Very happy with sound of my Nova plus I can’t afford it!
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Content? Reasonably
Brassic, certainly.
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No more for me,18 months with my Naim nait 5is,exposure dac 2010s2 feeding neat motive sx2 with my last update being a Allo Digione signature.
Next upgrade will be a house with a dedicated room for audio,so that’s a lottery win !
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I got tired of always looking for something new, and never being happy. Confined myself to stretching my budget and getting whole systems, instead of upgrading component by component. There’s so much out there it’s impossible to keep up. Get a nice system, enjoy it for a while and if you feel the need get something new, and make sure it’s balanced so you’re not tempted to upgrade the weak link.
Having said that, I did recently “sin” and get a new phono preamp.
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No plans. In fact I put the big Naim system in storage and downgraded to something simpler.
Reason: I have kids age 5 and 3 and they are totally out of foxtrotting control. The chances they destroy every single item in the home or just somehow wreck the building so it becomes condemned are pretty high.
I’d realistically say my next upgrade is 4 yrs to never away. The kids will get older but something tell me one will be mischievous. Then they’ll both need to go to uni.
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Only thing planed is I’ve ordered new shorter supports for my SolidSteel rack. The standard heights look a bit to tall.
I haven’t updated or had my LP12/Ittok/K9 serviced in donkeys years.
I bought a 172 streamer to replace a Squeezebox Touch / 72 preamplifier last year.
Got rid of a CD player a few years ago.
Changed a 2.5tb raid 1 pair of NAS drives for 8tb this year.
Not planning on doing anything else.
I was thinking a couple of days ago that I have found peace with my current setup. I did make a couple of changes this year with a Chord Qutest and Witch Hat Phantom cables, which made a very very significant improvement. I think any further progress from this point will need significant investment with diminishing returns.
- Michell Orbe SE with Audiomods Classic and Goldring 1042 via Stageline
- ND5-XS fronted by Chord Qutest with Chord Chrysalis interconnect
- SN1 with HC-DR
- Dynaudio Audience 50’s (now over 20 years old) with Witch Hat Phantoms
- Home made rack to TNT-Audio Flexy design
Interestingly the speaker cable upgrade cost over half what I originally paid for the speakers!
Also I realise (not by design) that I now have two redundant DACs in the system.
I have also got over the source “arms race” as both my sources are comparable to my ears.
Very very happy with my Nova. After decades of multibox systems I am very pleased with my single box and a pair of standmounts. I would audition a Supernova though
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It’s the 2020 version of hypnosis (better look around the eyes!)
After many years struggling to make piecemeal minor upgrades. Being a certain age I found myself in the sad position of having most of my older family shrugging off this mortal coil.
Within a short while my funds went through my relative roof. (Although I will be forever puzzled why one aunt left £300k to a cat charity 
)
So I thought through it sensibly and spent ages researching my options within a certain budget.
After lurking on this forum I discovered going into naim separates is an expensive and complicated route.
So glad I took a punt on my oddball system - without a provisional home rehearsal.
As I don’t have any future windfalls in sight. Even if I did, I would need some proper convincing beyond the dazzle of bright new shiny things.
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Not upgrading for a while. I just upgraded to Naim NAC252 with supercap and NAP300DR. It is so life like and separation of instruments is phenomenal . I also have Bryston 7b3 mono blocks with Audiovale Tube pre amp, and I have Auris audio Forte 150 Tube monblocks with KT150 tubes. It will be be a long while before I think about upgrades.I could consider Naim Superline Phono stage.
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Nice. Which speakers?
No from me. My first foray into Naim will be my last, despite some on here saying to prepare for the box counts to go up.
My very simple XS3, CD5si and ND5XS2 suits me fine. It does what its supposed to do very well indeed for my requirements. I do not have the ears of some users on here… The sound I get is beautifully balanced to me.
Front end is a Rega P8/Bronze and the arse end are some lowly MA Bronze 5’s connected with QED XT Anniversay wires… but it all just works for me. Plug it in and forget.
When i read some posts on here about decisions re buying tens of thousands of pounds of gear to get an inch closer to neverland and how shifting a £3000 cable whilst dusting has made the world fall out of their system…Im just glad not to be in it. Each to there own but Naim has bought me so much more enjoyment from my music now, even at my lowly level of equipment.
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Focal Sopra N3 Speakers.Linn Klimax DSM streamer/ DAC. Chord Sarum Speaker cable and Chord Sarum RCA Cable. I had the Transparent Musicwave cables found it a bit warm for my taste, Chord Sarum made it very neutral.
I’m with you Neil, I too have that same Naim pairing, it just works and sounds so fine! There are moments when I think about selling off my other gear, German LinnenberG components, etc., but I love them really just as much, just in different ways.
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I was so close to switching. From a 102/180/CD3.5/Flatcap/Logitech Transporter to a Nova.
I got a lot of advice here, one of which seemed 180 degrees opposed to what I wanted to achieve, which was to improve sound AND reduce the box count.
“You need two more boxes. A NAPSC and a hi-cap. That will sound better than the Nova ever could”.
WTF. Not what I wanted to hear.
But after some financial modeling, and realising I was emotionally attached to my Olive gear, I stalked eBay and got good prices for the two extra boxes, got all the amps serviced/recapped, and bought a Bluesound Node 2i.
Honestly, it sounds amazing to me now, glad I went in that direction, thanks to this forum for the richness of knowledge and opinion!
In the distant future I can see an upgrade to my EPOS M12.2s though, but not for a while 
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My Naim gear is at the level that I want it to be now, and it sounds excellent in my space. If it wasn’t in a multi-functional space, then I would be doing some room SQ upgrades, but that’s not possible.
The system, of course, could always sound better if I threw some money at it (as with any system), but I’m very content and pleased with the music it’s producing as it is. My wife is also thrilled with it.
For us, Naim equipment and design, has just simplified the process of achieving great-sounding music in a home environment.
Cheers.
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I did buy myself and family a new TV for Christmas! Sony AH8 65inch OLED 4K, I watched some football 
broadcast in 4K the other night WOW, WOW, WOW !! Even normal HD looks amazing. The new generation of upscaling is sick. To make it even better it was on sale for $1000. off and I got 2 years of no interest financing.
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after investing a fair amount to “get to the next step”, i found it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
i’m done.
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