An upgrade here and a change there and we can appreciate the improvements, though there are a couple of things that stand out for me.
£16 for some sorbothane pads between my speakers and stands. They just pleasantly settled everything down and brought it all together on a suspended wooden floor. Can’t be bad for that!
Top place goes to my used Dynavector P75 mkIII for my DV 20X2L. I had been considering a phono stage for some time, but was generally content with my 32.5 and my Linn/Naim dealer said that I would have to pay quite a bit to better it, fair enough I thought. I stumbled across the P75 from a well respected hifi shop and couldn’t resist it. My rationale was that a DV phono amp designed with DV cartridges in mind just simply made sense! On the first play I was stunned with the improvement! Pound for pound, ridiculous value for money! Well for me any way.
the music is just “there”…exactly! Best way to describe the transformation that proper speaker set-up can deliver is- listening to a “stereo” vs listening to a “performance”. It really can be night and day with the same kit.
I have wood floors in both rooms and quite often tinker with speaker placement, it does make quite a difference. Though if I had carpets I probably wouldn’t bother!
With regard to speakers, I got my old original AE1s refurbished a few years back. While it cost a few quid it was definitely worth it and represented great value when compared to replacing them! I actually should have included this in my previous post!
I have to agree with you. We have one with Kef LS50 Meta speakers. We wanted a small neat second system that would blend into a room and also look the part, for me the Atom scores 10 out of 10 for aesthetics! It does perform very well indeed, definitely good VRM.
I have been listening to the system with the newly installed footers for about two weeks now. It’s massive work to dismantle the rack and set it all up again, and the following tedious listening and changes to the rack configuration when sound quality got worse. In the end, the effort was worthwhile.
I can’t reverse the process of going back to the old footers to compare the sound, but it’s sounding much better now even with kit which didn’t sound too good previously. Most obvious improvement is in the bass as it’s much more controlled and goes deeper now. The overall sound is clearer with better clarity, less smearing even when the volume is turned up loud, and instruments sound more like the real thing and have snap.
I have always believed that good support is important, and this latest experience has reinforced that belief. I am now getting the best sound quality from an integrated and DAC which I regard as second-rate previously, and I haven’t even tried my best components on the rack.
Edit- the footers are under a Solid Tech rack of Silence Reference.
in terms of value for money I would say the iFi Hip-Dac 2. For £150 its has revolutionised my listening whilst out and about, and turned my iPhone into a genuine worthwhile streaming source.
Naim have generally tried to avoid using shielding, except where unavoidable, as it invariably impacts on performance. IIRC, they used a mu-metal shield optionally on NAIT 3s where MC boards were fitted and also above the pots of the original Supernait (not sure whether still used on the SN2 or 3) to avoid noise pickup from the rather large transformer nearby.
thinking about moving from a XS 2 to the Nait 2 [I use just a CD5XS]. Seems like good value to me - but will a Nait 2 be enough to drive my Neat SX1 speakers?
have you tried slate or flagstones? i use about 10 small felt balls between the naim and the slate. Instant and noticeable improvements. I believe the felt balls absorb micro vibrations from the gear.
I have installed a separate ground from my hospital grade duplex ground screw to a beefy ground wire running to an iron ground rod buried in the back yard, and also have a 30 amp dedicated breaker to a 30 amp Romex line to a beefy hospital grade duplex outlet ($10), per Naim Manual recommendations, but honestly I didnt hear much improvement [biamp 250s, active SBLs]. I think t most a small improvement - the system did appear to immediately relax a bit. Also Ive tried reverting to grounding screw at the duplex, comparing that to the “lifted” ground running to the rod buried in the ground. I hear zero difference. So its alot of hassle for very little if any improvement, in my experience, and my guess is that is why Naim abjured fancy cables and a while back recommended the very simple Wiremold 8 outlet block [which I used].
Ive installed a dedicated 30 amp line etc. It costs very little to do [if you arent buying a Furutech outlet]. I didnt find the separate line and ground improved the sound.
I had a Nait 2 driving ATC 19s for a time and it did a pretty good job. Midrange and higher frequencies faired better than the bass. As you might expect. I haven’t heard your Neats, so I can’t comment intelligently.
That’s a good question. Love to know the results. I suppose if the stickier version doesn’t work, you could always remove the residue with a gentle sponge-off with detergent.
OliveAmps I have an XS3 driving 19’s and they sound amazing together
However the best ‘bang for the buck’ is my Cambridge Audio streamer
I’m sure posters will say they’ve heard it all before and that’s just fine but the Cambridge Audio streamer only cost me £349 but it sounds so good in my system
I may eventually upgrade the CA to a Naim streamer but I’m in no rush to do that as the CA sounds so good
Yeah yeah… I know what comments are coming my way but unless you have experience of the CA streamer/s then please don’t comment as you haven’t experienced what a relatively cheap streamer is capable of
I am sure a stand alone Naim streamer is very good but they are quite expensive and Naim now don’t list any stand alone streamers. Of course I know about the Atom & Atom HE but having experienced an HE the Atom’s now don’t interest me at all as I found the HE lacking and preferred my XS3 with passive 19’s etc etc
I’m sure I will get some flack for my comments as I’ve mentioned it before… I’m now totally prepared for it though so bring it on
