Why now HDD?

I think Prowla has put his finger on it.

In addition - an HDD based system has the advantage that, if ripped properly, a 100% correct copy of the information is stored on disk from the original CD. The only challenge (and I'm not saying its small) is to accurately (including the timing perspective) re-constituting an audio stream from the stored packet data.

Hence, an HDD based system is not cripple before it starts. In contrast - the CD Redbook standard is a compromise from the start; information for numerous reasons may be misread from the CD, this leading to unrecoverable data loss and distortion.

Forget convenience, I fully expect Naim HDD based systems (in due course) to be able to exceed the performance of the 555.

Regards

Richard

quote:

I do the computer malarkey all bloody day. One of the joys of coming home is to sit down and enjoy the stand-alone, non-computer dependent Naim kit

Absolutely. Its a long time since computers were some sort of hobby. The last thing I want is to face the same issues at home I do at work.

I get paid to solve interface issues. So when I buy an expensive piece of kit and it doesn't talk to my plasma/network/laptop/server it returns very rapidly from whence it came.

In fact, my current attitude is that I need, as much as possible, to make my home a haven from the technical nightmare I inhabit in my working life. I suppose thats a bit retro....but then so are LPs, cars you can service yourself, printed books and lots of other things that offer comfort in a changing world.

Not retro, but advanced & enlightened IMHO.

Absobloodylutely!

quote:

Originally posted by gary1:
agree with jcs smith. Naim should have released a less expensive version first I'd defnitely be interested in evaluating and possible to purchase.

I disagree, often is the case a manufacturer will release the higher priced version first. First so that consumers will see the depth of their technology and allow that product to "make a Naim for its self. Second, they also want to flush out all those people that would be a potential purchaser of the more expensive product, BEFORE providing them with a cheaper alternative. Not to beat the comparison to death , but that is what Linn did, not that I would use them as a shining example of how to run a business....

quote:

Originally posted by Adam Meredith:

4 Produce, deliver, or supply as output. M19.

That's putted me in my place, and no mistake, guv.

well, I'm an old fart, I still want to riffle thru my CDs and vinyl and identify it by cover art. Sometimes my mind is a blank of the group but I know the cover art and relative position on my collection. They are roughly in alphabetical order.

I'm trying to re organize my 1 bedroom apt here in LA and paint etc. One guy saw the mess and in a casual tone said get rid of the lot, you don't need it all. He didn't stay long for that visit.

Don't forget that with HDD there is a music file of some description (MP3, WAV, etc). So the translation from blocks of data on the disc is done by a program called a codec, that yields the raw digital data. In similar fashion to CD players, that data can be processed (e.g. digital filtering) and then converted by the DAC for analog output.

There's a great deal that can be done by Naim controlling that entire chain of operation... in one box like Naim is doing.

Once things are separated, and a PC/NAS storage become a necessity rather than an option, the results become relatively unpredictable ... and things get much hairier unless you enjoy fixing problems rather than playing music! Neither does Naim need to have an army of people to tech support dealers and customers, with the kind of machine that requires different products with umpteen software variants in order to play one note of music ... should things not go well.

The irony being that many HDX owners won't notice that they have missed the opportunity to pull their hair out by welcoming a computer network into their stereo system without any know-how.

What's more ... ;-)

Those of you who do actually like manipulating music on a computer network, and are already learning, or have become experts at it ... will be able to play high res digital music files stored on your PC or NAS etc. via an HDX.

Then there are those who already have high quality CD playback, who may not be compelled to get a machine like an HDX until the high-res files are more plentiful... cue Naim label high res downloads ;-)

SO, this is really rather good timing to introduce a hard disk player into the market ...

All this talk of the wonders of hi-res digital music files makes we wonder....high res compared to what? If 16/44 wasn't up to LP, why shold 24/96 or whatever be better? Are the problems of digital music reproduction down to resolution? I suspect not.

Assembling data packets coming off discs? Codecs? Mmmm.

