tenpercenter
Don't ya rile 'em.....
Just a distributor defending a brand in his collection.........and his profit margin etc
Really disappointed to see this, especially having bought from your shop in the past as well.As the UK distributor I feel your findings are completely unfounded
Along with many others the musical coherence and texture of sound is quite frankly in a different stratosphere to an XS2
It’s like comparing a bottle of Trevento Malbec (not a bad slurpand a good quaffing red) to a bottle of Illuninos vino de la luz an award winning superior slurp
But I am aware people can’t tell the difference
And if so enjoy the Trivento
Have used;
Nait Xs with MA 20se and Epos ES11
Supernait 2 With the above and LV Avatar
Now have Lavardin IS ref with the LV Avatar.
With the Naim amps there was always an element of choosing the music that worked with them.
With Lavardin IS Ref it portrays most if not all music styles/recordings in a communicative manner that makes sense of the music. What I considered poorly recorded music is now listenable and enjoyable.
Now that is interesting. I must admit that I am a fan of Naim CD players but not their amps. Does the Lavardin sound, with classical music, as though half of the band are asleep, similar to the first few minutes of a live event. This would not be a good idea. My ATC amp gets the more dynamic balance just right.
I would say if your are mostly into classical music, especially smaller ensembles, then a Lavardin would be a good amplifier if you have the matching speaker.Now that is interesting. I must admit that I am a fan of Naim CD players but not their amps. Does the Lavardin sound, with classical music, as though half of the band are asleep, similar to the first few minutes of a live event. This would not be a good idea.
Now I'm curious what you think are brilliant amps. Probably the Aavik U-150, what more?
I had Shahinian speakers at the time of my Lavardin ownership (Arc and Super Elf), so maybe there was a mismatch there. Let me be clear, in no way did the Lavardin sound bad...I think they were very smooth, but my abiding memory is that I found myself snoozing off (literally) when listening to music with them. The Supernait was almost the opposite. The guy I sold it to had ATC 40 floorstanders and when we tested it with them, they didn't quite gel either. He had more knowledge of Lavardins and reflected to me exactly my experience of them. In hindsight, maybe my speakers were not suited to them, so would be interested in MAX's experience of pairing them with Shahinians.
Again, I have a different opinion and I don't see the point why your impression is objective and my ones are subjective.I can see both sides of this but having owned Naim and, after some sterling work where I managed to get to hear the Lavardin at length, there are some circumstances where it’s not a matter of taste.
I’m not entirely sure the Lavardin was to my taste. It certainly didn’t sound valvey. It was on the soft, dark side oF neutral for me of anything. I even agree the Lavardin definitely has some bad press around repairs (although Naim in house is hardly stellar these days). However, it’s not a matter of presentation at all here. The Lavardin is streets ahead of an XS2 on so many things it’s hard to know where to start. The Naim doesn’t even fulfill the “punches above it’s weight” cliche. It performs of anything a little below given the price.
If people want to say “well I preferred” I see no issue with that, but objectively the differences are significant and clear cut.
Rather patronising