I know your dilemma. My second main system is tube amp based. It sounds so different from the Naim, and yet charming for all it’s differences.
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As a Naim dealer in 'Murica - formally a BBC employee in the UK, I find that the new 200 / 300 Classic components hark back to the way the old Chrome Bumper / Olive amps sounded. (You do have to use the NPX 300) And personally, I loved that sound. It wasn’t neutral but they had the ability to make everything sound fantastic and musical. The Black Classic series c. 2000 onwards is more neutral, still musical - but for me lacks the real excitement of the Olive series equipment. We did use a few modified versions of the 250-2 at the BBC, that’s how good it was for neutrality. They were used to monitor audio balancing for speech and music in some studios at Television Centre. Long closed 
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Exactly and solely why I’ve not been able to replace and kept my Olive Naim 2 through so many changes and until I heard and had the NC. This is not about pure capabilities comparison but a lot to do with design philosophy and how music is “interpreted” and conveyed. In that sense it’s then lucky for us that the NC came in as a kind of an enrichment of the Naim line (with a return to their roots if you like) and not a direct straight replacement or “upgrade”. My SN3 was more “capable” than my Nait 50 but nowhere near as enjoyable, to me.
Good to have more choice rather than simply the replacement, and the OC 300 and 500 now more within reach than ever.
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Perhaps yer old toy …
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I agree. I have the Nait 1 which I don’t believe has ever been serviced. There is a musicality to it that is very addictive.
I remember reading tube fanatics stating that more watts takes away from the musicality of the sound. I finally understand what they meant. I’m a big tube fan as well so i may have to explore tube power amplifiers now.
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I went from 135s to a new 500DR. Huge improvement. The 135s were very good but the 500 in a completely different league.
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Yes it’s quieter, has more power, better dynamics, better transients and every other aspect of the sound that one can measure but the 135s are damn fun and very engaging. Please bear in mind at times I prefer to listen to the nait 1 over 500 series. Maybe I’m just strange lol. My new love is for my tube pre.
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I find these discussions very interesting, as an amplifier does not actually amplify the signal, but creates a copy of the source by modulating the mains.
So I find now that I am listening to a source rather than an amplifier
whenever I move my chord mojo 2 from my 202/200Dr to my Yamaha Home cinema amp, I can clearly heard the chord Mojo2 doing the magical thing, and…improving the overall enjoyment.
It would be interesting to start adding details of for example Nait 1(which source) vs 500 series (which source?)
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I compared 135 to 300dr.
Liked the 135 more even with 552dr.
500dr was better.
Have never heared 350 - but 135 are very good!
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That’s a most emphatic statement based on ‘hearing’ NC200 & 300. It’s a personal view which I, having lived with both for some time, disagree with.
Each to their own. Listening for yourself, preferably in your home environment, is the only way to decide.
G
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Same here - but my 500dr was pre loved.
I preferred the Olive sound a lot - but 552dr and 500dr brought both exciting roughness and detail - the „lower“ range had never brought me there and I preferred Olive.
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Then you might want to check out the Radford revival.
Made by a young man in Bristol iirc.
I heard it at the north-west Audio show last year and Thoroughly enjoyed the sound of that system.
That word ‘darker’ is sooooo what I was looking for. I have the 333 back to back with the nd555 at the moment and it sounds (when back to back compared) slightly dull compared. I have tried the NC 300 series in bits but not together and my overall impression is that the 500 has greater clarity and sparkle. The 350s did have an advantage - they drive the bass on my BW803s slightly better.
Thanks for the comments, reading comments above I was starting to question whether I knew what I was talking about.
I know there are a lot of people who agree but there are also people who prefer a duller or dare I say softer sound and thats fine, each to their own.
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Not so at all. The mains is just a source of electricity. It is changed to a different voltage and converted to DC. It can be viewed that an amplifier modulates that DC supply rather than enlarging the input signal, but in that it is the DC supply that is being modulated not the mains. The significance of the mains of course remains in that anything else modulating the DC supply, such as artefacts in the mains supply, if not removed/blocked, will interfere with the desired amplifier output.
Interesting but converting the ac to dc is a big part of the amplifier job
As evidence by the massive transformers inside for example nap250 dr
My original point is that the better the source the better the result
As linn says information lost at source is lost forever
I’m not a fan of upgrading amplification as much of upgrading a source. That’s really exciting for me to spend money on a source
Spending money on an amplifier without a corresponding source upgrade … I’m not that motivated to drop my limited cash on it
So if I had to choose a naim source with a non naim amplifier
Or a non naim source with a naim amplifier I think that I would probable choose the first option … naim source with a non naim
Now I have chord Dac as a source with naim amplifiers so that’s works for me now and I’m not going to rewind 15 yearsbut if starting from zero with limited budget it might well be a chord Dac with a nait 50 !!!
My point being is that the magic comes predominantly for me from the source
So a ND555 with a nait 50 to me makes much more of an attractive option to me than an nd5xs2 with a 282/250dr
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It is not part of the amp’s job at all, as witness Naim’s external PSs, and you can buy amps to run on batteries. Many amps do have internal power supplies, but they are not part of the amplification.
As for amp importance vs source, it all depends what is needed to get one’s choice of speaker doing its best, which is its purpose after all. If the speaker that presents music best for someone is one for which high current capability, power linearity into low impedances, etc, makes a significant difference to performance then that may dictate need. After all, the speaker is the key component in terms of sound character, and in my view maximum enjoyment. (An excellent source is then the icing on the cake!)
Let’s agree to disagree
Not that fussed about speakers either I have both Dynaudio and KEF which in the end just reproduce what my chord Dacs play
Tried many, many experiments… the source is the key component, amplifiers and speakers are just slaves to the source
Now I seek only musical enjoyment but others hear things in their preferences
Slaves yes, but may be bottlenecks too.
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Yes of course but not as big a factor to musical enjoyment as a source (for my taste)
It depends how one enjoys music but for me I listen for certain specific qualities which Chord have understood very well, but sure naim and Linn sources are very good too
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