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

[James]

I never quite left Naim. Got the NAIT2 playing right now. It's a fabulous little shoe box.

 

[Eyebroughty]

Same as a few posts here, never really left Naim, have the 12s, Hicap, 250 and with the right speakers it sounds really good, I doubt I would find as good a pre and amp for the cost that I paid years ago, and now they are all Naim serviced what's not to like.

 

[Del monaco]

Cheers for that looking for a budget amp just now until I get myself sorted missing music was seriously considering a Denon micro system as prices of amps seem to have gone up a bit

Denon has many fans but can recommend Onkyo or Yamaha.The Yamaha 202 has good feedback and it’s a snip at about £130-40. Guttenberg liked this and the £200 Onkyo. Plenty of others.

 

[Caledon1297]

TL;DR

Are there threads for other brands that people have 'moved on from'?

 

[Mike Reed]

In 2014 I think I still had 552 and 135s with 01, Superline etc.and the bits. My last disposal (last year) was my newly serviced 01, which I felt wasn't justified for my occasional radio listening. I bought a cheap NAD 402 from Ebay, and was very surprised, and I listen to radio more nowadays. I really haven't regretted losing the 01. There may be reception reasons for this, but I do have a highly mounted 6 element array.

From 135s to E.A.R. valved mono's. Took my wife 5 minutes to make a judgement; took me a few months to be sure!. big ESLs came in instead of behemoth ProAcs. Then the 552 went in favour of E.A.R.'s 912 pre. with on-board stages, so out went the Superline, S'cap and associated gubbins + my Headline, now supplanted by a fantastic little Myryad h/ph amp. cum pre for my Elears and 650s. All settled for the mo'. E.A.R. + Quad 2905s = marriage/Heaven etc.

 

[Strictly Stereo]

No doubt my experiences are influenced by the products I sell, but I meet lots of people who are looking to move from Naim separates to big super integrated amps from the likes of Hegel and Vitus. Others go for high quality active speakers like ATC or Dutch & Dutch.

 

[TimF]

Where's Alco gone, I remember him from the naim forum

I am not sure where Alco is, was wondering that awhile back, tried a PM, haven't heard from him. Hopefully all well with him!

 

[wylton]

I'm a life long Naim fan TBH. I'm not saying it's perfect, maybe not even the best, but I like what it does; at least the older stuff, I've not really heard much of the new gear. Dotted around the house and the workshop, I have:

• two Nac 12 pre-amps.
• One Nac 22 Pre-amp
• One Nac 42.5 pre-amp
• One Nac 102 pre-amp.
• One Hi-Cap
• One Napsc
  
• One Nap 120 power-amp.
• One Nap 250 Power amp.
• Two Aro tonearms

 

[Del monaco]

I'm a life long Naim fan TBH. I'm not saying it's perfect, maybe not even the best, but I like what it does; at least the older stuff, I've not really heard much of the new gear. Dotted around the house and the workshop, I have:

• two Nac 12 pre-amps.
• One Nac 22 Pre-amp
• One Nac 42.5 pre-amp
• One Nac 102 pre-amp.
• One Hi-Cap
• One Napsc
  
• One Nap 120 power-amp.
• One Nap 250 Power amp.
• Two Aro tonearms

No hifi is perfect.If it was people wouldn’t change it so much.

 

[Caledon1297]

FWIW, I too 'moved on from Naim', only to return some years later...

 

[Caliente]

I used to have a XS 2, but then moved to a 150 + 202 with NAPSC, but found it a bugger with the phono amp and headphone amp. That is all the faffing around with cables and mains plugs, in a pique I got rid of the Naim stuff and dragged out an old NAD 3020i with its own phono stage and headphone out - as yet I have not moved on in two and a half years!

My bro-in -law who has very good hearing reckons that the reduction in sound quality is very limited and I'm inclined to agree though as the NAD has tone controls I have to have the treble on max these days.

I did consider moving back to a XS to simplify things compared to having a pre/power but quite frankly can't be bothered!

 

[wylton]

Edit, I forgot about the:

• CDS/CDPS
• Naxo

 

[Caledon1297]

FWIW, I too 'moved on from Naim', only to return some years later...

 

[mikemusic]

I've gone totally TAD

Can't see Naim ever getting anywhere near TAD gear, let alone at the prices

 

[Darren L]

It's over 20 years ago now but Naim Nait to YBA intergre to Unison Research simply 4 to Sugden A21a and back to the simply 4.
All good amps IMHO , I really enjoyed owning and using all of them but I would say I enjoyed the simply 4 and the Sugden the most and if I was in the market for new amps I would be looking at Class A SS and valve amps.
Of course these were used over a period of time with various sources and speakers.

 

[Robert M]

I am not sure where Alco is, was wondering that awhile back, tried a PM, haven't heard from him. Hopefully all well with him!

I don't think he's even on the naim forum anymore.

 

[Darren L]

No doubt my experiences are influenced by the products I sell, but I meet lots of people who are looking to move from Naim separates to big super integrated amps from the likes of Hegel and Vitus. Others go for high quality active speakers like ATC or Dutch & Dutch.

Would you say there's a move away from traditional multi box systems to more minimalist, perhaps interior friendly audio systems with a higher WAF? There certainly seems to be some audio companies marketing or advertising these kind of products .

 

[wiresandmore]

I went from Naim to Devialet - I had at the top of my Naim journey 252/SC/300 with Klimax DS/2 as source.

Naim is great - one of the unsaid things on this thread is that you can move on from it quite easily purely because it is so easy to buy and sell, esp. in the UK market where it is plentiful. With more esoteric brands, it's much harder.

It's also very well marketed in the sense that there is always an "easy" upgrade available - PSU's etc - and cleverly it looks the same so a lot of changes can be sneakily introduced without others seeing

But - for me - when I was getting to the 252->552 upgrade option, I paused and looked around - and I had been frustrated with hum, the number of boxes, cable dressing etc - and that took me to Devialet which I thought was amazing from the outset - sonically, usability and simplicitly. I've not regretted it for a moment as I think it's better, even though I know others disagree.

Each to their own, and I would never hesitate to recommend Naim, esp. s/h, as it's about as safe a purchase as high-end audio can be. I do still run an Atom and Muso QB2 in a second system, so I'm not totally Naim-less!

 

[SteveH]

I used Naim for nearly 40 years, and had tons of their products.
I had a mana oil rig stuffed with olive boxes.
It cost a lot of money and helped heat the room.

I sold the lot for a pair of Kii threes and a RPi because they sounded much better and were much cheaper all things considered.

 

[echann]

I also have been a Naim user since the 80's (Nait 1, 32.5, 102, 82, 52, 160, 250, 135. Have changed my 52 to a PR1 and have just bought a TeddyDAC USB. The PR1/135 sounds great, but am looking to jump to MB100 en route to activation. Teddy's gear has an easy yet exciting sound that suits my needs.

To update my earlier post I’m now running a fully Teddy Pardo (other than the Snaxo 242) active setup with a PR1 and two ST60s into Naim SL2s. Other Naim left in the system consists of fraim.