I want to upgrade Tidal masters streaming on my existing system and have narrowed my options down to Naim ND5 XS and Belcanto REFSTREAM. My system consists of NAIM 72/Hi-Cap/140 Olive, NAC 5 speaker cables, Mytek Brooklyn DAC, Chord digital cables and a Rega RP6/Exact 2. Speakers are KEF LS50 and Larsen 6. I occasionally swap them around. I also have a Cambridge Audio CXD CD transport that I don't use much.
There is no dealer for Belcanto within 30m drive from Seattle (I don't want to drive to Tacoma for this) so I wonder if anyone here, has heard both Naim and Belcanto and can say if they are in the same "class".
I am leaning towards Belcanto at the moment due to it's glowing Audiostream review, and it's AES digital output. Oddly I am NOT planning to use the ND5 XS as a DAC so it makes that feature redundant for me - because I am using the Brooklyn as a turntable pre-amp (please don't shoot) which sounds excellent IMO and has the convenience of analogue volume control for my analogue source.
The reason for upgrading is that I am currently streaming Tidam MQA to the Brooklyn via an aiport express (digital output) Or connected direct through a 2015 Macbook running Audirvana, and they both sound confined and dull compared to the REGA through the same Brooklyn Mytek. Hence I conclude (with moderate confidence) I need a better source to my DAC for streaming.
Am I correct in assuming that both Naim and Belcanto will be equally excellent, but with different sound, and that I should just pick one and move on if I can't test them - OR - are they so different to each other, that I should definetely take the time and drive back and forth an hour and go listen to them?
thank you!
A
I want to upgrade Tidal masters streaming on my existing system and have narrowed my options down to Naim ND5 XS and Belcanto REFSTREAM. My system consists of NAIM 72/Hi-Cap/140 Olive, NAC 5 speaker cables, Mytek Brooklyn DAC, Chord digital cables and a Rega RP6/Exact 2. Speakers are KEF LS50 and Larsen 6. I occasionally swap them around. I also have a Cambridge Audio CXD CD transport that I don't use much.
There is no dealer for Belcanto within 30m drive from Seattle (I don't want to drive to Tacoma for this) so I wonder if anyone here, has heard both Naim and Belcanto and can say if they are in the same "class".
I am leaning towards Belcanto at the moment due to it's glowing Audiostream review, and it's AES digital output. Oddly I am NOT planning to use the ND5 XS as a DAC so it makes that feature redundant for me - because I am using the Brooklyn as a turntable pre-amp (please don't shoot) which sounds excellent IMO and has the convenience of analogue volume control for my analogue source.
The reason for upgrading is that I am currently streaming Tidam MQA to the Brooklyn via an aiport express (digital output) Or connected direct through a 2015 Macbook running Audirvana, and they both sound confined and dull compared to the REGA through the same Brooklyn Mytek. Hence I conclude (with moderate confidence) I need a better source to my DAC for streaming.
Am I correct in assuming that both Naim and Belcanto will be equally excellent, but with different sound, and that I should just pick one and move on if I can't test them - OR - are they so different to each other, that I should definetely take the time and drive back and forth an hour and go listen to them?
thank you!
A