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Those who have moved on from Naim.....

Sloop John B

Sloop John B

And any old music will do…
To those who have moved on from Naim, what did you move to, and why?


Not a Naim bashing thread please, but I am interested to find out where those who have journeyed away from Naim ended up.



SJB
 
CDS2/XPS > Densen B-400XS
52/Super > Densen B-250
135s > Densen B-350s
Prefix > Dynavector P-75

Still have 'Geddon, ARO and NAIT2.
 
CDS2 > CDS2 [cannot be improved]

NAC 52 > "Whest 52" [80 kHz bandwidth, poor phase response corrected = IMAGING! Now I know why the "flat earth" philosophy exists: the equipment is not good enough to produce a stable stereo image, therefore formulate a sales philosophy in which imaging is looked upon as a negative]

Aro > SME Series V [if you need an explanation....]
 
ive never been a Naim owner, but I have worked with the folks in Salisbury and my former company was a supplier. They are experts, the products are very well designed and made. I dont doubt they sound superb also. A great British company.
 
Like any good "general hi-fi" company, they have a few outstanding products and many mediocre ones. They seemed to lose the plot after JV sadly died, and have morphed into an English version of B&O, rather like Linn.
 
Sloop John B said:
To those who have moved on from Naim, what did you move to, and why?


Not a Naim bashing thread please, but I am interested to find out where those who have journeyed away from Naim ended up.



SJB
Click to expand...


One would have thought it was a fairly straightforward question. Not even 10 replies before JV is mentioned.

I didn't even mention USB cables.


SJB
 
You know what? Even though I switched from v modest Naim. ( Nait 3) to Exposure X I think that the late 80 's & 90's were a golden period in any ways: strong opinions and some stonking good sounds.
The Linn / Naim thing gave us relief from boring blandness. We all seem to have rolled over now and become 'domestic cats' as consumers. Good in some ways (more reliable cars/fridges/tv's) buy hifi seems to benefit from the maverick a little. Life's too short! Come back Ivor T & co. - we need you more than ever.
 
Naim CDi - Pink triangle Litural and later on Lyngdorf CD1. Still have both.
Naim Nait - Krell KAV300i. Tried several amps along the way. ATC SIA150 good but did not suit the SBL's. Denson beat 400. Nice and rich sounding but not my cup of tea. Lyngdorf TDA2200. Great digital amp. Extreme detail but for me at the time sounded hard and the line in for phono input was gutless in bass and lacked an analogue rhythm. These negatives may due to the newness of the amp and my mistake with out of phase phone stage (didn't realise at time). May be worth another visit.
Naim NAC A4 speaker cable - Nordost red dawn.
Naim IBL - Naim SBL :)
 
The first Naim amplifiers had incredible VFM even here in Canada and USA. They did not compete with Marantz, Audio Research, McIntosh,Threshold, Conrad Johnson, Counterpoint, etc. but they were very affordable and for the ones who decided to follow the new flat earth religion it was the only solution if you wanted to be forgotten for your sins.

Years have passed and with a steady 4% increase in price every year they do not compete any more except maybe for entry level integrateds.

Even if Naim want you to think they make the best cables, the best dacs, the best streamers, the best tuners, the best phono stages, the best arm, the best loudspeakers, the best preamp and amp, the best everything they do, there comes a time where following a religion has it's limits.

I wouldn't be surprised Naim shareholders intend to take the company public in the next coming years...
 
My low-end move took me from a CD5x/TC3/Nait 5i through several incremental changes to my current Benchmark DAC1 HDR/Class D Audio SDS-250C. The significant step was the first, when I realized that I preferred the Benchmark DAC1 I had at the time to the CD5x. Bye bye mid-bass hump.
 
Blzebub said:
Like any good "general hi-fi" company, they have a few outstanding products and many mediocre ones. They seemed to lose the plot after JV sadly died, and have morphed into an English version of B&O, rather like Linn.
Click to expand...

But oddly it's their B&O lifestyle, all-in-one, products that now offer by far the best VFM in the range.
 
Naim 72/140/HiCap to (lightly modified) Quad 34/606.
If I could combine the speed/attack of the Naim with the organic quality of the Quads I'd probably have my perfect system ;)
Still miss aspects of the Naim 'sound', so may end up running two systems in the end ;)

John.
 
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