I quite like manipulating 12" discs on a turntable. Wonder what digital resolution you'd need to replicate that hi-res experience?

More information (if it's handled properly without timing issues at the very high clock speeds involved).

Like using a "high-resolution" MC cartridge ... so long as the TT is revolving at a perfectly constant speed with virtually zero wow and flutter ;-)

quote:

so long as the TT is revolving at a perfectly constant speed with virtually zero wow and flutter

Never been built. Fortunately, analogue does not require perfection (forever or otherwise).

quote:

well, I'm an old fart, I still want to riffle thru my CDs and vinyl and identify it by cover art. Sometimes my mind is a blank of the group but I know the cover art and relative position on my collection. They are roughly in alphabetical order.

Alphabetical order is now impossible for me–as Adam pointed out earlier, one might be more inclined to group by genre, record label (I've got a 4AD section, a Mute section, a Factory section]–and yes, by cover art (in many cases, the records I own have little or no sleeve spine legends, either by design or by overutility).

Rest assured, cover art (visual search) is something I will champion, as alphabets are arbitrary.

quote:

I quite like manipulating 12" discs on a turntable. Wonder what digital resolution you'd need to replicate that hi-res experience?

You'd need two audio streams–one to drive the spindle motor drive, and another for playback. (I vaguely remember a Studer factory tech explaining to me their take on capstan motor calibration, not an absolute, first-order speed measurement so much as a measure of the second-order variation over a long time unit, including thermal effects in the motor drive circuitry.)

quote:

Fortunately, analogue does not require perfection (forever or otherwise).

Do you know about these guys?

Plangent Processes

whose Cambridge-U developed algorithm deals with the IM distortion wrought on analogue tape playback by pitch-correcting the HF bias oscillator in the digital domain? I've heard a demonstration at AES one year and it was absolutely phenomenal.

More and more, I'm convinced that there might be a "true" analog resurgence, once the average plebs get past the fake analog-vs.-digital debate–combinations of the two technologies (e.g., look-ahead proxy streams for analog disc cutting masters) generally prove to be far better than the individual parts....for that matter, the mathematically-inclined among you can easily generate a homomorphic mapping between analogue tape and a digital bitstream!

quote:

Even die hard vinyl enthusiasts will sit up and take notice.

We are too busy listening to records!

Bob

quote:

Originally posted by David Dever:

whose Cambridge-U developed algorithm ...

Does anyone else play NUM3ERS I-Spy ... waiting for the first time someone says "algorithm". Or "epithelials" in CSI?

Yes - I've been slumming it with television during the Dark Months. I blame House (initially).

quote:

Studer factory tech explaining to me their take on capstan motor calibration, not an absolute, first-order speed measurement so much as a measure of the second-order variation over a long time unit, including thermal effects in the motor drive circuitry

I use a couple of Studers and, while they are marvellous machines, I don't think they are an example of 'perfectly constant speed with virtually zero wow and flutter'. In fact the specs would make a few turntables blush - my 807 claims 0.2% speed deviation and 0.1% wow and flutter and that was the last (latest) model made.

LP 12 claims 0.06 per cent wow/flutter, Technics SP15 0.05 per cent, Thorens TD166 0.08 per cent etc etc...and we know how meaningful these are in relation to turntable performance.

As I said, the beauty of analogue is that it doesn't require perfection...

...but almost every recording on the planet prior to the digital age made its way onto imperfect media to begin with–when you strip that out, suddenly the whole process comes into focus.

When you consider that many people run tape machines at a significantly faster speed (30ips in many cases), that second-order measure of variation per unit length starts to look WAY better than a spinning record at 78rpm. (Imagine the Clearaudio Statement version of an open-reel recorder; it'd be the size of a small room.)

Perhaps your analogue doesn't require perfection–but for those of us who've worked as studio engineers, records represent a compromise (a good one, mind you) that open-reel tape beats handily–and if IT can be improved, imagine what might happen if a new analogue medium were to surface....in the end, it's all about more music.