NDX Back in 'the' House

I've compared the two when the 2Qute came out.  I wanted the 2Qute as the portable nature of the Hugo wasn't of interest.  I thought the 2Qute would sound the same, but it doesn't.  It is a touch brighter  sounding a little more direct. Other than that the presentation was similar.  The Hugo sounded more desirable to me.

Naim DC1 BNC-BNC...Scale, Depth, Timbres...Music!

G

Simon is right. I have been running a 2Qute in my 500 system for just over a week now after having a Hugo in it for the last year. There is very little difference in actual SQ between the two DACs. The main difference is the output volume being much higher on the 2Qute which may give the impression of the 2Qute being more forward. Taking this into account there is a minor improvement in the higher frequencies and bass with the 2Qute, to my ears, when doing a direct comparison with the same cables, but if heard in isolation it would be difficult to say which DAC was being used. They are both excellent and it really depends whether one needs the headphone pre or not. Both really benefit massively with a Super Lumina IC, but obviously at a price. I think it's definitely worth it in my system.

Having had both I agree with both summaries.  The 3v output is fine with a SN2.

Stop dangling that Super Lumina IC in front of my eyes!

G

Guys - I have got to say a DNM HFN Interconnect does the job incredibly well as well - certainly with a Hugo into a NAC. Listening to part of Die Zauberfloete at lunchtime today - and it was breathtakingly real..

Simon

I've just bricked the NDX uploading 4.3. Done plenty updates in the past, including 4.3 on a UQ2 so not sure what's happened...

I don't belieeeeve it!!

Looks like I'll be slumming it with the Sonos/2Qute for a while.

Bah,

G

Hi Simon -

Back when I had a Nait XS and Harbeth C7s, my speaker cable was DNM. When I replaced it with NACA5, the bass frequencies were significantly improved, but perhaps at the loss of a little high-end sparkle. Never tried their interconnects, and just now read up on their HFTN technology. It does sound interesting! Also, DNM has always represented great value for money.

Am curious if you noticed any loss of bass energy or definition with DNM compared to other interconnects you've tried?

ATB.

Hook

Hi Graeme -

Supposed to be restartable process, starting with power off/on.  Too late in the day to call Naim service?

Good luck - am sure you'll have it sorted soon!

Hook

Hook, no I have not noticed any deficiencies across the audio band with DNM HFTN interconnect. Bass full and tuneful - as said on another thread it seems to go very low and subtle and picks up very low frequency microphone noise in live recordings that I had not noticed before - really adds to the recorded musical enjoyment experience. Definition is better than I had before - great with strings, piano, voices and percussion, where there is quite a lot of tuneful low frequency info that you really appreciate when its there.

I have not tried DNM speaker cable - I use NACA for that primarily because of consideration of the NAP.

Graeme, thats a real shame after everything as well. I thought the whole purpose of this upgrade process was so this can't happen. It scares the hell out of me every time i do an update. Hope your sorted soon

Thanks Graeme. The programme recognised the NDX and began the update but kept stalling and I eventually had to choose 'abort' in the hope a factory reset would work. Unfortunately not.

Was all fully wired this time too.

G

Graeme, what point does it stall? Does it get as far as the streamer board update?

Stage 1 after recognition and clicking 'next'.  Started well and then stopped after 6, 10, 40 odd % at each attempt - Steve said keep trying. It eventually got all the way to 100% but then froze and had to be aborted.

Steve sending up a new streamer board to see if that sorts it....fingers crossed.

Bah!

G

i know its a pain, are you able to try a different update computer? I wonder if there is something not quite right on its serial driver and its flow control?

I think you could be on to something there - I said similar to Steve.

Too late to try again unfortunately as it's totally bricked but in future I'll not use the same laptop and USB-RS232 driver.

Cheers,

G

G - are you sure its totally bricked. The NDX has a robust bootstrap that is independent of the updated software. If you restart it it will/should look for the updater on the serial link. With a different serial driver/computer it might all jump into action?

Won't even do a factory reset Simon.  Screen message frozen on 'Firmware updating do not switch off'...'Sh1t or Bust' as Steve put it when abort was decided.

Thanks though.

G

yes i think you'll find that is the bootstrap programme - it will stay there until it communicates with updater succesfully. If the serial link/software is some how broken on the updater computer a new computer could fix it, if  the serial connector/driver is broken on the NDX then yes its bugg*red and will have to go to the hospital.

Factory resets etc will only work with the downloaded software - you are at a  more basic level (bootstrap). The downloaded software has gone...

(i was exactly here in the early days with a very early beta a few years ago - a new serial driver and attachment fixed it)

Hi Graham, it may not work but I guess you are using use to serial converter. Have you tried another usb port?

Ignore the double post, bloody iPads 

Thanks Simon & HiFiman.

Tried a different pc downloaded 4.3 and drivers but same problem. ARM download stalls - Still bricked.

Off to Robert Ritchie first thing tomorrow...

G

Graeme, ok, perhaps there has been some sort of failure with the NDX upgrade hardware. Off to the hospital it goes.

Simon

Sorry to read that your NDX is bricked during firmware upgrade, do Naim charge for such a repair / fix ?