Oh dear…Sorry I wince when I read this sort of thing… all hifi naturally renders harmonic structures otherwise it would sound very odd indeed, it might be good for Dr Who though. Finally not all music is designed to be weaved together… it makes it sound like it’s colouring the audio to sound like restaurant background or lift music which I am sure that is not the intent.
I would have thought adjectives about ease of engagement and ease of insight would be more apt. To me you are underselling what the S1 could do… but we are all different.
But I agree it’s great when your hifi replays music that is engaging and thought provoking, rather than some sort of soporific sedative. It’s very satisfying, and the expression I use, is grin inducing, like you do when playing certain music well or at a great performance… but perhaps that makes others wince.
The S1 should just not get in the way as much.
As the best sounding pre amp is one that you can’t hear doing anything.
As you want to hear what the source sounds like, or as close as you can and not the pre amp.
I winced when I read this. Really - this is your experience - they all voice the same?
Not since 45 years ago when a friend with a a Quad 44 Pre asserted so confidently that the distrortion was undetectable and that Pre was just like a ‘piece of wire with gain’ have I read such a thing from someone I’d have thought knew better.
We then did a public demo of the Quad 44-405 system against the NAC12-NAP160 with the same source and speakers and it was obvious that the Naim communicated the music and the Quad did ‘HiFi’ - meaning as I heard it, very poor rendering of low-level harmonic structures in relation to larger signals. On the Quad you heard the largest signal and the lower strands were obscured - the Naim system did it all even-handed and sounded more natural and musically better.
That was an extreme and over the many decades since then many things have improved and the ‘gap’ between different equipment has altered in how it presents, but it has always been there and people either pay for one version or another as pleases them - or do not hear it which saves them money and allows them the ability to crow on these fools that are different from them.
Not for a long time Lindsay, from a reliable source. Yet, its inevitable that all ranges get replaced at some point.
However, if the new 500 series is of the same tonal character of the new 200 and 300 series then many current 500 series owners will be staying with what they have.
To be honest @Polarbear, for me, I can see the cost to change for what could be a marginal improvement or simply just different rather than better would probably stop me changing what I think is already a fabulous system.
Funny you mention that because on one hand early reviews claim the NC250 shows the 250dr a clear set of heels. But on the other hand a couple older 250dr reviews pitted the 250dr against to 500dr and concluded the 500dr was better but they weren’t miles apart.
Ergo, at this level, at all gets pretty subjective and one has to weigh their own musical enjoyment against their own expectations of some bit of gear, not anyone elses.
And here we are while some are speculating on the performance of something that doesn’t exist!
Agreed. But I can’t imagine having said to my wife that I’ve reached the pinnacle of what Naim offer (as Statement isn’t an option) just over 12 months ago, that I now need another 30-50K just to get back there when the NC500 range is released. I’ll probably be retired by then so it would unlikely be an option anyway.
This is why I think a new 500 series would be a gamble for Naim. It could cost a fortune to develop and can they make it sufficiently “better” to recoup the outlay.
If they can’t make the new 500 series significantly better after all this time, remember it’s been well over a decade and more like 2. Then god knows what have they been doing.
The 500 series is very much made to order these day’s, and going on how many my local naim dealer sells these day’s, then it’s not much at all.
We all know it’s well overdue and naim need a 500 series range as if not they have become a midrange and life style company. That i hope is not where they should be.
They need to have gear that can complete and hold it’s own in the higher end market if they want to be taken seriously going forward.
Many have moved on as naim stood still, people like this will be very hard to get back. As it’s easier to keep a costumer than find a new one, especially at this level.
I just hope they can come up with some excellent new gear. The things that made me first want to own naim gear, all them year’s ago.
I guess they can do it still? Or maybe not. I guess we will have to wait and see.
The NC gear has reignited my interest in Naim much like the olive kit did when I first discovered Naim in the 90s. I’d like to see a NC 500 series. I saw a recent social media post where Naim is celebrating the 500 OC so I wonder if a NC is in the future.
For me, the 500 dr is a turbo charged 250 dr, and NC 250 and 300 dr are just different.
NC 250 better than 250 dr, by a clear step. But leaner and less juicy.
I was more talking about some forum members reviews here than magazine reviews. Specially from 1 or two members.
Okay - Naim have introduced Uniti, Statement, Muso Mk 1 and 2, 200 and 300 series, Solstice, and most recently Nova PE to respond to demand for a one box solution to drive bigger speakers.
