ND5XS & Nait5i

No, I'm afraid not.

I gave away my CD5i-2 for some money and the ND5XS.

You will LOVE the upgrade.

In MY system, MY room and with MY speakers, the upgrade was MASSIVE.

Running-in now the ND5XS and I have to say it is (nearly) as fine as the nDAC I owned.

Perfect audio-heaven with ethernet oder USB-stick.

I'm running an ND5XS into Nait XS and it really is a nice combination. Comparing the ND5 acting as a DAC to my previous Rega DAC, the Naim makes the music flow more naturally to my ears and is tighter in the low frequencies. The Rega now seems a little slow by comparison.

I use the digital inputs being fed by a SkyHD box, CA 840C CD player & Denon 3800 Blu-ray player; all three sound impressive through the ND5.

Sounds like I need to that demo asap! I've ordered a Nettop box so will hopefully have a Vortexbox server set up in progress over the next few days.

I'm keen to use just the ND5 as the hub for both music and AV duties so glad to here that the DAC does good things.

Just need to ignore the temptation to listen to ND5 with the Nait XS ... 

Hi Gazla, I am also a newbie to Naim and have moved from other DACs including CA Dac Magic and Beresford... Today I am running the ND5 into the 5i-2. The step up from something like Dac Magic is huge. I am very happy with my system, it has got all the dynamics and foot tapping I could possibly ask for. Just ignore the Nait XS for the time being and be happy with the ND5 and 5i my advice. If you ever feel like upgrading later you have many options  Have fun and enjoy the music.

So, after an expensive listening session, I can clearly say that the ND5XS is miles ahead of the CD5i-2 and better than my old CD5XS too.

I then switched to the same tracks on vinyl...

Vinyl is still source No. 1..., but the ND5Xs is a beautiful machine...

Looking [sounding] like it'll be easy choice  

Vortexbox (VB)  up and running ... and ripping (although nothing to play the rips on at the moment). Although wondering if it was the right install having found advice suggesting the use of dbPoweramp and other Windows based tools for ripping and tagging on the VB for forum ...

Having never had vinyl, I have no idea how it might be so good ... maybe one day.   

Cheers

Because of the warm, deep and lively sound of a good TT.

Honestly, when I bought the ND5XS, I had the chance to hear the NDX AND the ND5XS, both without a PSU.

I couldn´t hear a difference in sound that justified the nearly 2000€ price-difference.

The NDX had the "better" soundstage" and maybe a little bit more bottom end, but the ND5XS was in my ears "more musical" and more "food-tapping" and more "sitting-there-with-a-smile".

This is good to know ...

I've been pondering a number of Naim based options to move to a streaming based solution, that also can also for the a single music/av hub (I'm more than happy having moved to 2.0 from 5.1 for AV, and would rather invest in single higher quality solution). Bearing in mind there is a budget the ND5XS is really the main candidate (I'd prefer more digital inputs as on the SU, but there are ways round this).

I just need to keep reminding myself that the Nait5i will be good enough ... When I initially bought the my Naim kit, I only visited my local dealer with the expectation (and budget!) to purchase a new CD player from either the Rega or Cyrus ... I ended up with a CD5i AND the Nait5i! 

I did the demo and have placed an order ... 

Of course, it took only minutes for temptation to get the the better of me when booking up the session and ended up listening kit above my initial budget. 

I listened to 3 options:

ND5 XS + Nait5i

SuperUniti

ND5 XS + Nait XS

All with my own Vortexbox music server and speakers (Totem Dreamcatchers). The latter to try and get closer to the sound I might achieve at home. 

Most of the time was spent on the first two options, the Nait XS was more a 'food for thought' and to balance out what I heard with the other two.

To be honest, although out my original budget, I had been expecting to be blown away by the SuperUniti but in short I wasn't. For me the ND5 with the Nait5i sounded 'better' - bigger sound stage, more detail. The SuperUniti was perhaps more controlled - refined(?) - but just didn't do it for me. The Nait XS covered the good points of the others ... So in the future this will warrant a further listen.

I should be picking up the ND5 XS in a week or two. 

What the session did emphasis to me was that the Totem's are indeed great little speakers (where does that bass come from?!) but with faster more 'complex' music, certainly with the Nait5i, they get a little muddled ... so it maybe here I invest next, before the amp.

Congratulations!!!

Great choice.

The ND5XS is awesome.

Make sure you give your DCs a fair run on that Nait XS before parting with them! You might find the XS is all you were looking for...