I recently bought a new Headphone amplifier second hand. My SPL Phonitor SE came with a built in DAC. I wanted to experiment to see how good the DAC was. So I connected my streamer with USB to the amp. bypassing the streamers DAC. The DAC being matched to the amplifier improved the sound quality.
I see Naim do seem not make an integrated amplifier right now. My XS 3 is out of production.
After my HP amp. experiment, I am coming to believe that those of us wanting an integrated amp might be better served with an amplifier that comes with its own DAC and usefully its own streamer. I use my streamer to play ripped CD’s on a pocket sized external drive. Add in a CD transport or a record deck, and you have a pretty compact music system.
I am stating to come to the conclusion that my XS 3 is an outdated concept. Maybe this is why we are not seeing a replacement for it. Maybe the Atom series have already replaced it.
I am tempted to get a Atom HP edition for the bedroom. just one neat box to replace two boxes.
I think this is a bit unfair. Not all of us can or want to spend tens of thousands on HiFi.
Putting a DAC at lest into an integrated amp makes a lot of sense, as the can be matched. Bunging in a streamer is icing on the cake. CD player and Record can be added if you want.
I think the old HiFi setup is coming to an end in most cases, outside of the hyper expensive setup.
I think it has come to an end for Naim, not the market as a whole. Other brands are selling separates in the lower price brackets that Naim vacated.
Naim isn’t representative of the market as a whole.
People who still prefer separates are still around and they’re not all geriatrics either. People that were with Naim for decades but really want something more affordable for their second system or to replace their older lower end Naim system might very well (probably in fact) just go elsewhere than buy a Uniti product just because it has a Naim badge on it.
I think Lifestyle hifi is great. I have Uniti and Qb products at home. But that just isn’t where I want to go for certain systems where I’m not as space constrained. Naim had no products for me anymore so, like I described above, I just went elsewhere. Their loss, not mine.
I should add that as the cost of living starts to hurt, people wanting a bit of luxury are likely to find more affordable full separates like the old NAC152, NAP150, Nait XS3 etc very appealing if only they existed.
I disagree, as the DAC is the most critical component in a digital system, it makes much more sense to have that as a separate component, enabling best exercise of choice. However, having a high-quality volume control built into the DAC, with a suitably buffed output stage capable of driving any power amplifier, a preamp becomes unnecessary unless one has other, especially low level, sources, likewise an integrated amp.
This thread was inspired by my SPL Phonitor SE headphone amp that came with a DAC built in, when I bought it SH.
I did not use the DAC until I read a review saying the DAC was well matched to the amplifier. I tried out the DAC and it is an improvement on my previous external DAC/streamer.
I like most people who buy an integrated amp, want fewer boxes, which is another argument for an internal DAC. I can switch out the DAC in my Phonitor if I wish.