A gentlemen on another forum swapped out his 252/300 for a Vitus integrated, of course it’s all good, but he now wishes for a 552/500.
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I had demoed many times a few top tier (super integrated we call them ) integrated amp, still can’t makes me give up my naim , for now. There’s something about the naim sound that can’t be ignored .
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Coincidentally a friend has just called for coffee and the Qb was streaming from the UnitiCore and quite unprompted he said “I’ve never heard music played like that, utterly compelling”.
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With such things like this you need to know where you are heading and not doing things because you feel you want to. Its like buying a 8 meter long class A motorhome to go touring round Cornwall, yes its nice but it will be so much better touring round Europe in it.
I was very happy with my 500dr and 552dr for many years, i tried other things along the way but nothing really stood out and made me think O yes thats it. The closest thing was a Vitus sia025, sounded very nice, a bit different, but ran very warm and in the end i stayed with what i knew best the 500 kit.
Move forward a few years and different things pop up, for me this was a suggestion to try going direct with my dac into the 500dr, i at first wrote it off as being a silly idea, but a few weeks later i had made up some cables and had a go, well the difference completely shocked me and i documented it all at the time, but i think it all got deleted, not sure as i haven’t looked. But it was a game changer for me.
Richard himself stated a few months back that the 552dr is great at making lesser sources sound good, i can now understand more what i found, as what i was listening too for them few years was the 552 and not my dac. I guess this is great if you run a lesser source, but not so great if you don’t. Anyway the 552 was history after this.
I could have easily lived with the 500dr if i didn’t have other sources, but i guess the lack off true balanced would have grown on me as a problem, but as said i needed to find something that would now fit in and not hold back my dac.
So as i had liked what the vitus sia025 had done, i thought i would try the new much bigger, much improved sia030. From the off i liked what it did and how it all sounded. Much better grip on the bass from my titan 808 speakers, that lovely true class A sound in the midrange and treble, plus this one didn’t run hot.
So yes for me a supper integrated amp has been great success and i only wish naim had something like it. But the sia030 is a real beast, i guess if naim did one it would use the power supply from the statement along with the volume control all in one box, as that what vitus did, they took the power supply and volume control from their masterpiece range and put it in this, along with other great design work, you can certainly see and hear why it gets fantastic reviews. Plus it certainly shows what can be achieved if manufacturers want to go there. A few that have owned them have moved to separate mono blocks and pre amp and haven’t really gained much at all and at great cost.
But as i said its all a journey, but its good if you know where you are going as that really is an important thing or you can end up just going round and round
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I don’t fully qualify as I only went from 552/300DR to my current Audio Research i70, which I personally consider a high quality integrated amp but reasonably priced at $14K CDN.
I’m at the point of my life where a move to a smaller house will likely be done in a few years, and it just so happened that my 552 and my 300DR failed at the same time. I listened to the AR and loved it, so I made the change.
There’s a recent development though: it turns out that as luck would have it, there are 3 used 552s and 3 used 300s for sale in Québec as we speak, so my ad for the 552 remained totally unanswered. Same thing happened to the dealer for the (now repaired) 300DR. Therefore I’m considering buying the 300DR back and keeping the two amps (Naim 552/300DR and Audio Research i70) for a long term listening match.
Claude
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Strange, last week you dismissed magazine reviews. Which is it?
That was what hifi mag, the vitus has been reviewed by all the top independents, i dont think what hifi have even had the vitus sia030 in?
So basically very different situation, but even so you must listen for yourself and certainly not go with whatever anyone says, especially if they are getting paid for it, etc.
So not strange at all
Forum posts must be in English, so please would you translate.
Most of the other publications have also enthused about Naim products at different times, and the 500 products in particular. So they agree with “What HiFi” on that. But you say “What HiFi” is wrong, and they’re all right? Because they like your stuff perhaps?
