555PS v 555PSDR on nDAC: for me the old dog wins

Back in the late summer I had a 2-week trial in my system (CDX2.2/XP5XS/DCA1/nDAC/XP5XS/Hi-line/282/SC/250.2/Focal Electra 1028be) of a 555PSDR in place of the XP5 on my nDAC.  Given all the rave reviews on here of the 555PSDR I thought it would be an easy decision.  The 555 was carefully installed by my dealer, and this included a mid-demo fine-tuning of the position of my Electras.

Over the two weeks I tried a lot of stuff eg Phil Collins, Genesis, Family, Led Zep, Eagles, Mary Black, Garbage, Mac, Seal. There was an uplift apparent in resolution across all material, though the degree varied. High quality recordings like Mary Black really shone. On ‘Stories from the Steeple’ the strings on the double-bass actually sounded that they were being plucked, not just played - wonderful. Similarly, the acoustic guitar and hit-hats were coming out of the mix clearer than before before. And lead vocals on many tracks seem to project into the room rather better.  The heavy bass on Seal seemed to go a deeper albeit with more prominence, and the different layers within the complex mix became easier to make sense of. Cymbals had a wonder shimmer.

But it wasn’t exclusively positive.  The bass on some stuff seemed overly prominent e.g. on Garbage 2.0 the 555PSDR resolved this heavy duty and complex stuff really well but on Temptation Waits and Medication the bass was a bit over-blown. I also sensed a heightened ‘hardness’ in presentation on some material eg Phil C and Genesis.  It was if the 555PSDR was amplifying the digital signature which I guessed might be inherent in the CDX2 and/or DAC. So at the end of two weeks the XP5 was plugged back and I listened to those albums again. Phil Collins’ ...But Seriously had now lost that glare making the album enjoyable again. High-hats etc were no longer as well defined and had lost that delightful shimmer but hadn’t disappeared completely. On Garbage the XP5 retreated on resolution but the bass better fitted the mix - not as well defined but not drawing overdue attention to itself.   On Push it, my favourite track on the album, the 555PSDR certainly resolved the different threads wonderfully and in a way the XP5 just couldn’t manage but the XP5, even with its fuzzier edges, still probably had the edge in entertainment value. It was similar with Genesis’s We Can’t Dance. I certainly missed the crashing of the cymbals that the 555DR resolved but with the XP5 I was tempted to turn the wick up, despite the lower resolution, whereas with the 555DR I was reaching to turn it down. Telling.  

So what did I make of all this?  I got the impression that the 555PSDR was sometimes pushing the nDAC or system a bit harder than it was really comfortable with,  like turbo-charging a car slightly beyond its design parameters perhaps. I would find myself more often turning the volume control down with the 555DR rather than up.  With the twin XP5s back in the system has relaxed again and the music, even though less detailed, flowed better. 

So somewhat surprised and disappointed I parked the 555 idea and thought I would explore improvements on the amplification side.  Late in the year I tried a 252 and SCDR and an XPSDR.  The latter was only marginally better than my XP5 so was easily dismissed.  The 252 and SCDR was nice. A different presentation to the 282: more laid back but more detailed and atmospheric.  My dealer and I agreed I should reflect over the Xmas break.

And then a couple of weeks ago my dealer suggested I try a Powerline on the 282’s Napsc [See separate thread https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...-be-hearing-this-but] which was a revelation and having added another couple of PLs the amps suddenly seemed to exert a much better grip as well as producing more detail. And as coincidence would have it he had just had a 555PS traded in and we agreed I would give it try. That was last weekend. 

After a 24hr warm up of the 555PS the first album I listened to was Melody Gardot’s Worrisome Heart.   Very nicely detailed and atmospheric. Fretwork I hadn’t noticed before. Instruments seem between separated. Not quite the delightful shimmering on cymbals I recalled from the 555DR but on the other hand the slight edge to Melody’s voice I’d previously noticed when trialling the 555DR wasn’t evident. Next up Mary Black’s Stories from the Steeples. Double-bass very clear in the mix with the strings clearly being plucked, but balanced and not over-prominent. Vocals and backing chorus beautifully clear and ‘layered’.  Easier to make out some of the words of the lyrics. Mary’s powerful voice can easily come across as tending towards harshness on some systems. Not here.  

Seal’s Killer took another step forward. Everything seemed to start and stop that much quicker, the multi-layering seemed to expand even further, and still more detail comes out of the mix. The rest of the Seal album sounded very good, even at quite modest volume.       

Day 2 and remembering the 555DR seemed to emphasis the digital glare on Genesis and Phil Collins albums that’s where I went next. On We Can’t Dance I couldn’t detect it. No ‘edge’ to PC’s voice.  Again cymbals not as noticeable as on the DR but still well resolved.  The sound, especially the bass, had a nice velvety, rich feel.  I found I was nudging up the volume control as Driving the Last Spike started. The song washed over me.  As the song develops to the ‘big-drum’ peak there no hint of strain, as I have heard sometimes previously; the sound-stage just got bigger and deeper. On the title track, it felt like Phil C was standing a few feet in front of me. Best I’ve heard this song reproduced, ever.  Rest of the album skipped by with a lovely pace and bounce. It was almost as if the system was enjoying itself. A brief detour to Damien Rice’s O.  Bloody hell - this was visceral!  The clarity, presence and bass grip was stunning. 

Garbage 2.0 on which the 555DR rather over-did the bass was well resolved with more and more detail coming through. The bass was fulsome but better controlled.  DSOTM was given a spin. Straight from the off the synthetic heartbeat on Speak to Me seemed to go really low and there was detail I’d not heard before (I thought I knew this album inside out). The intro to Time was clearest I’ve heard those clocks to date and later in the song the bongos in the background came over very well.  Vocals throughout seemed clearer with the differentiation better between the backing vocals. Money bounced along wonderfully with it’s changing of tempo, and the sax had a great rasp, like a bite on a slice of lemon.  That deliciously rich bass was evident throughout the album, too.  

Day 3 - I revisiting some of stuff I tried earlier just to make sure my ears weren’t deceiving me.  They weren’t.  Supertramp’s Crime of the Century showed similar virtues: more detail, bigger soundstage and that entertaining ‘bounce’. Every aspect of the performance was better. 

In summary the phrases that sprung to mind were: fulsome but not over-blown;  a bigger sound but not forced;  softer and fruitier than the 555DR.  Top end didn’t tingle and shimmer quite like the 555DR but nor was there that tendency to emphasis glare, a trade-off I think worthwhile; and the soundstage had expanded hugely.  It was probably one of the shortest home demos I have had but also one of the easiest.

Am I saying the 555PS is better than the DR version? No, but it better suits my system and my ears. Just goes to show the importance of listening to kit in your own system. 

A long post, I know, but I hope others thinking of upgrading the PSU on their nDAC might benefit from it.

MDS