ND555 Impressions

ho ho ho! i must have been a good boy after all.  The elves from Salisbury have delivered my ND555 to my dealer in the nick of time.  A short detour on the way home and i will be in audio nirvana, 

Wow. I knew it would be. Straight out of the box. I have indulged myself with some favourite individual tracks already but what’s really satisfying to hear is Rod Stewart’s voice finally sounding right in the mix on old classics like Id Rather go Blind , I don’t wanna be right, and you keep me hanging on. Never felt the balance was right with NDS or ndac  - especially at low level. This is just so balanced and effortlessly musical now  emotional. 

Hi,sat morning 22Dec,got up early this morning room still dark,l normally have the display lights out,but sitting there in the dark the lights seemed to be slightly on still,not completely out,any one else had this?.many thanks,Bob.

Bob green posted:

Hi,sat morning 22Dec,got up early this morning room still dark,l normally have the display lights out,but sitting there in the dark the lights seemed to be slightly on still,not completely out,any one else had this?.many thanks,Bob.

The lights behind the buttons to the right of the screen do remain very slightly visible in a darkened room. I too noticed this after the last (first?) firmware update. However, the Naim logo should remain fully illuminated. If it's not, then you don't have the latest firmware, which fixed the dim logo issue. You can check for firmware status through the Naim application on your iPad.

Nagual posted:

Wow. I knew it would be. Straight out of the box. I have indulged myself with some favourite individual tracks already but what’s really satisfying to hear is Rod Stewart’s voice finally sounding right in the mix on old classics like Id Rather go Blind , I don’t wanna be right, and you keep me hanging on. Never felt the balance was right with NDS or ndac  - especially at low level. This is just so balanced and effortlessly musical now  emotional. 

Believe it or not, it will get better as it runs in over the coming weeks. 

Clive B posted:

Nagual posted:

Wow. I knew it would be. Straight out of the box. I have indulged myself with some favourite individual tracks already but what’s really satisfying to hear is Rod Stewart’s voice finally sounding right in the mix on old classics like Id Rather go Blind , I don’t wanna be right, and you keep me hanging on. Never felt the balance was right with NDS or ndac  - especially at low level. This is just so balanced and effortlessly musical now  emotional. 

Believe it or not, it will get better as it runs in over the coming weeks. 

Yes I now even notice that beyond the 300 hours point improvements can be found...

Can anyone advise me on how to change from NDS to ND555 in the Kazoo app or should I start a separate thred? Tried reinstalling Kazoo but it’s just continually searching... thanks in advance 

Nagual posted:

ho ho ho! in the nick of time. 

Same here on Thursday 

Merry Christmas everyone here on the Naim forum . Enjoy your great sounding systems . 

Christmas music never sounded so good using the ND555. What an excellent streamer . 

Haven’t been faced with any drops in the last couple of days. I assume with my overnight running and amount of hours of play during the extended Christmas break it has settled down. It’s really a very fine source. And i can’t imagine it is being bettered on musicality on the market now. Perhaps only the level of detail from the likes of top end Linn and Chord is even better. It has been a remarkable upgrade for me. Hope others can also share their experiences while being as me longer on the ND555 train.

Bert Schurink posted:

Haven’t been faced with any drops in the last couple of days. I assume with my overnight running and amount of hours of play during the extended Christmas break it has settled down. It’s really a very fine source. And i can’t imagine it is being bettered on musicality on the market now. Perhaps only the level of detail from the likes of top end Linn and Chord is even better. It has been a remarkable upgrade for me. Hope others can also share their experiences while being as me longer on the ND555 train.

I was listening this afternoon and my wife and I were commenting on how well the music flows with this new ND555. Very musical streamer! 

review of the nd555 on esoterica ( av hub australian) magazine, downloaded on zinio app.

interview with Steve Seals of naim audio.     Also a technical review of a concurrent, the bricasti m21 and m5 , dac/preamp and server.      If someone is interested here.....

