ND555 Roadshows

French Rooster posted:

Exactly Chag, i would not be confident enough to buy one of the first units.  But maybe we are wrong and the first new streamers will be 100% perfect.... Personally i prefer to wait some months after the launch.

I prefer to wait several years because I don’t have that kind of £_____ just right now!!

Enjoyed the demo of the ND555 vs NDS on Saturday 7th July at Billy Vee with Jason from Naim.  Fully understand the comments on this thread now about how much better sound quality the ND555 offers over the NDS.  Variety of music from Pat Metheny track (needledrop transferred to CD then ripped to Core), some classical (Bach?) and some female solo artists (not sure who) before we got a turn to play some music of our own (Emili Sande - Heaven, and some Daft Punk (Overture from Tron)).

Rest of the system was exactly the same as mine in my profile, except fed by a Uniti Core, and sited on Full Fraim.

Compared to NDS, the ND555 had more composure in the bass (less ‘bloat’j, seemed to have a cleaner top end, better imaging and resolution of the multiple guitars on the Pat Metheny track.  The music sounded more visceral (alive) and generally offered all round general improvement in quality.

Jason confirmed that the demo unit was a final production unit, and was not a pre-production prototype.

I’ve placed my order for a ND555 (expected delivery end of August) with part-ex on my NDS. I’ve also ordered a Uniti Core (to replace my UnitiServe-SSD), and full Fraim to replace my Fraimlite (as the ND555 really does deserve the best platform).

All in all, a very enjoyable day!  I highly recommend an audition of the ND555 if you get the chance - a great bit of kit.

ATB.  George.

Nice report. Thank you.

I am getting close to pull the trigger.

Chag -

The ND555 made the NDS sound harsh.

The ND555 sounded so organic. 

Very impressive. 

getting tempted so much.....my wife will kill me if she know the prices on this boxes..... i started to drop one zero with 500 series... which still takes negative comments

No worries, nobody will notice the larger LCD screen. ????

Chag -

Chag... posted:

No worries, nobody will notice the larger LCD screen. ????

Chag -

I was a bit disappointed to see the screen - also on the core. A bit too obvious to one’s wife 

I’m struggling to understand why some members feel it necessary to practice deception on their partners. I suspect the answer lies in the average age of forum participants, representative perhaps of an age when chauvinism and house keeping flourished. 

I confess to finding such views (and the use of terms such as SWMBO) rather anachronistic and just a little pathetic. For goodness sake, just man up!!

On another note, have Naim introduced a Core with a screen, or have I misinterpreted Living in Lancs’ comment?

Timmo1341 posted:

I’m struggling to understand why some members feel it necessary to practice deception on their partners. I suspect the answer lies in the average age of forum participants, representative perhaps of an age when chauvinism and house keeping flourished. 

And I find comments like yours unnecessary. If you don't like what people do in their private lives, at least don't preach about it in a sanctimonious way.

I think comments like this are mostly made in a humorous context. 

If you consider the (thankfully rare) incidents of blatant misogyny posted here, it is easy to put comments made in this thread into an appropriate context.

Timmo1341 posted:

...On another note, have Naim introduced a Core with a screen, or have I misinterpreted Living in Lancs’ comment?

No screen on the Core - you would use your tablet or phone.

Richard Dane posted:

Timmo1341 posted:

...On another note, have Naim introduced a Core with a screen, or have I misinterpreted Living in Lancs’ comment?

No screen on the Core - you would use your tablet or phone.

Very sorry - my mistake. The core does look different from the unitiserve though - bright white light instead of green which is perhaps what I meant when posting at a less awake time of day! (and I may also have got confused with other products on display eg an atom)

Timmo1341 posted:

I’m struggling to understand why some members feel it necessary to practice deception on their partners. I suspect the answer lies in the average age of forum participants, representative perhaps of an age when chauvinism and house keeping flourished. 

I confess to finding such views (and the use of terms such as SWMBO) rather anachronistic and just a little pathetic. For goodness sake, just man up!!

On another note, have Naim introduced a Core with a screen, or have I misinterpreted Living in Lancs’ comment?

Timmo,

I think you are being too heavy and judgemental. I take these comments as humorous; something that is being leached from our society as people become increasingly intolerant in the name of tolerance.

SWMBO is a quote from Rumpole of the Bailey, a great series of books.

