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Signals hi-fi for grown-ups. suppliers and installers of music hi-fi audio stereo system, systems and a/v av products to all areas of Suffolk,North Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 01473 655171
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The NDX is Naim's new utterly purist audiophile network music player. It can access music files located on a local network via wired or wireless ethernet (the former is recommended) and offers the new and bewildering world of internet radio. There is the option of an in-built FM / DAB radio tuner too for additional cost.
The NDX bears the closest relationship with the Naim Uniti and Uniti Qute products and it can be controlled by the same n-stream 'app' on the Apple iPhone / iTouch / iPad. At this point it diverges smartly away from them, however.
The Uniti products are high quality devices but they are about convenience and space efficiency too. The NDX comes in a reference sized case and comes filled with a large toroidal transformer and a substantial DAC and analogue circuit board. It is not exactly devoid of facilities though, having digital inputs, a digital output, a port to allow upgrade via XPS or 555PS supplies and the option of DIN or Phono outputs.
A very nice touch is that the NDX includes some output sockets that can drive infra red blasters or be connected directly to current Naim components (pre-amp, CD player, DAC etc). This allows control of volume, input, tracks, etc from the iPhone application. Nifty stuff!
So, does it sound any good? Jeepers yes! I'm still trying to figure out if I was lucky or not to hear the sample at the factory last summer. It blew my socks off, so to speak, and led to us advise potential HDX customers to hear the UnitiServe / NDX combo before jumping in. Had we realsed that about six months would elapse before production . . .
Anyway, it is here and it currently sits at the very top of Naim's networked audio replay range. As has been established with the Uniti products, the 'serving' of data, the quality of the network (keep it separated from printing / internet traffic etc) and the quality of the CD rip all impact on the results. Our HDX SSD has been relegated from ripping / serving / replay duties in the main listening room to doing this from a secondary location but it still serves the files to the NDX. To maintain access to above-CD level of resolution, you need to ensure that the HDX is passing on UPnP data at its native level.
As a stand-alone device, the NDX gives a very good account of itself. Switching to it from an HDX SSD running through the Naim DAC which was itself powered via an XPS was, erm, interesting. The NDX seemed instantly more open, alive, resolving and simply more musical. OK, so that is a sonic upgrade moving to something that's about £6500 cheaper. Yikes. Mind you, the serving job still needs to be done to maintain this level.
After a few days warm-up, it was time to experiment with the PSU and DAC upgrade possibilities. The gist, so far, is that if a single extra box can be afforded / accommodated, then it should be the DAC. Adding a powerline to the NDX does (substantial) stuff, so it should be the first step, I guess. Adding the XPS improves the timing / control / structure but the DAC gives more resolution and tonal colour. It's a bit like audio painting by numbers. The PSU improves the outlines but the DAC does the filling in.
Under these circumstances we found that, even with the DAC functions outsourced, the choice of mains cable to the NDX remained very relevant. Adding external power supply to DAC and then to the NDX brought even more gains. In fact it was surprising to find that in this advanced situation of running into a 555PS-fed Naim DAC, a single brand new and rather 'stressed' (poor love) Burndy lead from XPS to NDX was actually holding things back until it was manipulated and relaxed. I did that, never realised I had the tallent. Currently feeling very proud!
The sound we are getting from this combo is well up to the level of the 500 series electronics. For some reason, I am playing more music on the system than in a long time. Good CD rips are magical, poor sounding CDs seem less dissected than with the (single 555PS-fed) CD555 and HD music, pretty much anything at 24 rather than 16 bit, sounds truly remarkable.
Gentlemen (and ladies), we have progress!
