NDX Power Usage

According to Naim spec "maximum" power consumption is 60VA 

VA = volt/amps & without getting technical thats 60 watts

What its doing at maximum to use that kind of power is one thing, but you need to know what its consuming when just switched on & doing nothing.

Unless you have & can use an AC ammeter,  the answer needs to come from Naim. 

I believe the nominal power consumption is much less than 60 watts and only picks at some bass-heavy transients. I don't think the digital part can consume more than analogue except possibly when NDX is struggling with decoding 24/96 flac 

If you do a forum search you will find a lot of discussions of nominal power consumption of various Naim gears and they never end up with scary numbers as I recall.

Hmm - good question. I'll go and measure it. 

James

Approx 26w according to my plug in power meter - not the most accurate but does the job. Draws the same whether idling, Radio on etc. 

James

It's not really a question of if you can afford to buy it, you can afford to run it. To use your analogy, you don't need to keep your Ferrari permanently idling to get the best from it when you take it out for a blast, so why should you with a hi-fi. It's a shame that the Naim stuff does need to be left on to get the best from it as it's a pure waste of energy. 

James

Woah Mr Johnnaim

With the kind of thinking we would still have smogs in London and lead in our petrol. It's not all about monetary cost!

Besides, if you look after the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves - I can afford a Naim NDX, precisely because I am careful about my money, not because I squander it.

Wasting electricity on something that is not in use IS a waste. 

these streamer units will run at possiblely no more than 25w.  tested dac 20w .

my checks on stand by are about 7w  . if you play music every day leave it on and keep a steady temperature ,if only a weekends switch it off in week. simple

Sorry but energy consumption is a real issue. Naim should have designed the unit to use minimal power or no power when not in use i.e. standby.

It is not ridiculous. It is plain common sense Waste is waste. Turn it off when not in use, and enjoy the longer periods of use on holiday and the weekends.

I have made this my practice for a good ten years without any problem.

One of the reasons I like the Nait 5i-2 is its ability to be grand after a period od warming up similar to a traditional valve amplifier - in other words, a few miutes to top quality. I do agree that such dynosaws as the old 52 did not really warm up fast enough, and it is possible that the newer topline pre-amps are as slow to get going, but one must work out whether we have the right to leave to succeeding generations a legacy of wasted energy ...

I think not.

George

[Cyclist, non car owner, turms off anything not in use straight away, and sets the thermostat at 15 degrees even in a well insulated house ...]

 Mr Johnnaim

you seem to be getting a bit hot under the collar! in my original question I merely wondered what the actual quiescent power usage was. Lots of appliances get left on in standby - I was just intrigued by the manual stating that there was no standby mode for this one.

Thank you the people who have suggested/measured actual values. 

Well - interesting question.

I have been given one of these boxes that clips onto the power mains by British Gas.

I was wondering how reliable they are.  With everything switched off except the fridge - I seem to be running a base load of about 200-300w. 

Based on that my CDS2/XPS1/NDX/252/Supercap2/135(x2) plus Uniti seem to draw about 300w on "idle".

Andrew

the figures i measured are with a industrial clip on ammeter, no a freebie from npower

Sorry to open up an old post,  but its the same subject.

I have measured my NDX using a Fluke 79 using the internal 10 amp range 

On/idle was 0.103 amps = 25VA   (240v)

Running on UPnP & iRadio raised that by ~0.002a  - i.e. next to nothing

The display on/off did not change anything

Not sure were Naim get their published 60VA maximum from,  maybe a factory person can tell us.

The question seems to me perfectly legitimate. Whether drivers of ferraris worry about the price of petrol or not is, however, pointless: it does not have any bearing on what other people should care about. If the OP cares (or is just interested in) the power consumption of his new NDX it does not really matter why he does so and whether others (including you, me and drivers of whatever car brand) share his interest or concern or not.

If you are remotely concerned about the power usage of naim gear on stand by that begs a question

why did you buy it in the first place?

You did not research the product very well before buying it. 

If saving energy is so important to you I suggest you choose another hifi brand.

i choose naim for the sound quality alone , 

it is the same with a tv do you choose the one with the best picture or the one which uses the least electricity. I have a pioneer Kuro I have no idea how much electricity it uses, not interested but I do know the picture is brilliant!

I don’t think most around this forum are as concerned about pure power usage as such, more what it actually is & some of those with a mind towards being concerned with global issues.

In that respect I believe Naim could do better; I am aware of optimum circuit & component temperatures, but maybe only with critical paths rather than the whole unit.