I too came from the Naim camp having bought deeply into the 135, 52, DBL etc. I remember Julian first presenting Naim's CD player and he compared it to an LP12 into the same back end. I heard a glorious warm rich sound from the LP12 and a harsh brittleness from the CD player and I have heard that quality in digital media ever since. Until I swapped my Naim DAC for my first TeddyDAC. I rigged it so that someone could press a button on remote and swap DACs and neither they nor I knew which button did which (double blind). in 48 out of 50 tracks I preferred the TeddyDAC, by a country mile. I was taken back to that day in Marlow and I heard real sweet music. One did not clench every time a cymbal was going to be hit. It just sings as sweet as a bell.
That was in my main system (B&W 802 Diamonds, Classé SSP-800 AV processor, five Parasound JC1 monoblocks, Naim NDX, Naim Unitiserve, fully dedicated and treated room.
I now own 4 TeddyDACs, 7 Teddy SB100 monoblocks, and the Teddy Preamp. One of my favorite implementations is a Unitiserve, TeddyDAC VC and a pair of his monoblocks into a pair of speakers. I have that in my office into a pair of PMC IB1S speakers on the tall stands. When that is on, even at the lowest volumes, it just fills your world with a sweet wonderful soundtrack with the most extraordinary bass response.
I have the same system into PMC DB1s and my latest project was to use three Teddy SB100 monoblocks in a home theatre implementation powering the PMC TB2s (and a B&W ASW825 sub). That is a remarkable implementation, filling a huge space with such small components. The source is yet another Naim Unitiserve (my fourth).
Back to the original question, I still get a sense of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' with Naim digital components. If you listen hard enough you will hear flashes of genius, but I just spent too much time with uninvolving sound. And a lot of clenching at higher volumes. The TeddyDAC is simply the closest to music I have ever heard reproduced.
I am in Buckinghamshire and happy to demonstrate the 802 Diamond system and the PMC IB1S systems.
Ian
That was in my main system (B&W 802 Diamonds, Classé SSP-800 AV processor, five Parasound JC1 monoblocks, Naim NDX, Naim Unitiserve, fully dedicated and treated room.
I now own 4 TeddyDACs, 7 Teddy SB100 monoblocks, and the Teddy Preamp. One of my favorite implementations is a Unitiserve, TeddyDAC VC and a pair of his monoblocks into a pair of speakers. I have that in my office into a pair of PMC IB1S speakers on the tall stands. When that is on, even at the lowest volumes, it just fills your world with a sweet wonderful soundtrack with the most extraordinary bass response.
I have the same system into PMC DB1s and my latest project was to use three Teddy SB100 monoblocks in a home theatre implementation powering the PMC TB2s (and a B&W ASW825 sub). That is a remarkable implementation, filling a huge space with such small components. The source is yet another Naim Unitiserve (my fourth).
Back to the original question, I still get a sense of 'The Emperor's New Clothes' with Naim digital components. If you listen hard enough you will hear flashes of genius, but I just spent too much time with uninvolving sound. And a lot of clenching at higher volumes. The TeddyDAC is simply the closest to music I have ever heard reproduced.
I am in Buckinghamshire and happy to demonstrate the 802 Diamond system and the PMC IB1S systems.
Ian