NDS input surprises

Hi Keith.  I found the NDS to be a wonderful product too.

I've not tried the usb input with an iPhone, as the specs didn't talk about compatibility.  My daughter comes home from college today and that's a feature she likes -- she likes to play the hi fi, but with her music.  We will give it a try.

Everything I've read says that Naim have not enabled multi-room on the NDS.  We have a big party Christmas Eve and I would have used that feature.

We have recently added iPhone compatibility to the NDS in the 3.22 firmware however MultiRoom is not currently available in the NDS firmare.

Best Regards

Phil

Thanks Bart,

I'm not that fussed about multi-room as I can't justify multiple Naim streamers (justifying this one was a stretch!). Anyway, I assume I can use the Unitiserve as a multi-room server?

If you check the input setup you can see if it's called USB or USB/iPod. The manual has it as USB.

Keith

Thank Phil 

Thank you Phil!  Was that addition documented? If so, clearly I missed it! But it's good news.

Me too, I've done an unexpectedly useful thread 

US can serve multiple (I think 8) streams in parallel. So it can do multi room in that sense. What it can't do is sync multiple streams ie same music syncd in multiple rooms. 

Hi Phil -

Good surprise! Thanks for getting this feature added to the NDS.

Would be nice to see this noted in the functionality column at http://www.naimaudio.com/updates.

Happy Holidays!

Hook

Delighted for you Keith. What a wonderful Christmas treat. I wish you big fun and thanks for the heads up on the hidden feature! Nice to know.

Eventually you can justify a Qute in the office/study/man-cave.  At least I did

And I use it a LOT.  Probably 50/50 with the system in the living room.

Hi Harry,

Yes, a wonderful treat which does extraordinary things to the music. Based on your experience, Iain rebuilt the whole system using Jason's recommended stacking order. It sounds amazing. I have also upgraded to the Diamond version version of the B&W 804, as they bought back our old speakers for the price we paid for them. This was also a huge improvement.

The Apple upgrade to the USB is a nice surprise, not least because it means I don't need the Arcam rDock which I bought at the same time and can (hopefully) be returned. It has a USB input and a Lightning connector but was no use anyway as the NDS was unable to reclock the audio from the iPad connected to it (it played music but sounded horrible with audible jitter). If Naim had told us that 3.22 has sorted out the USB input we would have been saved the trouble.

Hi Bart,

I knew but had forgotten that Multi-room doesn't work with the NDS. However, perhaps this is temporary as the Multi-room manual says it works with the NDS and there is a link to the manual on NDS page of the website?

Keith

Thanks for that Keith -  an early Xmas present. Sound quality is far better through the usb input than using  WD TV or Jamcast which I have used until now. Bit surprised this was not better publicised.   

Gerry

Hi Gerry,

I haven't had a chance to compare USB vs Apple TV into the optical input on the NDS, but the was certainly big difference with the DAC so it is a very welcome bonus. Having said that, Spotify via Airplay and ATV into the NDS does sound ridiculously good for a compressed source.

Keith

Hi Keith, I was using optical input to the NDS and as I say the USB input is significantly better. The optical lead may have been a factor perhaps.

Gerry

Agreed, and I also agree the optical lead could be a factor. Mine is 5 metres long and the cheapest  I could find in Maplins. I would like to upgrade it at some point, perhaps with the money I have saved on the dock 

I haven't heard the 800D or 804D but if the rest are anything to go by I can imagine the musical treat that you have and are in for between now and Spring. Shame about the rDock but (assuming it was from Audience Bath) you won't have any bother doing that U Turn.

I still find it difficult to describe what the NDS brings to the party, or perhaps takes away from it, and it's not universally liked, but for most of us it's an "ah, so that's how they played it" experience. You have to wonder how much more information there still might be in all those CDs we've been playing for 25 years and thought we knew so well. 

Silence here today due to very high winds. And just as well I took the precaution of pulling the plugs because we had a few of those stuttering on-off-on power flutters this afternoon that can kill HDDs and blow equipment fuses. The Mendips appear to be trying to get airborne again this evening but we should be back up and cooking tomorrow.

Have fun. We will.

Hi Magnus -

The NDX and ND5XS have always been "Apple Authenticated", supporting direct USB connection of the iPod, iPad and iPhone.

The NDS, prior to firmware release 3.22, would only support the USB mass storage device class (e.g., flash drives).

Naim's explanation was that they had not yet figured out a way to add Apple Authentication to the NDS without negatively effecting sound quality.  I did not notice any change in sound quality when I upgraded my NDS to 3.22, so IMO, Naim has successfully overcome this minor obstacle!

ATB.

Hook

I've just checked and I'm on 3.21. How did I miss that?

How did you miss Naim not documenting this?

(If they did, how did I miss it too?!?!)

No idea Harry.  It was clearly posted on the Retirement Village bulletin board...

Hope the bad weather has passed, and you are enjoying a musical Christmas Eve!

ATB.

Hook

Thank you both. The update is done and the music is back on. It's going to take a few days to add all those little wisps of sonic magic but I still can't take my ears off it.

I need to occasionally take a day trip outside the Retirement Village. It's not like they'll send a big balloon or a Mini Moke after me. I hope.

Happy listening all.

"Yes, but the... whole point of the doomsday machine... is lost... if you keep it a secret!

Why didn't you tell the world, eh?"

You are able to run spotify in your iphone plugged into your NDS and hear the music ?

I cannot do that with my NDX running 3.22. The only thing I can do is to play music residing within my iphone.