Back into Naim after a hiatus...LP12 or Clearaudio and transformer hum

[Malvolio76]

Hi All,

Greetings from Sydney Australia. I was a regular on the old forum many years ago but due to life circumstance, children, mortgages etc the HiFI bug was put to one side. My system was placed in storage for a period of time due to home renovations but recently I have had the opportunity to get it back out.

My set up is Naim XS, CD5i, Dynaudio Focus 160, Stageline N and the Rega P2 (soon replaced read on…)

Of course the danger with doing so is the quest to pursue better options…I had a Rega P2 which was replaced soon after pulling my gear out of storage and am now enjoying a Clearaudio Concept with a MM cart and the better Satisfy tonearm.

The LP12 was always something I lusted after and am now in a position (compared to a decade ago) to maybe look into this as an option. The Majik pack is probably where I could afford at this stage.

I wonder though how much of a step “up” it would be compared to the Clearaudio Concept I have at the moment. Any thoughts?

One other query - I have noticed that my XS and CD5i both exhibit some mild transformer “noise” when you are very close to the boxes. I never noticed this previously. It may have done so in my old pre storage setup. Any thoughts? The house was renovated and has new wiring etc. Tried a DC blocker device that did nothing. It doesn’t come through the speakers at all (which are very quiet in terms of noise floor) but its there nonetheless.

[ClaudeP]

Hi Malvolio76,

Welcome to this Forum. I’ve been through that period with 3 kids, new house, etc. and no hi-fi… but that was years ago! You’ll see that high quality audio is even better after you left it aside for a while. That was my experience anyway.

I cannot comment on the Clearaudio / LP 12 comparison. I have a lot of respect for both products and IMO the best way to judge is trusting your ears.

As for the transformer noise, it’s part of the Naim experience. Naim uses toroidal transformers in most of their products and that hum - which is usually not heard through the speakers - is rather typical. I wouldn’t care about it unless it negatively impacts what you hear through the speakers.

Claude