 4 yrs old is still getting o/s and app support pretty much as any new product - I do loathe Apple as all other tablets/phones are Android
Back on track ...
Relate this to Naim and a few threads now about NDS, NDX, let's just say now the discontinued streaming range, will never get the latest and greatest updates.
Apart from loving the Naim sound, I do love the fact when I do upgrade and sell on old boxes, most times the loss was a acceptable when bought new and second-hand in nearly every case I would get back what I paid or slight loss.
BUT that was all with amps and CD (but their value has died quicker than a Diesel.
So the question is, as we watch the discontinued streaming range residual values, either drop like a brick or take a big hit, add to that no support for anything new that comes along - are we all buying top notch dead end products (let's just take Roon as a simple example) ?
To clarify I mean dead end as in, superb for their time, but no way to upgrade or keep up with what's new.
Suppose even the new range could be trumped if something new comes along ...
Posted on: 03 August 2018 by Guinnless
The discontinued streamers are still great and will still sell well as with all Naim kit. The new units will naturally push the price of the old ones down as users trade up but the market will settle over time.
I can't see Naim no longer providing firmware updates, service or repairs.
Posted on: 03 August 2018 by Obsydian
If normally agree, but I think this streaming lark and Naim size limit how many products they can endlessly support from a software perspective and then a hardware if and so required for whatever new comes along and in the tech world that can change very quickly.
Posted on: 03 August 2018 by ChrisSU
I think the old streamers will continue to do, very well, what they were originally developed to do. That is to stream from a local source on your LAN, with a bit of iRadio thrown in. Ten years ago, when they were in development, Tidal didn't exist, and web streaming services were unknown to virtually everybody. Online music was pretty much limited to lossy iTunes downloads. It took Naim a considerable amount of effort to add support for Spotify, and then Tidal, in response to demand several years after the streamers were first released. As digital transports, I believe they will be able to hold their own, but as new functionality continues to appear, it might just take a bit of ingenuity to find workarounds to add it.
Posted on: 04 August 2018 by Pev
As a Beta tester I know for a fact that Naim go to extreme lengths to enable the legacy streamers to take advantage of new software updates. They are listened to just as carefully as the new range before new software is released.
Having said that, the legacy streamers embody streaming technology that has now been surpassed in capablity by the new streaming platform which can do things never envisaged when the originals were designed. This is not planned obsolescence (unlike Apple!). The legacy streamers will continue to do all they were originally intended to and more and be fully supported by Naim.
Posted on: 04 August 2018 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Pev, the streamer architecture with the new products is not dissimilar to the original streamers, and is essentially the same technology, however the feedback from customer use cases has been fed into changed implementations of that technology in the newer products, such as increased application spooling memory, and increased EM isolation from network interfacing so as to reduce effects of Ethernet cables etc.
Ultimately there is also limitation of some of the iinterfacing componentry as well licensing considerations of the legacy streamers which prevents some of newer features being supported such as Airplay2
Posted on: 04 August 2018 by Harry
Are the value of second hand streamers diving faster than their discontinued CD players? What does a CDS3 go for now? Is it any less dead end than an NDS?
I suppose it depends in personal requirements. I want top notch playback of 16 and 24bit and DSD64. Nothing else interests me, although radio is nice to have. This means that my NDS (or approaching ND555) will do everything I need for as long as either it lives or I do. I would hardly buy something which has a potential to do something in the future that I require. In that event I would choose a stream which does it now.
Looking at how everything from HDX and onwards has benefitted from firmware updates in terms of functionality and sound quality, these products have proved to be hugely upgradable.
Like OP, I'm also not a fan of the Mac universe. Or their ethics and business models. But they work best (for me) so I use them. This area is without doubt Naims weakest suit. They aren't good at developing software. The sound quality makes this a relatively minor niggle. For me at least.
Posted on: 04 August 2018 by rjstaines
I sold my 6 year old NDS on the bay for £3,500 cash, so no paypal fees and no insured shipping cost, AND an ebay deal of £3 selling fee 
The buyer subsequently decided he'd rather have an NDX2, so my old NDS is back on the bay with his (and my, and Dave M's) dealer. This will be interesting I'm thinking ! I'm betting he'll make a profit on the £3,500 he paid for it, and if he does, the best of luck to him 
He's in there before the tsunami of NDS's hits the market.
OK, so the tsunami is delayed whilst Naim catch up with their Burndi manufacture, allowing them to ship the ND555's sitting in the warehouse right now (so I heard somewhere).
