Outboard DACs

That means that the driving rhythms of the mixed bag that is the Graceland: Remixes version of Paul Simon’s classic album [Legacy Recordings; 44.1kHz/24-bit download] are delivered with speed and deftness, with ‘remixed’ power in the bass and real attack in the electronica making these familiar tracks all but unrecognisable. Basically, all that remains of the original is the odd snatch of vocals, but when Simon’s voice does emerge it soars with expression and character, almost despite the repetitive shenanigans going on below it.

I’m still not sure that I’m that sold on this set, though it’s hard not to like Richy Ahmed’s thumping take on ‘The Boy In The Bubble’ when the NDX 2 gets to grips with its deep, heavy bassline, or the trippy ‘shotoree shotoree’ run Groove Armada take at ‘You Can Call Me Al’. What can sound thin and insubstantial through lesser systems takes on scale and guts with the NDX 2 running through a system able to show what it can do. I was using my NAC 52/NA 52PS/NAP 250 DR [HFN Dec ’15] combination into PMC OB1 loudspeakers, and the ability of the player to drive hard even with really low bass, while keeping treble detail focused, was never in question.

On to more familiar audiophile fare, and Pink Floyd’s Wish You Were [in DSD64 from EMI 522 4332] sounded big and magnificent via the NDX 2, the long slow build of ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’ tingling and shimmering through the speakers in a broad sharp-focused soundstage that was almost three-dimensional in aspect. The familiar guitar line cut through the room with almost surgical electricity, the power of the rest of the instrumentation building behind it in a manner fit to have you turning up the volume and trying it again.

Or in this case, turning the volume down, tinkering with the NDX 2’s connections and moving my 555 PS from the Naim NDS to power the new player, and then just jaw-dropping at the ‘more of everything’ and heightened sense of realism it brings. The bass appears better extended and yet even more tightly controlled, and the midband and treble more finely resolved while further ‘of a whole’ with the rest of the sound. Yes, yes – I’d promised myself I was going to wait until the listening was over before resorting to external power, but the ‘what if’ temptation was too hard to resist.

Close Quarters
So let’s get this out of the way right here and now, courtesy of an extended session with the 555 PS’d NDX 2. OK, a ‘wife’s away, house next door awaiting new tenants’ all-nighter (I love it when a plan comes together!): the NDX 2, when used in this two-box form, sounds nothing short of magnificent, bringing the listener closer to the music than almost any other network player I know. And it does so by combining oodles of information, superb insight into recording and performance, and an entirely ‘unswitchoffable’ addictive quality that really did have me endlessly doing the ‘wonder what this sounds like?’ thing over and over again.

Note that I said ‘almost any other network player I know’, for I have to admit that after lengthy back-to-back comparisons, I think the ‘old’ NDS, used with a single 555 PS DR power supply may give away a shade of detail to the NDX 2/555 PS DR combination, but it has just a bit more ‘boogie factor’ to it, making music the tiniest bit more captivating. Now I freely admit this may just be to do with my sheer familiarity with the old flagship player, but to these ears it just sounds a little more ‘real’.

That parked, back to the NDX 2 in self-powered mode, and whether with its digital inputs, streaming music from network storage or playing tracks stored on USB sticks, there’s no doubt that the new Naim network player offers remarkable insight into the music. This is clear with the Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer recording of Mendelssohn’s music for A Midsummer Night’s Dream [Channel Classics CCS SA 37418; DSD128].

The sheer weight and attack of the orchestra in the more exuberant passages is combined with the fine detail available in quieter moments, and the sense of the orchestra in a living soundstage before the listener. And when you add in its remarkable flexibility – and upgradability – this is clearly a very special player.

Hi-Fi News Verdict
Naim has given its ND-series players a complete update, and if the superb NDX 2 is anything to go by, the additional facilities have been achieved at no expense whatsoever to the sound, which remains thrilling, fulfilling, and entirely musical. The newcomer may lack a little of the old flagship NDS’s sonic ‘Naimness’, but it has an entirely compelling presentation that’s as enjoyable as it is insightful.