Who’s planning to stick with the old or jump to the new?

There’s a middle ground between discovery and shelling out on vinyl, CD hi res. We all have CDs which we played a lot at the time but don’t play any more. Tidal is great for that. I agree it sometimes sounds slightly worse but often it’s just as good,

S3 posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

If you’re just using Tidal for music discovery, and anyway considering its possible limited sound quality compared to local streaming, is an NDS level of player critical? For me, at least, discovery doesn’t need the best quality. But then, if you have an NDS level player for playing locally stored music them Tidal is just a bonus.

And a big question in here is how close to NDS the sound of the improved NDX-2 will be...

I find the seemingly constant references to Tidal being “inferior” to the UpNp slightly perplexing. In my system I honestly cannot tell any difference and Tidal sounds superb.

That said, maybe when you get to NDS level (I’m only at 272/XPSDR) there is a difference?

I can’t help thinking that there may be a bit of “I can’t and will not accept an internet streamed service from remote servers being as good as my local hard drive so I’m going to say it isn’t” going on!

Ultimately everyone is entitled to their opinion but I thought I’d just give the Tidal service a vote of confidence...

A bit off topic, but aside from any question of absolute sound quality, Tidal holds no attraction for me for music I want to listen to because I don’t like the idea of continually paying to listen to many of the same things, nor my playing my music of choice being at the mercy of a good internet connection at all times, nor availability being dependant on the supplier remaining in business. Tidal would be OK for auditioning new music to decide whether to buy, but I can do that from other sources without paying (sound quality isn’t critical for that so even lossy sources suffice).

KRM posted:

Yes, NDS used values should be strong as a result of the new range.

My concern is that I have nowhere to go in the Naim range if my NDS needs to be replaced. I use Tidal a lot for new music discovery and would struggle to find an “affordable” replacement source if Tidal went or the streaming world moved on. I can’t see how I could ever justify £13.5 on a streamer (more when you factor in Naim’s policy of increasing prices ahead of wage inflation). 

Perhaps they are gambling that existing customers will find it just as expensive and more inconvenient to switch to another supplier? A Dave plus Melco less the NDS + 555 trade in, or a Linn Klimax?

Keith

I’m in the same situation (although I don’t use Tidal). If the NDS needs to be replaced, £13k is a massive step. But fortunately the NDS doesn’t sound broken; in fact right now it’s sounding rather superb. I will, however, be pleased to hear what the ND555 can do. It would have to demonstrate significantly superior sound (over what is already very good) to have any hope of tempting me to change and remain loyal to the Naim brand for streamers. New features alone wouldn’t encourage me to change - FWIW I think the colour display is a turn-off (it would be turned off too in my house).

As for the price escalation policy, well that deserves a thread in itself. 

I'll consider changing to the NDX2 if it is superior to the NDX/NDAC. Depending on price sell off the NDX/NDAC and gain Roon integration in a single box.