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Naim Solstice officially unveiled . . .

I popped in about 3pm and stayed for a good couple of hours. Only 3 of us there plus John and Adrian so quite a relaxed time. Solstice looks much better in the flesh with admirable build quality. Both decks are truly excellent, the Naim sounding slightly darker with lots of drive while the Linn had a more refined, delicate presentation. Agree that the cartridge price differential probably had a part to play in that. I thoroughly enjoyed both but if push came to shove I’d have the Linn. As always at these events heard some excellent new (to me) music which is now on order. Many thanks to the guys at Audio T.

PS Had a good look at your Xerxes Ian, with a guided tour by John. Very impressive deck, I’d forgotten how sexy they are!
 
I popped in about 3pm and stayed for a good couple of hours. Only 3 of us there plus John and Adrian so quite a relaxed time. Solstice looks much better in the flesh with admirable build quality. Both decks are truly excellent, the Naim sounding slightly darker with lots of drive while the Linn had a more refined, delicate presentation. Agree that the cartridge price differential probably had a part to play in that. I thoroughly enjoyed both but if push came to shove I’d have the Linn. As always at these events heard some excellent new (to me) music which is now on order. Many thanks to the guys at Audio T.

PS Had a good look at your Xerxes Ian, with a guided tour by John. Very impressive deck, I’d forgotten how sexy they are!

Yes, should have put a thanks in for the chaps at Audio-T. Would have stayed longer but had a fixed time parking ticket.

Really looking forward to getting the Xerxes home at some point. John has the replacement bushes now, but the PS might need to go back to Roksan as there’s (probably) a relay which isn’t working 100%. It is a looker though isn’t it?!
 
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Important, perhaps, to note:

1. I effectively spent only around 25 minutes listening to each deck.
2. “Both were good” - perhaps I should have said “very good indeed”. I’d reserve “excellent” for the Linn, but these are small margins at this level.
3. As @Darren L noted the Naim is somewhat hamstrung if its cart is “just” a £1.1k affair. Stick a £5k cart on it and maybe things would be rather different.
4. On cost, there’s something of an overall disparity between £16k and £24k(?). If there’s a Sondeck package at the £16k price point again things might fall differently?
5. Unless I win the lottery (actually I did buy a ticket yesterday for the first time in years and haven’t checked) I’m not in the market for this price point. Much happier to mess about with two or three good decks for half the price of the Naim. Take from this that nowadays I see vinyl as the fun option, not a quest for ultimate SQ.
Fully agree with what you are saying. Ultimately you would need to have a proper listen in your own system. Linn have so many customers who are half way there, a few judicious upgrades, probably 2nd hand, will work out potentially cheaper than p/x against the Solstice.

I had a similar dilemma recently when I listened to a P10, it would have needed to blow me away in order for me to change & it didn’t really. I am probably going to go Karousel/Kore & then stop for another 15 years;)
 
I think this is one of the dangers of short dealer dems.

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I partly agree with you if you don't listen to more than one item. In this case, it was not long until I decided the Linn was the one I preferred. I listened to 4 songs on both decks, which was enough to make an initial decision about which I preferred. If I was going to buy, then I would want to listen to more songs on another occasion before making the final decision, which is something Audio-T in Brighton is happy to facilitate.
 
The Urika2 needs a Linn streamer to work and I couldn’t see one in the picture. Hence my question. Perhaps it was the Urika1?

Hans
 
The Urika2 needs a Linn streamer to work and I couldn’t see one in the picture. Hence my question. Perhaps it was the Urika1?

Hans
I didn't know that, it must have been the Ulrika 1 then. Whichever version of the Ulrika, it sounded really good and if I was able to afford this system as it stood, I would most likely go for the LP12. Maybe with different speakers, such as the Focal speakers Naim now seems to prefer, it might be the other way around.
 


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