Knocking Naim!

[LesW]

My enjoyment of the marque is perhaps a little perverse but when
I take an item of kit to pieces and reassemble to a different formula,
the sense of achievement is quite satisfying.

I suppose Keith Duckworth had similar feelings when he worked on
Ford engines in his early days.

 

[Rasher]

Naim gear back in the CB & Olive days was extremely good and Naim prided themselves on the hand-built and hand-selected nature of their products. Where it all went a bit squiffy was with the rather aloof attitude of the company when the 5 series appeared. What happened was that the gear ended up being made by machine with chips and motherboards, and instead of owning up and arguing the changes, they tried to bullshit their public that nothing of the original philosophy had changed. Their heavy-handedness protecting this appearance manifested itself in stone-walling any discussion that was not in line with their bullshit route, and they lost respect - certainly from me, and from a great number of customers.

Their gear is very good, but it isn't the only stuff out there. Unfortunately it was the attitude of the company that polarised opinion, which was really unnecessary. They tried to bolster the aloofness with a ridiculous pricing policy, which made the polarisation of opinion even greater, to the degree that we are now in snake-oil territory.

Naim gear is great, especially the older stuff, but since the marketing men and accountants took over from the hifi enthusiasts, they are not what they once were, or what they now pretend to be. IMO, of course.

Julian Vereker, like Tom Fletcher, were hifi enthusiasts that eventually made a business out of their obsession. The current Naim company is just a hifi manufacturer.

 

[jobseeker]

Naim make decent kit, the room and loudspeakers are almost totally responsible for the 'sound' of any system.
Keith.

+1 without doubt

 

[cromodora]

+1 Evil Emperor

Why knock Naim ????
Because there is nowt so queer as folk - thank goodness
Why do people complain about the state of the countries overcrowded roads & others sit in trees to stop the countryside being devastated
- 'cause we are not all robots & we each have our own opinions - even tho' its blatantly obvious to you that all the others are just plain wrong.

I'm an avid Naimite.
I like the idea of the upgrade path & I know PSU's are a genuine cornerstone of that. BUT I hate the ridiculous prices for what is not much more than a box of very basic parts - I voted with my feet..

What? Naim?
Never!!

 

[gary yeowell]

I don't believe i have ever knocked Naim, been a fan of their gear since the early 80's. Built to last, made in England, long term serviceability from a company that is good to deal with, great residual value, and best of all sounds superb in general.

What's not to like.... Well all of the above it seems. Some people just hate success and like to champion the underdog. As far as i am concerned i hope they continue to do well because they have been single minded and true to their values, even if i preferred their older sound i still respect what they now do. Remember, you have a choice, don't buy that upgrade PSU or that next level up in terms of pre amp if you don't want to! no one is forcing you. It is totally ok to buy a Nait and stick with it, just don't go on a one man crusade slagging the company because you couldn't control your addictive nature, then tell the world Naim is shite and the cause of so much 'upgradeitus' and i have never been happier since i bought that XYZ and got off the treadmill. Sound familiar?

 

[Suffolk Tony]

I like Naim kit. Having flirted with umpteen different manufacturers in the past it was a real revelation to hear an active SBL-based system, and I ran one for fifteen years or so despite hearing various so-called "Naim Beaters" which...weren't.

I've since upgraded to 500-series kit. It's not all Naim; I didn't care for their DAC, or Headline headphone amp., and I use DIY interconnects in various places because they sound better. I know lots of Naim owners - we all like their stuff, and the excellent service we get from their dealers, but none of them are blind to other manufacturer's components.

I've now reached the age where I'm really content with what I've got; I really can't be bothered to waste my life listening to yet another system that's supposedly gonna "Destroy", "Eat" (or some other twattish term) my Naim setup. That doesn't mean the alternatives are bad, they're just not to my taste, and I suppose the longer time goes on, the more indoctrinated I become with the Naim sound.

They say there's no such thing as bad publicity. Well, Naim gets mentioned on here more than any other Hi-Fi brand so I guess that's pretty good for Naim.

 

[Daniel Quinn]

Price ,bullshit mythology and not as good as they think are .

People eventually criticised the emperors new clothes .

 

[Singslinger]

No knocking here.

I used Naim gear for 18 years, then switched to Accuphase, not because I got disillusioned with Naim but simply because I wanted something different.

Still use a Supernait 2 though, in a second system.

 

[Ptah]

No knocking here.

Still use a Supernait 2 though, in a second system.

"Still"? It's only been out 5 minutes.

Actually there's more Naim-knocking on the Naim forum these days than there is here - usually from folks who bought the latest streamer/dac/etc and then find out Naim are about to release something similar for less money with more specs.

Enjoy what you've got or move on, I say.

 

[Martyn Miles]

What? Naim?
Never!!

Is this the new ' Empty Box Philosophy' , much discussed among Audiophiles purporting that the music has space to breathe.

 

[Mike-B]

What? Naim?
Never!!

I refer the forum to the statement made in my previous post - "ridiculous prices for what is not much more than a box of very basic parts"
But then if they installed it in a mini shoe box size (dare I mention a "Teddy" box) peeps would complain it didn't match the other boxes.

 

[Ginger]

I wonder what the cost of the component parts in that there box are?

 

[Pete MB&D]

In the mainstream its about a sixth of the total cost, so probably in high end about tenth i guess.

Pete

 

[Steven Toy]

Naim is a range of no fewer than five preamps, each carefully engineered to sound worse than the next one up until you reach the most expensive one that is the price of a new compact German car.

The 555/552/active 500/DBL system on Fraim is an utterly fantastic system for the price of a luxo-barge. Everything beneath is not just compromised, it is hobbled imho.

 

[TLS]

IMO, Naim has the best vfm with their entry level components.

 

[MVV]

I use CB stuff and have come to realise I'm not a hi-fi buff otherwise I would use something more modern and better value like Cambridge or Roksan and would be using digital rather than vinyl as a source.

 

[Cereal Killer]

Why does this thread need to exist, its all a bit derogatory and pointless?

Naim exists simples, and is probably one of the UKs most lavished and well respected electronics manufacturers. What's really to knock? Not the company, surely.....

 

[Rasher]

I have a lot of respect for Naim products, but don't care for their current high-handed PR.
The Naim Olive & CB gear I have will stay because it's great, and it was built by enthusiasts for enthusiasts. I don't particularly care for what the company has become, but it doesn't matter to me - things change. I'm not knocking it, just explaining my thoughts to reply to the OP. The OP asked, so we reply.

My old gear is exactly what I want, and I love it. The only difference to me now is whereas once I would have taken it back to Salisbury to be serviced, I'll now go to Witch-Hat, maybe because in my view Witch Hat is more true to the original philosophy of my gear.

 

[sq225917]

It's just hifi, it is all the associations that people make with it that are stupid and the behaviour of people both for and against the brand. They make hifi, they price it to stay in business, they offer a service level that allows them to continue to sell new kit as the older stuff retains some value.

And that's it. You either like the sound, or you don't. But in reality most of what you hear is as Keith says room related and not down to source and amps, at least not in this digital age.

 

[MVV]

I really agree about the room. We are having a lot of work done in the house so an extra sofa is in my room and two big armchairs stacked by chance at the first reflection point this plus a load of B@Q kitchen stuff packed in card board all over the place has been the biggest upgrade ever to my system. Sadly when I tidy up the tight deep bass will leave and the slight hardness at volume will move back in.

I can't do acoustic panels and having them as pictures is even worse! As they say 'the british think art is furniture'; probably applies to music as well as visual art- something vaguely decorative in the room. (explains X factor I suppose)