Michael_B. posted:

Quickly posting my own initial findings after a fabulous home demo by Phil from Cymbiosis. With 1 555PS the ND555 is more detailed and much more expansive than the CD555 and also has greater bass extension, but with very slightly less control and attack plus a touch of warm bloom. Adding a second PS brings the ND555 substantial strengths in all areas, including timbre and tonal delicacy. It's a tremendous total package.

I was surprised to find that ripping using DBPowerAmp to a Qnap provided superior sound quality to rips to the Uniti Core, with marginally greater PRAT and tonal fidelity. Adding a switch firms things up a touch more.

Even more surprising, I found the Hiline offered marginally more PRAT and tonal fidelity than either the Superlumina 5 pin DIN to 5-pin DIN or the Chord Music, despite some pleasant glossy artefacts of both the latter. I found the Hiline more satisfying on a wide range of music.

ND555, another 555PS , a 6-line Superpowerigel and Qnap duly ordered, with much thanks to Phil for great patience and good company.

I also have the Hiline - the SL did not add anything of interest to my ears.

in addition, I find the qnap has a lower noise floor. Need to run the experiment again to be sure...

I would be curious to know whether the ND555 has now seen some modifications, even minor, between the first commercial or demo units sent to the dealers and the units currently in production, just like it has been the case for the NDS in the second half of 2012. ????

Chag -

Not heard of any hardware changes, though as I and a few others have had the DIN circuit fail, probably due to faulty “relay”, I could imagine Naim doing a running change with a new supplier if faults continue. The main changes over time will be the firmware. I was not aware of the NDS changes or if they could be applicable to ND555.

French Rooster posted:

review of the nd555 on esoterica ( av hub australian) magazine, downloaded on zinio app.

interview with Steve Seals of naim audio.     Also a technical review of a concurrent, the bricasti m21 and m5 , dac/preamp and server.      If someone is interested here.....

What have been the conclusions of the magazine ?

Bert Schurink posted:

French Rooster posted:

review of the nd555 on esoterica ( av hub australian) magazine, downloaded on zinio app.

interview with Steve Seals of naim audio.     Also a technical review of a concurrent, the bricasti m21 and m5 , dac/preamp and server.      If someone is interested here.....

What have been the conclusions of the magazine ?

something like a truly achievement.   Lots of technical details and interview with the naim engineer, was interesting.    However no real comparison with other concurrents, like bricasti m21, dcs rossini or linn klimax, or even nds.   Just superb sound....

Having just experienced my fourth album art freeze in about nine weeks or so, I’m very much looking forward to the release of the next firmware update, which I hope will address this issue.  

Hi Clive ,will it have to go back to HQ for that?.

Hello

Just completed my 3rd week on the ND555.  Sounded pretty fantastic right out of the box.  It was really good mid last week.  It went a little forward a couple of days ago.  It seems back to normal now and is right.  It could just be my ears?  

Bailyhill

Bailyhill posted:

Hello

Just completed my 3rd week on the ND555.  Sounded pretty fantastic right out of the box.  It was really good mid last week.  It went a little forward a couple of days ago.  It seems back to normal now and is right.  It could just be my ears?  

Bailyhill

Bailyhill it is pretty well documented that the sound quality goes up and down during burn in.  It is not your imagination. 

I’m only 2 weeks in but run it through each night on iradio. Had a definite evening of shrill sounding highs one evening but it was gone the following day and sounds sublime again. Marvellous player just encourages me to devour more music and then some 

Nagual posted:

I’m only 2 weeks in but run it through each night on iradio. Had a definite evening of shrill sounding highs one evening but it was gone the following day and sounds sublime again. Marvellous player just encourages me to devour more music and then some 

I had some big ups and downs during burn in too. One day sounding great , another day not . 

Now it sounds great all the time . 

Bob green posted:

Hi Clive ,will it have to go back to HQ for that?.

Hi Bob,

If it is an issue which can be addressed by firmware update, this can be done easily by the user. It is a lot easier to update the firmware on the ND555 than it was on the NDS. I heard a rumour from the beta test group that it was the intent of the next firmware release to solve this. In the meantime it can be solved by powering off the PS and restarting.