Here is the English translation of the text:
My journey went in the exact opposite direction! In the late 1990s, I put together a small Naim system: a CD3.5, Nait3, and Linn SARA. Everything sounded fantastic. Nevertheless, I continued to upgrade until I arrived at a CDX/XPS, NAC82/HC, NAP250, and SBL. After a few years, I felt I needed to take a new direction. I sold everything and switched to an Arcam A49, Arcam CD72, and Audio Physic Avanti3. The A49 is incredibly stable under load ((2 \times 200W) at (8\Omega), (2 \times 400W) at (4\Omega)!). At first, that sounded more bombastic, spectacular, and maybe somehow seductive. But power isn’t everything.
Well, and where am I today? Back with Naim! CdS3/XPS, NAC252/SupercapDR, NAP300/300PSDR, SL2. It sounds much more harmonious, voices have an unbelievable presence, and you can feel the room where the music was recorded. I have loved HiFi since the 1970s. I was with Naim, and now I’m back. The excursion to Arcam and Audio Physic was HiFi, but Naim is music.
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I didn’t say what hi-fi is wrong, i just don’t take much off what they say, plus they only review certain stuff and certainly don’t enter into the high end stuff.
It like saying the best car you can buy is this one, etc. But at the same time you don’t test say lambos, porsche, etc.
But atleast they found the dcs Rossini Apex to be the best digital source they had ever heard, and this is what i am getting at, they only test up to a level,as i can tell you as good as the dCS Rossini is you can certainly get even better sounding dac’s.
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You said “Always nice to read a nice review, but it is what hifi magazine, say no more really.” .. that translates as “they’re wrong”.
More than 20 year 552/500 (552DR/500DR) owner who left the fold 3 years ago. There are a number of single box contenders that can compete. I came close to buying the DarTZeel 8550 which actually prices out less than a 500 series set. It would’ve made me very happy however after 25 years of being brainwashed by the Naim upgrade cycle, I ended up purchasing DarTZeel separates instead.
I have a good friend, also a long time 500 series owner, who has run the DarTZeel 8550 for the past few years and has been very happy. Happy enough to remain with the brand and now purchased the single box amp.
Another friend left the 500 series fold and moved to VITUS before ultimately settling with TIDAL. Lack of a remote volume control did the VITUS in, not the sound which was great.
Dunc left 500 series for Vitus as well. Another Naim veteran on the dCS forum (who used to be here) just made the transition to Vitus
500 series was great kit when I owned it. All of the boxes, vibrating power supplies, finicky cabling, and dropping FRAIM balls, ultimately ran its course….
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OK, so they were right.
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No, i don’t say its wrong, you are saying that. What i mean is its what hifi and do they ever give a bad review?
You can’t take what hifi mag seriously, as they live off the adds, so can’t anything bad to start off with.
That’s not saying the 500 kit is bad, i was saying what hifi mag isn’t that great.
You are just trying to turn things around and this has nothing to do with this thread at all.
Great thread. The only thing i don’t agree with is the notion that Naim has raised their prices and now is out of reach for anyone not in The top 5%.
Time and time again i have tested this theory by putting the old prices into an inflation calculator and the result was that in real terms the prices are more or less the same as they have always been.
Naim has resisted the move to crazy price tags that much of the rest of the industry has embraced.
Proof? I recently bought the NC332, Npx300, and Nvc-tt. USD $24k. I wanted it because i always wanted the olive 52 which at the time i purchased my original Naim preamp (72/hc) was USD $10k. I put this to the price inflation calculator and it comes up with USD $25k today. It is the same price in real inflation adjusted terms. That is a fact.
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For me, I see only one contender : Gryphon Diablo 333. The only integrated that can replace a 552/500, because it has similar characteristics, as muscular, fast, organic, and involving. Juicer, fresher, and with better bass than the Diablo 300.
Other are also probably better, but away of a Naim sound. Aavik , Dagostino, Pilium.
The Aries Cerat integrated would be also my concern, and I would hesitate between it or Gryphon 333.
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I didn’t say that. Show me where.
Anyway i take it you have experience in using a supper intergrated amp over say the 500 kit, yes ???
I for sure do and have even tried 2 different ones over the 2 vitus ones, the hunbolt and dan dagostino
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My NAD 302 is plumbed in as we speak. Sounds super to me!