new ND5 xs

down load from hd tracks and you will find it very good at 192k/24bit.just running in th ns5 power supply, on the ndac. there are improvements more on cd play than streamer

loading CDs all day, finally got tired of it.  I am looking forward to HD tracks  and CD quality music.

try linn music too

I rediscovered many CDs I just didn't play, one being  a Naim label classical.

I have a big stupid question???????????

I finally got the cable today and the hiface is in back and installed the driver. I get no music when I go to UPnP .  Also when I go to the 3 digital inputs....NADA.  Did I miss something like a Naim driver?  Why no iTunes?

I'm extremely frustrated at this point having it for 2 months and not getting much out of it.

Hi Mudwolf -

For your ND5 XS to play your music collection via UPnP, you need to have a UPnP server up and running and pointing towards your music files.   If you are using a NAS to store your files, then most have UPnP built in, and you simply need to enable it.  If you are using a PC, there are a number of choices (e.g., Asset).   If you are using a Mac to store your music files, there are only a few options (e.g., Playback).

If you are trying to use Itunes on a Mac or PC,and you are connected via S/PDIF to one of the ND5 XS's digital inputs, then you need to make sure that input is enabled (see section 4.3.6 in the manual).

Good luck!

Hook

Thanks Hook.    I was all messed up about UPnP.

took me a while reading a detailed email from Geoff P and the PDF of the Hiface for the computer.  I have a Mac and had to go in Preferences and choose SOUND  there were 2 choices internal and HiFace. Chose HF and fabulous sound came out of Digital 2,  Ella was right in the room………  

So was Adele and Paul Simon. I'm looking for it to get better as the cable warms up with 100 hrs of play it will mellow out.  I could hear Ella's breath on the microphone.  The sound stage is amazingly deep and detailed. I had to end the session at 10pm or annoy my neighbors because I wanted to turn it up not down.

I splurged, my cable is from Audience, I've enjoyed their AR6T as distribution and the cable is only 1M.  They say after 100 hrs it will settle in and not be so crisp but everything will sound right. 

I fear for my credit card balance and iTunes downloads.

NO! Not iTunes! Look at hi-res downloads rather than lossy MP3. HDTracks for example but be cautious of quality.

If you have a Mac try Playback for uPnP. Download and install on the mac and then the ND5 will see it and your music library. I use this with my Mac Mini and SuperUniti. It is the best I have found.

Do you have an iPhone/Pad/Pod Touch? If so then the Remote app (free) is fantastic for controlling the Mac for music. n-Stream will control uPnP if you download Playback. The HiFace is very good (I have one for Spotify etc) but I mainly use uPnP.

Regards

Neil

You are better off buying and ripping CDs than spending money on crappy iTunes downloads. Why buy an ND5XS and settle for compressed 256Kbit, makes no sense!

Mudwolf 

Glad you got it going - the hiFace is ideal for an older Mac, it is only the very new Mac Mini which blossoms on its optical out. I used a V-Link to do the same thing - there are lots of USB to S/PDIF convertors around and they all seem to work well - as long as they are low jitter, which the hiFace is and offer isolation - which the hiFace does then you are there.  

I agree with the others and only use iTunes shop as a last resort when I really can't get a lossless copy of the music. Your Naim ND5 has a super DAC in it and will give top notch results, but it can only do so much if the source material is AAC or MP3 - these are iPod formats rather than hi-fidelity formats. That will change, but for now I'd get the music on CDs and get the Mac to rip them to ALAC (or AIFF if you've got the disk space) - they both sound the same (yes they do to me: honestly).

Enjoy the music

All the best, Guy  

Congrats Mudwolf -- glad to hear you've got it all working well!

Guy offers some good advice on CD's.  And if you do not have any convenient, local music shops, then check out Amazon.  For every new CD, there is almost always a number of used copies on offer at just a fraction of the new price!

ATB.

Hook

I had all my own CDs in Lossless format and I will not listen to an MP3, it is trash.  I never had any reason to work with itunes over the years because my stereo is about 20' away so I'm having to learn what it can do. I'd really like to separate classical from Rock, and jazz.

I do have a local source about 5 miles away. Amoeba on Sunset in LA, very dangerous. I don't go often because it's a minimum $100 to get out the door.  Once I spent 300 there and had a panicked look, the sales guy was fun and said "oh and you get the stickers and you get the tote bag..." just so I wouldn't leave half of them behind. It was the $95 Dylan Vol 8 Basement tapes 4 vinyl that did that and the first one I put on the TT. That was a great evening with Bob.

I have Anita O'day on now and will go back to the live Ella now that I have 20 hours on the new Audience cable, it was quite bright last night. The sound stage of Paul Simon's last recording was wonderful, and haven't touched the Beatles which I haven't loaded on yet.

I'm working on putting it all in iCloud and have iTunes Match which for a fee upgrades the downloads/CDs to the best possible recording.  Takes a while to figure it all out and I have more to load.  What else is there to do than load CDs while I"m listening to something fabulous.

I took delivery of mine a couple of days ago. I have to say after years of Naim ownership that the XS range seems to represent the optimum point between perfomance, functionality and price - great stuff. Don't feel the urge to add PSU or DAC either - maybe cables....

Can't find Radio 3 HD but have discovered some other gret iradio stations. Also I have an Arcam rdac with its asynchronous USB-B input from laptop and am debating whether this would be improved on by a V-Link or Hiface into the ND5's DAC...?

Memory sticks sound pretty much as good to me as through the DAC or the NDX (well, nearly).

"Best possible recording" on iTunes Match is NOT lossless, mudwolf.  It cannot be overstated -- those files on iTunes Match are lossy files and really do a disservice to your hardware. 

I suppose that if you like the sound, who are we to criticize you?  But honestly, the compression and other mischief caused by converting files to a lossy format seriously degrade the sound. iTunes Match is better than their default 128kbps format, but not nearly close to lossless. You may not hear it via headphones and an iPod, but you WILL hear it (or at least should) on your nice hi fi.

Since buying my UnitiServe I have spent more money on cd's than I'd planned, but as others have written, many are purchased used.  There are a lot of cd's available used via Amazon here in the States for $3-4 including shipping.  After spending as much as I did on my hi fi, I could not fathom 'cheating myself' by listening to lossy music files.

I'll look into it then, thanks for the info.  I do find technical info lacking  on things like iTunes and some other media, they just want to sell you something and don't care about the details that might matter to some people.

Thankfully Amoeba is not too far but I'm out of money right now,  been enjoying the CDs  I have loaded, and there are many more to go.