Back to the HiFi.

M

The ND555 makes the NDS sound broken.

Actually I have no idea, having heard neither, but I just wanted to say it first............

I’m not familiar with these lines. I’m in the process of upgrading from an UnitiCute2/NAP100 to a Nova (reusing the existing in a media room). Now I am wondering about these options, though I expect it may be more than my price point and a dismissing return on investment?

Wugged Woy posted:

The ND555 makes the NDS sound broken.

 

Actually I have no idea, having heard neither, but I just wanted to say it first............

Good one....

Having heard both, in Warsaw in the same system, I concur... But I'm happy with my broken NDS 

Adam Zielinski posted:

Wugged Woy posted:

The ND555 makes the NDS sound broken.

 

Actually I have no idea, having heard neither, but I just wanted to say it first............

Good one....

Having heard both, in Warsaw in the same system, I concur... But I'm happy with my broken NDS 

 

I daren't listen. Too dangerous. The missus is bigger than me.......

Greetings from Ochota.

If my NDS is broken I never want it fixed.

i am not man enough..... in order to buy ND555+555PS i need to drop a zero.... i just bought a nac552 and focal utopia....

maybe i am not making a million a month so 20k is a big money for me....   can pay it without selling a kidney but a bump on the savings that i supposed to be doing for my retiriment 

Quite seriously I don’t think the nd555 made the nds sound broken. Not as good by quite a margin, but definitely not broken. I remember quite clearly two things from the demo at acoustica a few weeks ago (1) the nd555 sounds much more natural than the nds and (2) it didn’t make the nds sound broken. The nds still sounds excellent - just not as excellent as the nd555

Kane posted:

The ND555 made the NDS sound harsh.

The ND555 sounded so organic. 

Very impressive. 

nds harsch?   the demo was perhaps truncated ?      i am sure the nd555 is better, certainly by a good step.  But the nds sounds still excellent, not aggressive at all.     Perhaps they connected a crap lan to the nds and chord music to the nd555....

French Rooster posted:

Kane posted:

The ND555 made the NDS sound harsh.

The ND555 sounded so organic. 

Very impressive. 

nds harsch?   the demo was perhaps truncated ?      i am sure the nd555 is better, certainly by a good step.  But the nds sounds still excellent, not aggressive at all.     Perhaps they connected a crap lan to the nds and chord music to the nd555....

I was also a bit amazed about the harsh comment, I wouldn't attribute the NDS as harsh at all....

GeeJay posted:

Enjoyed the demo of the ND555 vs NDS on Saturday 7th July at Billy Vee with Jason from Naim.  Fully understand the comments on this thread now about how much better sound quality the ND555 offers over the NDS.  Variety of music from Pat Metheny track (needledrop transferred to CD then ripped to Core), some classical (Bach?) and some female solo artists (not sure who) before we got a turn to play some music of our own (Emili Sande - Heaven, and some Daft Punk (Overture from Tron)).

Rest of the system was exactly the same as mine in my profile, except fed by a Uniti Core, and sited on Full Fraim.

Compared to NDS, the ND555 had more composure in the bass (less ‘bloat’j, seemed to have a cleaner top end, better imaging and resolution of the multiple guitars on the Pat Metheny track.  The music sounded more visceral (alive) and generally offered all round general improvement in quality.

Jason confirmed that the demo unit was a final production unit, and was not a pre-production prototype.

I’ve placed my order for a ND555 (expected delivery end of August) with part-ex on my NDS. I’ve also ordered a Uniti Core (to replace my UnitiServe-SSD), and full Fraim to replace my Fraimlite (as the ND555 really does deserve the best platform).

All in all, a very enjoyable day!  I highly recommend an audition of the ND555 if you get the chance - a great bit of kit.

ATB.  George.

 

ND555, Uniti Core and new Fraim, wow, I bet Billy Vee's are glad they did the demo now!

Enjoy.

.sjb

Adam Zielinski posted:

Timmo1341 posted:

I’m struggling to understand why some members feel it necessary to practice deception on their partners. I suspect the answer lies in the average age of forum participants, representative perhaps of an age when chauvinism and house keeping flourished. 

And I find comments like yours unnecessary. If you don't like what people do in their private lives, at least don't preach about it in a sanctimonious way.

Delicious double standards irony! Nice to meet defenders of free speech.