New streaming device from Primare - the NP5

May be late here…but just discovered a new streaming device from Primare, the NP5. Claims to become Roon-ready in the near future by update…Wonder how long that will take? Primare makes good products and am looking forward to listening tests and reviews. MSRP is 500€ /600 USD.
https://www.primare.net/products/np5-prisma/

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Funny that a “made in Sweden” device is advertised with a Norway fjord picture (I’m almost sure it’s the Lofoten Ski Lodge) :roll_eyes:

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Well, if the NP5 ends up being a good product, I’ll forgive them for the picture…

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Looks like an interesting product.

As I see it only spdif(coax&toslink) out.

Indeed. I’d still be interested in a full review/test once it’s fully released…

Inputs: Wired (LAN) and Wireless (WLAN), and USB A input

I think you’re right, and even though being a company based in Sweden, they tend to deliberately keep a “Scandinavian” profile. I’d say, if you browse their website, you’ll find pictures from various places in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.

Any word on this? Especially interested in knowing whether it is roon ready. I’m just now setting up my system, I want to be sure I have the ability to stream at 192/24. Huge plus that it has Chromecast built-in, so I can stream plex as well

I got mine last week and it works great with Roon via Chromecast built-in. It is not Roon ready certified yet. Unfortionally Np5 is not bit-perfect. It upsamples all incoming signals to 48, 96 or 192 kHz. No word from Primare yet if it will be bit-perfect when Roon ready certification is done.

I’ve been wondering about this.

Usually, upsampling in hardware only upsamples on intervals, i.e. 48, 96, 192.
To what does it upsample a 44.1 signal?

What does the device do with a DSD stream?

The web site is a little vague on specs.

@jazMirti Where do you live? It is still not available in California and it’s the final piece in my Roon setup. As of now, relying on airplay…

No longer considering it personally because it’s not yet Roon compatible…

I live in Sweden. Maybe they ship them by sea :slightly_smiling_face:

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@Henry_McLeod, I see in another thread that you are considering this device.

I asked these questions in this thread, but didn’t get a reply.

Any thoughts? Thanks.

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This is to be confirmed because mine isn’t with me yet, but:
It seems to upsample to a maximum 192/24 but only the 48k family. This is user selectable.
I think it also converts DSD to PCM at the above rates.
The major limitation seems to be that it only has electrical and optical spdif outputs. No USB. And of course it isn’t yet Roon Ready though that is promised soon.

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So, if that’s true then really not useful for up-sampling in the majority of cases, i.e. CD quality streams…
It would seem to be another case of, intentionally or unintentionally, penning misleading advertising.

A major limitation for many people.

Thanks for the reply.

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@Henry_McLeod Where did you learn this? Is this a software limitation? If I’m just using Roon to stream to my audio system thru the NP5, will it upsample?

Thanks for any advise!

I read its specification and that is what it looks like it does to me. I may be wrong. But as this was primarily designed to augment AV receivers it makes sense. Mine hasn’t arrived and no word from the dealer so I suspect they are not plentiful out there.

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If this works like other hardware up-sampling, then it will not up-sample any stream that is not an integral of 48K, e.g. a 44.1K stream (which is mostly what one gets from streaming services or from ripped CDs).

That doesn’t mean it can’t handle a native stream of 192k. It seems like it can.
OTOH, if you’re using an optical output, they are mostly limited to 96K.
Not sure about Chromecast.

The Primare web site is a little light on details, but there is a contact form for any questions.

Roon itself does up-sampling, which one can set in the DSP menu, but it will be processor intensive…

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