Best digital stream player

Recommend you audition the Naim HDX. It is hands down the closest thing to a good quality vinyl front end I have ever heard.

Rakuennow et al:

I am not nearly knowledgeable enough to answer your questions. But I can tell you this. Sonically and musically for the auditioning I have done, the Naim HDX is far better than the ARC CD8, the DCS Puccini or Scarlatti (Can't remember which I heard), and a Mac through a $17500 Wavelength DAC. And those are some great digital sources as we all know.

No more CDP purchases for me. I intend to get a Naim HDX in 2010!

Pubul57:

The Naim HDX employs two 400 GB hard drives in its most basic configuration. Music is stored on the 1st hard drive and automatically backed up to the 2nd hard drive once every 24 hours at whatever time of day or night you select. You can use 3rd party hard drives to expand the basic configuration storage capacity, i.e., beyond 800 GB. I do not know if 3rd party hard drives can be used to replace a failed drive in the HDX unit itself. And even if it could be done, there could be warranty invalidation considerations associated with an owner servicing his/her equipment instead of allowing Naim to do so. I learned what I know about the Naim HDX from Don Better and from the Naim National Sales Manager at a special event at Don Better's home last fall. I will try to get an answer to your question from Don and update via a follow-up post to this thread.

The Naim HDX sells for $8250, which includes an excellent internal DAC. Options that I am aware of are two external power supplies - one quite expensive and one ridiculously expensive, but they do improve the unit's musicality even more. You also have the option to bypass the internal DAC and connect the HDX to your DAC du jour, which is where I would consider putting extra money instead of the external power supply options.

Man, this thread is making me even more anxious to pull the trigger on the HDX sooner rather than later! ;->

I am not familiar with the Olive system, but from what I have read about it, I agree that the HDX and Olive seem to be similar conceptually. The Naim is extremely user friendly (plug and play might be a stretch, but it is far easier to use than a PC-based music server) and that fact combined with its outstanding musicality makes it an easy choice for me. Right now I am using a Macbook Pro and Wavelength Cosecant for a music server in my primary system, but when I get the HDX, the Mac/Cosecant server will get incorporated into another system.

Pubul57 et al:

I did compare the Naim, just with its own excellent internal DAC and without one of the optional external power supplies, to a MAC tied into Wavelength DACs costing up to $17500. The Naim was better every time.

BTW, the Naim is easily software upgradeable, along the lines of Anthem's excellent HT preamp-processors, thereby negating the "yesterday's news" pitfall. True, it won't clean your house, wash your car, or cook your dinner (I believe those deficiencies are being addressed in their next software upgrade - ;-> ), but your music will sound so good to you that you will not care about your dirty house, dirty car, or growling stomach!

Best Regards,

Steven

Pubul57 et al:

I did compare the Naim, just with its own excellent internal DAC and without one of the optional external power supplies, to a MAC tied into Wavelength DACs costing up to $17500. The Naim was better every time.