Primare NP5 - A talented streamer

Rajeshh

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Singapore & Chennai
I am trying out the Primare NP5 streamer in my setup. This is a reasonably priced streamer coming in at Euro 500. It does not have a DAC, and outputs Digital audio via Optical, Coax, and BNC.
Since my recent move to Qobuz and Spotify, I am exploring pure streamers that are not (only) Roon dependant. The Primare NP5 seems to be the only reasonably priced streamer with Chromecast, Native Spotify connect, DNLP, and Roon endpoint. It has its own App, but like most vendor Apps, I found its UX hopeless.

With the Primare NP5, I can cast directly from the Qobuz app to the streamer, both from the mobile and desktop App. I tried Roon, too, w.r.t both usability and Sound; I prefer the Qobuz native App via Chromecast.

Sound Quality - I found the sound quality passable. I am used to the sound quality of the Ultrarendu via USB to the Denafrips Terminator. Compared to the Ultrarendu, I found the sound uninvolving.
That changed with the addition of the Plixir LPS. The Plixir LPS is better built than the streamer itself and is about 1/2 the streamer's price, but boy did it change the game!

With the addition of the LPS (and some short running in), the Primare NP5 sounds great!
I haven't compared it to my Ultrarendu, but I haven't felt the urge to switch back to it when listening critically. That is saying a lot.

Some more observations:- It seems sensitive to placement. Compared to placement on top of the DAC, there was a noticeable difference and a calmer sound when placed inside my TV console's shelves. And surprisingly, I find the sound quality better via Wifi than Wired ethernet.
W.r.t Sound Quality - I found Qobuz Chromecast > Qobuz Roon. This is via the Coax out from the Prisma NP5 to the Denafrips Terminator.

I thought FMs would find this talented streamer a good option to consider when looking for a competent and fuss-free package.
 
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It seems sensitive to placement. Compared to placement on top of the DAC, there was a noticeable difference and a calmer sound when placed inside my TV console's shelves. And surprisingly, I find the sound quality better via Wifi than Wired ethernet.
W.r.t Sound Quality
Some Pictures will be quite helpful. Observations of Wireless better than Wired is interesting, what's the Router, Length of LAN cable and it's make? Do you have a LPSU for the Router?

Anyways TFS!
 
And surprisingly, I find the sound quality better via Wifi than Wired ethernet.
W.r.t Sound Quality - I found Qobuz Chromecast > Qobuz Roon.
"Wifi sounding better than Wired Ethernet" & "Chromecast sounding better than Roon" observations are hard for my preconceived Mind to believe but I am happy to hear this observations for the ease of use.
 
@sathtom Wifi sounding better than wired is a first for me too. Primare recommends using Wifi btw.
That being said, I am on a 2 gbps fibre line with the wifi hitting +500MBps on Speedtest.

W.r.t Roon, I find that UPNP apps and native apps generally sound more immediate than Roon, but most of those apps such as mConnect are unusable and have poor UI for my needs.
This is my first try with the Chromecast audio protocol, I am very impressed with the SoundQ, it is able to stream unto 192Hz, which is the upper limit for Qobuz.
 
Hi Kritik, I use an Asus RT-AC88U router plugged into a Isotek Aquarius power conditioner. For audio I use a Audioquest Cinnamon Ethernet cable (.75 Mts)
Primare recommends using wifi btw

Here are some pics, enjoy :)

View attachment 55497

Can it play files from a local (sell powered) hard disk connected to the USB port? Does it do DSD 64 and 128 and MQA? Thanks.
 
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