personally i don’t care if it’s naim or non naim sound. The most important is that it sounds better to my ears and like.
Perhaps innuos is not labeled streamer, but it streams. You connect a dac to it, in spdif or usb, and you can stream your local files or online sites files.
Are you saying it sounds exactly like my Chord system? I ask because your description of your Naim system works perfectly as a description for my Chord system too.
I’ve always thought Naim had a sonic signature (Naim sound as described by AnalogMusic), but it didn’t stop me liking it a lot. Reasons for changing were transformer buzz, and radio interference. None of these were sound quality reasons. I retained some Naim kit and always enjoy listening to music on Naim systems as most folk don’t seem to get the problems I had: dodgy area I guess.
It’s confusing really because if all top manufacturers like Chord, Linn and Naim (alphabetical order) seek no sonic signature then ultimately they should all sound the same. (I know Linn is different because of its superb Space Optimisation).
I once read a review where the reviewer said Cerwin Vega speakers made Dire Straits sound like the Desperate Bicycles. I heard some Dire Straits through CV speakers, but the improvement to the music promised by the reviewer was not apparent. Sometimes you just can’t win.
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I hope it doesn’t make Thomas Tallis’s Lamentions of Jeremaih boogie as I’m sure Tommy didn’t have that in mind when he wrote that wonderful piece. You need the Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina version if boogie is your bag,
I’m not really a boogie fan, but woogie now that’s a horse of different colour,
For what it’s worth, I don’t think accuracy is as important as enjoying what you’re hearing. I agree with FR or as we say in England “Personnellement, je me moque de savoir si c’est le son de Naim ou non. La chose la plus importante est que ça sonne mieux pour mes oreilles et les autres.”
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I’m sure Naim don’t have a monopoly so whatever works for you. I haven’t tried other top end makes either. All I know is that I was not satisfied until my major upgrades in February/ March. I tried very hard to get the setup right before. Now I listen to the music because voices and instruments sound right and the music is coherent.
Phil
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That’s all that matters really.
I was curious if folk thought manufacturers aimed to make their systems sound like the original performance or studio recording. As it seemed if they did then they should ultimately all sound the same.
Indeed, and the current Zen Mini has all of the functionality of a Naim streamer, and more. Call it what you like, it’s not important.
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Have you tried the Melco directly connected to the Nova via its dedicated Ethernet output?
That should be at least as good as your current setup, assuming Naim have done their homework.
In the first paragraph of the marketing blurb for the new Naim integrated amps, they are described as providing ‘the signature Naim sound’.
This surprised me as I’ve heard Naim reps deny that there is a Naim sound and claim that Naim just provide a transparent reproduction of the music.
But counter to that I personally believe there is a Naim sound and generally a house sound of most manufacturers.
For me the Naim sound is crisp and has great timing, and a superb way of bringing the music together as a whole piece of music that carries me along and makes my spine tingle.
That why I’m sticking with Naim and have traded in my dCS Network Bridge in order to buy a 555PSDR. Because that’s the way to get the most superb sound quality I can imagine. And that lovely Naim sound.
As mentioned I have not tried the Melco, I was going to buy one blind but them a few forum members suggested Innuos which for me had more options some of which appealed more to me.
Must have missed that, well pointed out, so why start a new sound with the SN3?
the dcs bridge couldn’t give you the prat, timing, involving you like? My point of view is that some non naim components can enhance the naim philosophy of sound. It’s the case of my ear pre, which is very involving, quick, but in the same time removed some brightness of the naim sound signature.
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It’s all just marketing blurb. Just listen to it. If you like it, buy it. If you don’t, buy something else.
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No. The 555 gives me much more SQ per £.
I’m not against mixing other brands with Naim.
Its just that most of the time one gets the best result by upgrading within Naim systems.
you should try after the dcs bridge, when funds. You will still have a great upgrade vs the old 272 streaming board.
The 555ps upgraded you the most the sound, because both the dac and pre were simultaneously upgraded.
But the streaming part went back. So 3 feet upgrade and 1 feet downgrade.
Hum no I don’t think it makes as much difference as I originally thought…
it’s what you claimed when you first had the dcs bridge. Even during long weeks.
I know the 555 dr is a big upgrade, especially for the 272. But i am sure that the dcs would still uplift the sound, and not marginally.
But i am not saying you made an error selling it, because it was necessary to get the 555dr.
[quote]=“TiberioMagadino, post:62, topic:3313”]
(I know Linn is different because of its superb Space Optimisation).
[/quote]
Here,.TiberioMagadino and we in our group have completely different perception of Linn’s “Space Optimization”.
It’s a “Good Enough”-tool,…It’ll shall go fast to get it to play “Good Enough”,.a bit like a modern Equalizer.
Do you have knowledge and experience of music-system installation,and speaker-tuning,.and understanding of acoustic conditions.
Well,.then it is enough to look at these images above to understand…
As I said,…A modern Equalizer.
This image above,.and the below in the second post comes from Linn.
It is with these two images they try to describe the benefits of Space Optimization.
You may judge for yourselves if you believe in this,.you see what we think.
And we’ve really listened,.tested and tried to understand this.
But unfortunately,.do you know how it can play, this with “manipulating the signal” is far from good.
/Peder🙂
Ordinary Speaker-Tuning
•We have not yet heard a Linn-system play well with Space Optimization plugged in.
If you disconnect it,.and install with normal speaker-tuning so it plays better.
But it is harder and takes more time.
Therefore,.many Linn’s followers choose the “Good Enough” option.
/Peder🙂
If you have proper Naim speakers you can have setup 2 without electronic gizmos. Why oh why don’t more people build speakers like this?
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Sorry, I meant Innuos, not Melco!
Connecting the dedicated Ethernet output of the Innuos to the Nova should give you at least the same sound quality than connecting its (also dedicated) USB output via the Audiophilleo2, one would expect.