552/NDS first switch on ......

Still improving .... great detail and rhythmic drive .... these little pmc's (21's!) really rock .... the tuneful base is amazing .... the atmosphere they generate is quite visceral.... in my small room the effect is like listening to speakers 5x the size.... I have not felt the need to connect my sub yet ..... It is staggering ..... and i am not easily impressed.

Richieroo posted:

Well things have improved more .... but here is the strangest thing in the middle of the week it got on the face of it brighter.... however, with a further careful listen what seems to be happening is there is just allot more information coming through ... there are now rhythmic cymbal elements shining through which were never present on the 272 .... will keep you posted.. .

You know when you have a good system as you start to listen and enjoy the music/audio from it rather than listening to the system or system artefacts like 'brighter', smoother, stronger/lesser bass, dynamics etc.... the effect I use to describe it is the Mandelbrot effect.. you can listen into the recording (subject to recording) to ever finer detail picking out nuance, technique, quality/type of instrument, phrasing and emphasis  (as well as technical matters like cathedral/building reverb, conversations snippets in audience, mic placement, mixing / compression techniques, eq and mastering)... just like you do at concerts, real life  etc... lesser systems you tend to be presented with a musical wall of sound as a whole, take it or leave it... you can't delve too much into it.

Enjoy.... BTW when I briefly moved from a NDAC to NDS I found it greatly enhanced the ability to resolve live recording natural reverb... listen to a choir in a cathedral and then listen to a similar recording, you will find the NDS starts to dig into this and portray some of what is there, especially if recorded by a competent engineer... being an ex chorister I guess I am tuned to this, but it was impressive.

What amazes me is just how much information is on the Red book CD standard (44.1khz ) ..... allot of my CD's have been ripped to flac lossless .... the NDS/552 combination digs out so much more .... I would not have believed it ...... until experiencing it .... going through my library now is like visiting a whole new sonic world.......

Indeed - which is why I often say to really appreciate CD performance you need top flight replay equipment - lesser equipment needs perhaps hidef input for it to sound vaguely like top performing components playing CD media... and even then my view is that many still fall way short..

It is amazing how much more information appears when you widen the bandwidth. I don't think it's necessarily a law of diminishing returns because the quality of the information improves so much.

I once had a pair of Spendor S5e on the end of myNDS/ 552/300 and they never sounded better. Bandwidth again, plus control. I had no idea they could sound so transparent, hit so hard and go so high and loud without distorting. The effect of adding the grip and control of a 500 would have been fascinating. But they left home before my 500 arrived.

In upgrade cycles over the years the speakers have always been last (and sometimes not upgraded at all) because they tend to improve when downstream improvements happen.

Richieroo,

I'm in a similar place to you at the moment. Just got my recently purchased (second hand) 552 back from Naim and I'm about a week into burn in as they decided to service the PS.

I just can't believe the levels of detail coming through. As Simon says you can hear in to the recording almost like a time travelling experience back to the venue. I had this happen from time to time with my 52 but the 552 seems to do this consistently on every track. Also, high frequency information is rendered so naturally that I often don't know if it's real or coming from the speakers. Several times I've gone to answer what I thought was someone at the front door only to find that it was something in the mix. I fact it's started frightening the wife as the dynamics are now so good it often makes you jump when least expected.

A fascinating aural experience...and if this is at it's worst burn in period I can't wait to see what it's like in a month!

Will you be leaving your setup switched on all the time?

Richieroo posted:

Will you be leaving your setup switched on all the time?

yes, switched on all the time. but off for me when on holidays....

Yes, I will leave mine on all the time. The only exceptions is for storms.

Any transformer buz from your setups??

None. I have a pair of 555PS-DR on the NDS and they are silent. As is the 552PS. 

Lucky I guess.

I have some noise on the 500PS but the 555PS and the 552PS are silent.

Unfortunately, it was burn blues for me tonight. Especially disappointing after how good it sounded last night. Everything lacked sparkle and sounded dull.

It won't last.

Hi Gek..... interestingly when mine decides to buzz it is the 500ps .... others are virtually silent .... re sparkle it will return....

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Richieroo posted:

Well things have improved more .... but here is the strangest thing in the middle of the week it got on the face of it brighter.... however, with a further careful listen what seems to be happening is there is just allot more information coming through ... there are now rhythmic cymbal elements shining through which were never present on the 272 .... will keep you posted.. .

You know when you have a good system as you start to listen and enjoy the music/audio from it rather than listening to the system or system artefacts like 'brighter', smoother, stronger/lesser bass, dynamics etc.... the effect I use to describe it is the Mandelbrot effect.. you can listen into the recording (subject to recording) to ever finer detail picking out nuance, technique, quality/type of instrument, phrasing and emphasis  (as well as technical matters like cathedral/building reverb, conversations snippets in audience, mic placement, mixing / compression techniques, eq and mastering)... just like you do at concerts, real life  etc... lesser systems you tend to be presented with a musical wall of sound as a whole, take it or leave it... you can't delve too much into it.

Enjoy.... BTW when I briefly moved from a NDAC to NDS I found it greatly enhanced the ability to resolve live recording natural reverb... listen to a choir in a cathedral and then listen to a similar recording, you will find the NDS starts to dig into this and portray some of what is there, especially if recorded by a competent engineer... being an ex chorister I guess I am tuned to this, but it was impressive.

Since adding SL speaker cable (5m), my CDX2 -> NDAC + XPS DR -> SL IC -> 282 + SC DR -> Witch Hat Din / XLR > 300 DR -> SL -> Focal Sopra N2 is digging out more detail which includes building acoustics. Soundstage has opened up more and orchestral instruments standing out from the strings. The vinyl is the same. 

I'm sure the 552 would up things as well, but I'm quite content. 

Phil

Filipe ... I bet those Focals sound great wish I had the space!!!!

Next year I may audition PMC twenty5.21 ........

Richieroo posted:

Filipe ... I bet those Focals sound great wish I had the space!!!!

They don't really take up any more space - mostly they are a bit taller. They look really good. Audio T Brighton have an orange pair at £7,500. Not the most popular colour! The price of a new 300DR.

They do sound good, but the power cords and SL IC and speaker cable bring out the sound as well.

Phil

Setup seems to have settled now .... I think pmc speakers may pop one of these days ... they sound huge .... and very open...

Hi had a listening session tonight and sonically it sounds harder .... strange ... it was not like this yesterday..... I hope things will improve again .... 

Yes, the settling-in period isn't a graceful path where things gradually and consistently get better. It's bumpy.  There were days during which I thought my 552 had become more detailed but colder/harder. It passed.

Indeed. Hard is how a 552 doesn't sound but it can pound your ears a bit as it gets to its cruising altitude.

Mine is sounding wonderful, magical. I mention this because storms are forecast here and I'm going to have to pull the plug tonight. Such a shame. But it will be singing again in a few days.

Mine is gradually getting better .... on certain recordings it's stunning .....  with the NDS / highline it is very explicit with great depth, width and musicality...and punch. I am hearing things that were never present on the 272. On some tracks ... the explicit nature  is a bit much.... I am hoping it will gain a little more warmth and calm down just a touch....it has now been on just over 2 weeks.