New Naim NDX

The trouble with a pure streamer to go with the dac is that the Market will be small. If you have dac you might as well just get the serve ssd. But if you want a simple way into computer based audio the ndx looks a great place to start, and it can be upgraded as much as you want.

But four boxes is still barmy. The ideal would seem to be a great sounding streamer and dac all in one box, just like the linn.

Nigel

Occean, take a look at Phil's comments earlier. This is a streaming client not a server, hence not a "stripped" HDX.

My own take is that on the face of it, this is a version of the DAC with a streamer onboard. Or perhaps I should say that it's a streamer with a version of the DAC onboard...

It will be very interesting to see how it performs against the DAC, especially with the PSU options.

Anyway, let us wait and see just how this one performs. I for one, am very excited at this. There are now plenty of options appearing in the Naim range and I guess it will all make much better sense once everything is released and out there.

quote:

Originally posted by Paul Stephenson:
You can see the appeal of the top Linn streamer, just one box and a far lower price.

No doubt, as can Naim.

Paul, It's great giving everyone a choice of products, but as you must realise, your distributed audio range is getting a bit messy. It's almost as if you have separate teams working on each product, announcing (or not) and releasing them in isolation, with little cohesion and plenty of overlap.

All I need now is a UnitiServe; an NDX without a DAC or power supply, that plays Apple Lossless (still not on the NDX or Qute even though you have an Apple license - how come?); and a DAC without a power supply; and then I'll pull the trigger on my eight-box 500-series Naim distributed audio source.

Sorry for being a tad facetious, and forgive the pun, but where's the unity?

quote:

Originally posted by Julian H:
Is the NDX at a disadvantage to the HDX because it does not benefit from the Naim bit perfect ripping?

Not if you feed it with bit-perfect rips ...

Phil

Great- Well done Naim:-)
you will get my order ....i was looking for this since months...sell my linn majik ds as soon NDX hits market!

ralf

This is why only a mug jumps in early! Let the dross fail, the good products survive and evolve, and then go for it. CDs still sound great to me, even though my CD5x is now worth around £4.20.

Nigel

quote:

This is a streaming client not a server, hence not a "stripped" HDX.

Does this mean it won't support gapless playback like the uniti/qute and will rely on the upnp server unlike the hdx/serve/NS?

quote:

your distributed audio range is getting a bit messy.

Sorry chief just do not agree,taking control of ripping and allowing UPnP clients to retrieve is not messy its joined up, rather then a bundle of computer parts.

Chief,

I think it begins to make sense if you look at the big picture of a relatively simple home install: HDX, NSxx or Unitiserve as your server, plus NAS drive, Unitiqute as secondary systems and the NDX in the main system.

And for those wanting something more sophisticated with greater control options can combine the uPnP items with Naimnet.

With Naim's usual upgrade options, it looks a strong proposition with a great deal of choice and flexibility from where I'm sitting.

quote:

Originally posted by hungryhalibut:
This is why only a mug jumps in early! Let the dross fail, the good products survive and evolve, and then go for it. CDs still sound great to me, even though my CD5x is now worth around £4.20.

Nigel

I'll give you a fiver

quote:

Originally posted by Occean:

quote:

This is a streaming client not a server, hence not a "stripped" HDX.

Does this mean it won't support gapless playback like the uniti/qute and will rely on the upnp server unlike the hdx/serve/NS?

No idea, I think it would be best for Naim &/or Phil to reply to this.

quote:

You can see the appeal of the top Linn streamer, just one box and a far lower price.

Yes but your Naim example does MANY things your DS doesn't.

Allen,

I don't think anyone (no, not even Malcolm S) is saying you need to buy an NDX and then go and get two PSUs and a DAC to make it sound great. For sure, some will certainly wish to squeeze the nth degree from it and for them, the options are there, which are nice to have, but let's see how it performs as a one-box first before rushing to conclusions.

As Paul has commented earlier, you may be pleasantly surprised - as well you should be.

quote:

Originally posted by AllenB:Sorry Naim, this is not the product everyone wanted and on the face of it, it's not 'high-end', not unless you turn it into a 4-box combination.

What people wanted was purely a streamer for their nDAC's, not a streamer with yet another (not so good) DAC inside. This smacks of the HDX scenario where one is paying for a whole lot of gubbins inside that is not necessary if you 'upgrade' it with the nDAC/555PS. Same goes for this new unit. Put the equivalent nDAC inside the unit, link to the streamer circuits to it, all fits nicely in a reference style box and updated as is traditional by a PSU.

This, plus a nDAC, plus a PSU (x2?)just does not make sense. By all means create a proper upgrade path, but this just seems a bit of over-indulgence on Naim's part.

Or am I missing something? Ohh yes, I still don't have the 'high-end' unit I crave for

If Naim had produced an NDX without the DAC inside (i.e. no analogue audio putputs, only S/PDIF) then everyone would now be screaming that it was of no use *WITHOUT* an nDAC and that we were trying to force everyone to buy nDACs. Going by the same logic does that follow on that none of our CD players that have S/PDIF outputs should have analogue outputs either? Are your sources that you are now running into your nDAC no longer any good because the nDAC makes them sound better? Of course not.

