FWIW I feel with him too and am not blaming him at all. If anything, I would question the dealer.
The Naim universe is confusing by the sheer choice and some overlaps between the lines, which look like they give you essentially similar things initially, but come with different future options which is not so easy to understand in the beginning.
I would have been utterly lost without the forum and my very helpful dealer (who has known me and my systems journey for close to 20 years, which helps). I had the advantage maybe of being a nerd and reading everything on the forum for months before saying or buying anything, but this is not for everyone
Relatively new Naim owner here with a personal perspective. It may be naiive, but it is my own!
I have had the Nova and the Kanta 2s (probably took advantage of the same bundle as the OP) for a couple of months now (after ordering them in December - my dealer had Focal make me a set of Kanta 2s in flat black instead of hi-gloss black and that took a while), and after playing music to an empty house for a few weeks things are pretty well run in.
I will say that the Nova certainly handles the Kantas just fine. Holy cow, it sounds good! I am particularly impressed with the spatial definition in the sound, and the clarity of each instrument in a recording. Every instrument sounds like itself, if you know what I mean. Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue sounds like it is being played live in my listening room, with, from left to right, bass, saxophone, trumpet and drums. The hi-hat sound is incredible, as is the decay of the bass in the room. As for low frequencies, which are discussed above, all I know is that the pipe organ in the final 3 minutes of the Bernstein/Vienna recording of Mahler 2 on vinyl shakes the walls and makes my hair stand on end. And the bass drum at the end of Stravinsky’s Firebird in the Oue/Minnesota hi-res recording makes dogs bark in the house next door. I would recommend those for trying out the bass response of the Nova/Kanta 2 combo.
My listening room is about 11x15, with 2 walls of floor-to-celing bookshelves, a wall with a fireplace, and a wall of windows, and the Nova and Kantas are more than enough. I have never had the power past about 55% or so, and I am getting about 80-85 db from 8 feet away with incredible clarity, and even that is really too loud for one’s hearing health. I suspect they would sound even better in a bigger room but, alas, I lost that battle when we designed our house. So, unless you just crave some earth shaking level of bass or volume, or you have a huge room, I am not sure that a separate power amplifier or subwoofer would improve that setup to an extent that would justify the additional expense. It really is a sweet combo.
Your room is a bit smaller (mine is 11.33 x 18.75) than mine and I’ve wondered if the Kanta were too much for the room. I have the Chora 816 and they actually sound very good. I’ll probably add a sub here soonish (with my Nova/ Powerline/ NAC A5.) Love the Powerline.
I have a Nova with Sopra 2s. IMO, the Nova is designed as a one box solution. The user interface is great and the ease of use for the family is excellent. If you feel a need to tinker, I would suggest the power cable, more so than anything else. While I was skeptical on upgrading a PC, I tried a Nordost PC and the difference was noticeable in a very good way. Similarly, I couldn’t really tell when checking out a higher end Ethernet cable.
I know if I deicide to upgrade it will be for a higher-end one box solution. I have no desire to go back to multiple boxes, cables, etc. I think the upside of adding an Amp to the Nova is limited, and only a temporary solution.
I am intrigued by the Powerline upgrade. I am more interested in clarity, depth, spatial imaging, etc. than volume at this point, and what I read about the Powerline is that it can accentuate those traits. Also, for what it is worth, I am also running NAC A5 speaker cables, and I just added some Gaia II feet to the Kanta 2s, and I am loving them for all of those reasons. I am having so much fun listening to recordings I know by heart and “hearing” them for the first time. Cheers!
Depending, if you purchase a Powerline and do not feel it is an improvement you may be able to return it. I could have, but immediately knew I wouldn’t. It does exactly what you would hope, and improves even at low volumes. I’m sure lots of fine power cables exist. With a Naim product? With a Nova? I only considered a Naim Powerline. Very happy with the choice.
This may well be the case, but it costs 10k and the question is whether spending the 10k differently, e.g. on NDX2 and SN3, isn’t a better end game. It may or it may not, but it’s something I would personally like to know and try if I had to make this decision
That’s exactly what I did, without the benefit of listening. But to my understanding, the Nova’s streamer is pretty comparable to the NDX2 and the Atom had enough volume actually. Therefore I banked on the Nova’s 80 watts along with it’s excellent works meeting my desires. With the extra $1490 in cables, all together it’s quite stunning. As for adding an amp? No. What I may do is move the main listening room to the basement and buying separates for that area. I can’t see trading the Nova in. It’s a perfect toy.
The Nova is a bit inferior to the Nd5xs2. So not in the Ndx2 league.
Depending on speakers, Nova/ 250 dr should be on the level globally vs SN3/ Ndx2, but different.
I would more go towards the later as Suedkiez personally, because it seems more balanced.
Better have a better source/ pre than amp vs better amp than source/ pre. Generally shared in the Naim community experience.
Right. My answer to the question is, I like the one box with no connections, ease of use and sound that if a tad “inferior”(which is not a word I’d ever use to describe the Nova) is darn close. And since I love it, and my cost at the moment is around $8300 (including the great 2 for 1 deal on the 816s), to me, for my purpose, it’s the Nova. If and when I upgrade, (and that will be as I said keeping the Nova and adding a system) I think I’d go to the 300 DR…
It’s very helpful that you can share this knowledge from your own experience with such certainty, as most of us have not had the opportunity to compare the Nova and ND5 XS2, let alone with the NDX2.
The Ear ran a review of the ND5 XS2 with a SN2 and found that ahead of the Nova.
Having a Nova and a NDX2 / SN2 the later is clearly better as you would hope at twice the price and gives more upgrade options. As an all in one, the Nova is very good.
I feel some sarcasm from you David. I understand the range in Naim sources as Atom > Nova > Nd5xs2 > Ndx2 > Nd555.
I didn’t knew it was not something clearly established.
If the Nova was on the Ndx2 level, I guess not a lot of people would buy an XS2 or SN2 with an Ndx2. It would not be logical from Naim to produce an Ndx2 on the level of the Nova, as source.
My post was a general observation, not wanted to say that your particular choice is wrong.
And as you have already the Nova, it’s not like choosing between both combos.
Enjoy
I’m pretty sure the Nova is superior to the ND5XS2 b/c on it’s own the latter is mostly useless. Comparing an all in one player to separates seems a bit silly.
I think it is somewhat absurd to compare two units used as a source on the basis of how one of them that is integrated with an amplifier sounds compared with the other fed into an other Naim amplifier.
I think it’s an open question as to whether the ND5 XS2 as a source is better or not than the Nova as a source. From having heard all of them, the NDX2 is in my opinion much better than the ND5 XS2 and I expect, but don’t know, better than the Nova too.
It would be nice to know what metrics to use for a comparison of streamers. I sure don’t know. As I said, my impression was as a streamer the Nova was closer to the NDX2 than the ND5 XS2. What do the numbers say? If the Nova is closer to the NDX2, the OP’s question makes more sense. Idling the transformer in the Nova with another, better amp is more logical if the Nova’s streamer is indeed high quality, closer to the NDX2. With a screen.
It’s not silly, because the cost of Nova/ 250 dr and Ndx2/ SN3 is relatively similar.
I just commented, with my own words, what @Suedkiez said before me.
The question of the topic is: is adding a 250 dr to a Nova worthwhile?
In the OP case, yes, But starting from 0, no. Better have an Ndx2/ SN3.
