Another earthing question !!

Posted by: Fretfan on 21 September 2013

Hello all

Could I do any damage to my ND5XS by leaving the earth switch set to chassis, when the manual states it should be floating ?

I have a Naim CD5si in my system, so the manual says I should set the ND5XS earth switch to floating, as the CD player provides the earthing point. My amp is the new Nait XS2.

Problem is I prefer the sound with the earth set to chassis. It provides a more 3 dimensional image. When changing to floating, the image flattens somewhat.

Could I do any damage leaving the earth set to chassis..?

Thanks in advance

Posted on: 21 September 2013 by james n

No damage. Set it to what works for you.

Posted on: 21 September 2013 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Posted on: 26 September 2013 by Felix H

Fretfan, did you also check what happens to your CD5si sound when you switch ND5XS ground to chassis?

Posted on: 26 September 2013 by Fretfan

Originally Posted by Felix H:

Fretfan, did you also check what happens to your CD5si sound when you switch ND5XS ground to chassis?

Hi Felix, It did not occur to me to test with the CD5si, but I will do. Unfortunately my 3 week old CD player suffered from 3 faults and has shipped back to Naim. Good news is I pick up my new replacement tomorrow, so will test.

My poor CD player suffered with

1. a miss aligned door. It was recessed in by about 5mm when shut.

2. transformer used to hum. Bit irritating when sat powered up but not in use

3. started skipping when playing cds.

I could live with 1 and 2, but 3, made me return the unit.

Hopefully the new one will not suffer from any of these.

I also get a similar effect with the ND5XS when I control it with different access control software, nstream, bubble, kinsky etc..

Using a NAS drive running Twonky,,,

1. Access tracks on ND5XS from front panel - perfect sound

2. Using nstream app on ipad - perfect sound

3. Using Linn Kinsky on Android - perfect sound

4. Using Linn Kinsky on PC - perfect sound

5. Using BubbleUPNP on Android - flattening of image

6. Using Foobar on PC - flattening image

7. Using Mediahouse on Android - flattening image

8. Asset UPNP on PC - flattening image

This is noticable on headphones and speakers. The sound is not poor by any means, but it's like there is less space around the instruments. Same effect as when I change the earth setting.

I also get the same effect with the above software when testing with a Denon streamer too, so it must be something to do with the way the generic software packages interact with the Twonky Server...

???????? weird !!

Posted on: 27 September 2013 by Felix H

Whether the ND5XS sounds better in the "chassis" or "floating" setting, will depend on what other gear is connected to your system at the time of listening.

Sorry to hear about your CD5si. Hope you'll get it back soon.

Those software that you listed do provide quite a variety of functions & settings. So it's hard to guess what could possibly have caused the differences you heard with them. If everything in your hardware setup and all power wiring remained constant during your comparisons, then you'll at least know that the differences were surely not related to grounding.

You'll probably get more comments regarding the software differences if you put that matter in its own thread. Should first try to isolate & simplify the finding(s) somehow.

Posted on: 27 September 2013 by Fretfan

A new CD5si arrived today, and it is sounding excellent. No detectable difference in sound, in either position of the earth switch on the ND5XS, so I am leaving it on chassis, as the ND5XS sounds better to me that way.

Can't think why generic control software such as bubbleupnp to my ears, sound worse then software dedicated to specific hardware (nstream, kinsky). May be the answer is that they are optimised for a specific piece of equipment.

I bought an ipad mini specifically to run nStream and am extremely impressed with it, so it's smiles all round for the moment.. :-)