The NDX is an excellent component in itself and contains a DAC which is very good. As a one box product it performs admirably - no-one has said that for it to sound good it has to be a four box system but if someone wants to add a 555PS/XPS and a nDAC and a further 555PS/XPS then that is *THEIR* choice.

It is a "Classic" series product and fits into our "Classic" series lineup with a set of well-defined and consistent upgrade paths that are tried and tested to enable you to improve its performance should *YOU* (the customer) feel that you wish to - I do find it interesting though that it is already judged as "not high end" without actually having been listened to by most people who are posting here...

You don't *HAVE* to put anything else onto the NDX to make it sound good - we think it sounds damn good already as it stands but there is the option there if you feel that the improvement warrants the expense.

Phil

Let's bring up this discussion again: when will the HDX be able to provide internet radio?

Regards,
Michel

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Harris:
It is a "Classic" series product and fits into our "Classic" series lineup with a set of well-defined and consistent upgrade paths .....

Phil, I just reread the What Hifi link (which presumably was paraphrased from the press release given to the journo) - but is designed to be used with the company's reference series amplification. - so is it really a 'classic' product? What casing is it in? Nice shiny reference, or sprayed classic? If the former, will there be an nDAC with a reference case?
Or is there still an HD555 in the pipeline?

quote:

Originally posted by Klout10:
Let's bring up this discussion again: when will the HDX be able to provide internet radio?

Come on Michel, get with the story - now you need to by an NDX to go with your HDX

quote:

Originally posted by Richard Dane:

quote:

Originally posted by Occean:
Does this mean it won't support gapless playback like the uniti/qute and will rely on the upnp server unlike the hdx/serve/NS?

No idea, I think it would be best for Naim &/or Phil to reply to this.

The Uniti / UnitiQute and NDX all support gapless playback from uncompressed audio sources (i.e. WAV rips passed in native format by the UPnP server).

Phil

ok, now the high end has some digital goodness can we have a DAC5i ?

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:
Come on Michel, get with the story - now you need to by an NDX to go with your HDX

quote:

The Uniti / UnitiQute and NDX all support gapless playback from uncompressed audio sources (i.e. WAV rips passed in native format by the UPnP server).

So we have to choose between tags or gapless? Surely there is a better solution - why on earth does this not run its own upnp client like the serve/hdx/DS/Sonos. Sorry but at £3k I expect gapless regardless of file format

(oooh thats the first time I have got mad at a Naim product! )

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Harris:
It is a "Classic" series product and fits into our "Classic" series lineup with a set of well-defined and consistent upgrade paths .....

Phil, I just reread the What Hifi link (which presumably was paraphrased from the press release given to the journo) - but is designed to be used with the company's reference series amplification. - so is it really a 'classic' product?

Yes ... It has a "classic" series designation that fits in line with the HDX / CDX / XPS etc.

Many people refer to the classic series as "reference" to distinguish it from the "i" or "XS" ranges and then refer to the "500" series as the series above. I guess it can be confusing.

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:
What casing is it in? Nice shiny reference, or sprayed classic?

It is in classic casework...

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:
If the former, will there be an nDAC with a reference case?

As I have said before - I will not make any comments on the possible existence or otherwise of anything for which there is *NOT* an official announcement ...

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:
Or is there still an HD555 in the pipeline?

...as above...

quote:

Originally posted by Nero:

quote:

Originally posted by Klout10:
Let's bring up this discussion again: when will the HDX be able to provide internet radio?

Come on Michel, get with the story - now you need to by an NDX to go with your HDX

I believe this thread is discussing the NDX and not the internet radio on the HDX...

Phil

NDX will support gapless playback

quote:

Originally posted by Occean:

quote:

The Uniti / UnitiQute and NDX all support gapless playback from uncompressed audio sources (i.e. WAV rips passed in native format by the UPnP server).

So we have to choose between tags or gapless? Surely there is a better solution - why on earth does this not run its own upnp client like the serve/hdx/DS/Sonos. Sorry but at £3k I expect gapless regardless of file format

(oooh thats the first time I have got mad at a Naim product! )

The Uniti / UnitiQute and NDX all run as a UPnP *CLIENT*.

The HDX / UnitiServe / NS0x all run a UPnP *SERVER*.

Our UPnP servers rip to WAV format and provide gapless playback and "tag" information to our UPnP clients.

When used with our servers and our servers own rips the Uniti / UnitiQute / NDX will all provide gapless playback - we can control that functionality - however generally under UPnP this is something that isn't supported so if you want to mix and match UPnP servers and other file formats from other providers with our UPnP clients then we cannot claim gapless playback in those situations. (Apple didn't support this themselves until fairly recently and that's under their own very tightly closed platform.)

Phil

Clearly I have got this wrong, but naim don't send me press releases to explain this stuff....

So it's a 1300 quid unityqute minus power amps minus variable level outputs minus tuner plus fixed level output plus dinky psu upgrade option plus wide case for nearly three grand?

quote:

Originally posted by Occean:

quote:

I think with all of these products Naim is clearly confusing the customer and needs to offer a comparison chart similar to what Apple does with their products.

Wish it was that simple–and I suspect it will be getting more complex sooner than later....