NS02 as source into Nait XS2

Posted by: Ian Brown on 06 October 2015

I am interested in getting all of my CDs in one place but have no interest in fiddling with computers and NAS drives etc.  

 

I have been looking at the used market and some new old stock naim products here in Canada.  A new HDX would be ideal for my needs but it is well outside of my budget.  I have come across a new old stock NS02 with a 400gig hard drive (that would be enough for me for now) for less than a third of the price a new HDX (I have also looked at unitiserve).  

 

I recently picked up a demo Unitiqute for a great price that I have at my office right now but may bring home to use as a source (And sell off my NAT 03).  I have music on a Mac (CD and some downloads) and on ipod.

 

Does anyone have experience with the NS02 as a hard disk player?  Would I feed it directly into my Nait XS2 or would it better to run it through the Qute?   

 

Thanks in advance!

Posted on: 06 October 2015 by ChrisSU

I've never used an NS02, but it does have both digital and analogue outputs, as well as being a network player, so it will play into either your Nait or Qute. A Unitiserve would be good with your Qute, but you'd need a DAC or streamer to use it with your Nait. 

The advantages of a Unitiserve include a bigger hard drive, the ability to store downloads etc. rather than just CD rips, the ability to play hi-res music (the NS02 can only stream 16/44 WAV), and a better chance of continued support as it's still a current product. And it's only half the size. Take your pick! 

Posted on: 06 October 2015 by hungryhalibut

If you get an ns01 you will still need a nas in order to back up the music, so you might as well bite the bullet and get a nas now. A 400gb hard drive is nothing, so I wouldn't bother with it. 

Posted on: 06 October 2015 by ChrisSU
Originally Posted by Hungryhalibut:

If you get an ns01 you will still need a nas in order to back up the music, so you might as well bite the bullet and get a nas now. A 400gb hard drive is nothing, so I wouldn't bother with it. 

You're probably right, but maybe worth checking if the NS02 can be upgraded to a 2TB hard drive, like the early HDX could?

Posted on: 06 October 2015 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:
Originally Posted by Hungryhalibut:

If you get an ns01 you will still need a nas in order to back up the music, so you might as well bite the bullet and get a nas now. A 400gb hard drive is nothing, so I wouldn't bother with it. 

You're probably right, but maybe worth checking if the NS02 can be upgraded to a 2TB hard drive, like the early HDX could?

 

..NS's have *DUAL* drives to back themselves up and can be updated to dual 2Tb drives.

 

Phil

Posted on: 06 October 2015 by Ian Brown

Thanks for the replies!  Upgrading to two 2 TB would be ideal.  I have swapped out drives in a desktop before - any different with an NS01?  

Posted on: 06 October 2015 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

I would advise against DIY. Have Plurison do it, their technicians are carefully trained by Manu and usually add a few beneficial tweaks here and there.

 

Jan

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by Claus-Thoegersen
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

I've never used an NS02, but it does have both digital and analogue outputs, as well as being a network player, so it will play into either your Nait or Qute. A Unitiserve would be good with your Qute, but you'd need a DAC or streamer to use it with your Nait. 

The advantages of a Unitiserve include a bigger hard drive, the ability to store downloads etc. rather than just CD rips, the ability to play hi-res music (the NS02 can only stream 16/44 WAV), and a better chance of continued support as it's still a current product. And it's only half the size. Take your

pick! 

Many Things I find strange here. If we will se updates to the servers updates are for all servers, since they essentially use the same OS.

And the idea that you are limitted to 16 bit 44 wave is  not correct.

https://www.naimaudio.com/product/ns01

 

 

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by ChrisSU
Originally Posted by Claus-Thoegersen:
Originally Posted by ChrisSU:

 

And the idea that you are limitted to 16 bit 44 wave is  not correct.

https://www.naimaudio.com/product/ns01

 

 

Claus, you could be right! NS players could only stream up to 16/44 using StreamNet, but maybe things have moved on?

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by Phil Harris

StreamNet - the protocol that NetStreams runs on - is only capable of 16/44 ... *ALL* the servers (NS0x / HDX / UnitiServe) will 'only' stream 16/44 across NetStreams.

 

*ALL* the servers (NS0x / HDX / UnitiServe) will play up to 24/192 audio files locally *OR* stream up to 24/192 audio files over UPnP.

 

This has *ALWAYS* been the case...

 

Phil

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by Richard Dane

Bear in mind that the analogue output stage on the NS01 and NS02 is fairly basic compared to the dedicated one in the HDX.  On the NS servers they are basically designed to serve with analogue out being mostly for convenience rather than out and out performance.  As such bare HDX sounds considerably better than a bare NS01 or NS02.

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by Ian Brown:

Thanks for the replies!  Upgrading to two 2 TB would be ideal.  I have swapped out drives in a desktop before - any different with an NS01?  

 

Has to be done by a dealer I'm afraid ... the software install (due to licensing terms) is tied to the specific drives and hardware at first boot.

 

Not a customer 'upgrade'.

 

Phil

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by hungryhalibut

I still think that putting the albums on a nas and streaming to the Qute is the cheapest and most flexible option. Even if the NS box has its own internal backup you will need a separate backup in case the NS goes wrong and takes the whole collection with it. My nas provides better sound quality than I ever got from a unitiserve, so why pay more. Put dbpoweramp on the laptop and off you go. 

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by Ian Brown

Thanks to everyone for the thoughtful replies.  The Qute is a Christmas present to myself so it's still in the box for now.  I think I'll play with it first and re-think the possibility of a NAS.  Swapping out drives on an older piece of equipment with a less than stelar analogue output appears to be something of false economy.

 

Thanks again.

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by hungryhalibut

Just to reassure you, I'm hopeless with computer stuff, but have managed to set up my nas on the network and it all works fine. For about £400 you can get a good two drive nas, and then you can use a USB portable hard drive as a backup. You'll find a few challenges, but people here are always happy to help and if you get a QNAP or Synology you'll find that they are pretty straightforward.

Posted on: 07 October 2015 by Dev B

We have used the HDX for many years and it is an excellent high end source. We use ours with a NDAC/XPS. We still prefer our Naimed Phonosophie, NAT 01 and CDS1, in that order but our HDX and DAC/XPS combo is quite close to the CDS1. 

 

regards