Question What's your next HiFi purchase?

[Jasonovich]

I like gadgets but there's way, way too much stuff going on there for me 😆

Nah............🤣

 

[record_spot]

Received my Primare NP5 today, drum roll, here's my review 😎


The Primare NP5 is really on another league to the WiiM Pro Plus, this is going to be my dirty secret! This tiny box is dynamite. Makes an excellent transport for my Eversolo DAC.
Worth the investment, £260 is absolute second hand bargain.

I thought the WiiM Pro Plus was small, the Np5 is about half the height, length wise it’s about the same as the WiiM. It makes minimalism respectable.

It’s so simple to operate, once it detects a signal it switches itself on, then switches off auto when not in use.

It has Spotify and Qobuz software built into the hardware (not sure about Tidal), once you open your Spotify app on your mobile, it’s there waiting for you, ez-zi pee-zi peeps!

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About 15 - 20 years back there was a firm called Firestone Audio that manufactured some small form gear very much like your BRZHifi box. I used to have their Spitfire Audio DAC that was a brilliantly implemented little thing that could take two or three inputs (from memory) but would work out itself the signal it was being fed (coax, optical and something else I think) and just send that signal to your amp. It was really very smart and ahead of its time, plus it sounded great - I paired it with a Sony Blu-Ray player and it was easily as good as a Marantz KI player I had at the time.

These days? I need to physically switch my Cambridge DAC to the input I want whether that's TV, or streamer. 17 years on...!

 

[Jasonovich]

About 15 - 20 years back there was a firm called Firestone Audio that manufactured some small form gear very much like your BRZHifi box. I used to have their Spitfire Audio DAC that was a brilliantly implemented little thing that could take two or three inputs (from memory) but would work out itself the signal it was being fed (coax, optical and something else I think) and just send that signal to your amp. It was really very smart and ahead of its time, plus it sounded great - I paired it with a Sony Blu-Ray player and it was easily as good as a Marantz KI player I had at the time.

These days? I need to physically switch my Cambridge DAC to the input I want whether that's TV, or streamer. 17 years on...!

Just Googled it.
I believe Firestone Audio is still going strong, still making DACs and below, a class B headphone amp!
Class A-B yes, only B is most unusual.

Nice to see, they're still innovating.

https://www.jackvandijk.nl/hifi_equipment.php?Id=191

 

[Angle Poise-Lamp]

Not so much Hi-Fi related but, would certainly be useful here in Somerset at the moment:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI05aElRYcc

 

[Jasonovich]

Received my Primare NP5 today, drum roll, here's my review 😎


The Primare NP5 is really on another league to the WiiM Pro Plus, this is going to be my dirty secret! This tiny box is dynamite. Makes an excellent transport for my Eversolo DAC.
Worth the investment, £260 is absolute second hand bargain.

I thought the WiiM Pro Plus was small, the Np5 is about half the height, length wise it’s about the same as the WiiM. It makes minimalism respectable.

It’s so simple to operate, once it detects a signal it switches itself on, then switches off auto when not in use.

It has Spotify and Qobuz software built into the hardware (not sure about Tidal), once you open your Spotify app on your mobile, it’s there waiting for you, ez-zi pee-zi peeps!



Here are my findings (based on hours of listening to Spotify)

Pros
Good attack
Crispy
Solid bass
Excellent detail
Natural tones
String acoustics sound really natural.

Cons
Doesn’t come with a remote (but why do you need it?)

Here are some pics

Red lights - initialising
View attachment 10883
Two greens and white - is fully operational
View attachment 10882


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View attachment 10887

Update:

I've been playing my music via my mobile, namely Bluetooth. Funny it just didn't dawn on me, because listening to it was good.

I thought, I should do the real test, you know, via the ethernet cabling and yes, much better. This little streamer only device, is so good.
I know this is Spotify but even so, the music coming through the NP5's are so good, I just can't put down my headphones and I have a million things to do today!

 

[Dom]

I bought some rubber buffers for my rack and speakers, looks sensible enough and good improvement in sound. 🙂

 

[Al ears]

Not so much Hi-Fi related but, would certainly be useful here in Somerset at the moment:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI05aElRYcc

And in most of Devon I understand.....

 

[gotnoname]

Going to try a Arcam A15+ and compare it to my Marantz PM6007.
Waiting for some new old cd's, one being BB King, Live at the Regal.

That sounds like an interesting comparison.