Can't sleep so I am listening to my system at 4 AM

[Analogmusic]

I couldn’t sleep properly, so got up 2 nights a row and watching Bryan Adams live shows.

Fans of Bryan Adams will remember the live in Lisbon DVD when it came out.

I watched this long time ago, but my system was just a basic one, Yamaha HT amp, and the recording sounded good (after all it is very well produced)

But listening to this now on my Naim system, it is something else.

I have seen Bryan Adams live 3 times in my life, and a big part of that live sound is actually the guitar of Keith Scott, some of the most beautiful sounds I have ever heard in my life…

and now I can clearly hear what is going on with all the musicians, it is almost as thrilling as seeing the live show.

As one of the Naim dealer says, great hi-fi is about being a Time Machine… certainly with my rig, I feel like I am right there in the audience again… such a thrill to hear this. Now I understand (because I can clearly hear this at home now) that Bryan Adams never was a one man show, he always had such great musicians with him to create those songs we all love.

and my system I am watching this is a 202/200DR, no Hicap.

just wanted to say, I have been with my trusted 202/200 for almost 15 years, I love it dearly, gave me so many years of musical enjoyment. Yes the 282/250DR/HCDR is better, but I watch concerts on my 202/200DR.

Driving this is a Chord 2qute DAC with a Vertere RCA to DIN cable, with NACA5 into Dynaudio Excite X16 speakers… this rig has kept me very happy for many years !

Yes it is great to be on the upgrade path, but only if the money is there. But in my experience, with any naim system at any level, it is much more important to set it up just right (not as easy as it sounds), and get the most out of it.

For example, the system started sounding magical, once I got the speaker ends of the NACA5 soldered properly with Naim Banana plugs… small things like these turn a good system into one that to my ears that sounds magical… I had to learn all this the hard way, but the forum was there in my journey…

Thank you to everyone who contributes to the forum, it’s so nice to be re-live a Bryan Adams live show through a recording at home.

It isn’t only Naim that I am grateful to. all these great hi-fi companies among them like…Chord Electronics, Vertere, Dynaudio (and all the others who work so hard) all understand that creating the magic of a live event at home… this is what it’s all about. Thank you ! And thank you LG for the great OLED TV I am watching this on… LG had the vision to spend $100 million and buy the technology from Kodak, there’s a few TV companies that make OLED’s but LG first had the vision to spend this kind of money. Thank you also Iso acoustics for the amazing supports for my Dynaudios, I can’t put them on stands because of my cat.

[Nick1940]

The inability to fall asleep is an annoyance. It is now 5.30 but I gave up at 4,made some toast and a cup of coffee. The washing is now spinning ready to go on the line.
I am old and have muscular degeneration in one hip which makes lying down some nights very uncomfortable.
Nothing much can be done. Many bear far worse and if I am lucky I will fall asleep shortly for two or three hours.
You have my sympathy. We will count sheep jumping over the gate together.
I am listening to some Rameau gavottes.

[David]

I don’t struggle to go to sleep but it’s staying asleep after 4am is the challenge…today I had a lie in until 5.15am! So like Nick some coffee, wash on, headphones* on (so not to wake family / neighbours) and listen to music whilst reading the news etc. By 11am I will be ready for a 20 min snooze and then I am good for the day

• Not a fan of headphones but purchased a decent pair a couple of years ago and they make a real difference to picking up the finer details and of course driven by Naim streamer / pre amp (222) still have good PRAT.

[Gazza]

I slept much better at a hotel recently, they had black out curtains. I find its getting light around 4 am and i then start stirring.

[Mike_S]

Is the waking early due to being close to the longest day for you and the early sunrise? I always struggled with that when I lived in England.

Now, I’ve the opposite problem, being close to our shortest day and I have my usual winter blues, which I’m fairly certain is SAD (Seasonal Affective `Disorder), general lethargy, grumpiness, unsettled and restless. Bring on Spring.

I agree that great music and video systems are a welcome distraction.

[osprey]

This certainly has an impact on my sleep.

Up in the north it would be even worse

[porkyg]

I go through periods of waking at 4am throughout the year. I have a CPAP machine and sometimes it is this that causes me to wake.

If I go back to sleep it is generally for short periods.

Sometimes I get up, make tea and just go online.

I sort of accept that it’s part of getting old but it’s very annoying when you have a run of it. Sadly I find it impossible to nap or sleep during the day unless I’m ill.

For me I do know those sleepless nights will pass, it’s just when.

My thoughts go to those who don’t sleep well.

[AlexP]

Unfortunately myself and sleep are not always the best bed partners. I’ve never been one for early nights and manage 6 - 6.5 hours on a normal night. I used to catch-up at the weekend but having children put pay to that - ironically they usually sleep in during the week! My wife can sleep for hours - I’m jealous!

I love the summer but early light does wake me up. We’ve recently invested in black-out linings which help.

Ref winter and SAD, I definitely suffer it unfortunately. Being a classic car enthusiast I’ve inadvertently conditioned myself to hate winter - from the moment the road salt is put down that’s the two ‘garage queens’ hibernating until April - so about 6 months of the year🙄.

I’ve suffered anxiety and depression a few times over the years and this impacts sleep. A very uncomfortable feeling is waking up in the night with what I can only describe as a shot of ‘cold adrenaline’ seemingly shooting down my spine - it’s really unpleasant and a sure sign I need to take action. For better or worse my trigger appears to be worrying about particular people I care for.

[ratrat]

@AlexP

Unfortunately myself and sleep are not always the best bed partners.

Same.
For a variety of reasons, often find myself waking at 4 or 5am, having had maybe 5 or 6 hours, which seems to be enough. As an aside, often think we need less sleep as we get older.

Have a similar routine, to others above, leave the bedroom, mostly so as not to disturb my wife, ( who can sleep for Britain , so envious). Then go make a cuppa tea and a slice of toast.

Next step is most often listening to music at a low level or reading on this Naim forum. Thank you Naim.

We’ve had loan speakers at home past few days. Must admit, it’s been a pleasure to come down stairs early and experiment with a few test tracks on these loan speakers. It’s been a reason to get up, by itself.

Bring it back to music and Naim systems - as OP above - otherwise, thread might get bumped into lounge or whatever

BW
R

[Blackbird]

I’ve read about smartphones disrupting sleep in many ways. The recommendation was to not look at the phone or computer the hours before going to be and not sleep with the smartphone next to you since it will “ping” your brain wondering if something happened (fear of missing out).

You can also change the color on computers and smartphone screens these days so you get a more yellow light before bedtime since the cold/blue light otherwise triggers the brain to be more active (it is more close to daylight).

And of course as always, avoid stress.

[GraemeH]

Terrible sleeper here. We are up at 06:15 most mornings for work and I normally wake about twoish, sometimes for hours. Recently, I’ve started to set an alarm, which I never bothered with before. This has actually helped as I know I won’t oversleep.

G

[Nick1940]

Them bloody pigeons don’t help.

[Analogmusic]

I couldn’t sleep because I woke up with my nose blocked. After a year of living with nasal polyps, and getting them removed by surgery this makes me panic now. I can’t go back to living with polyps again.

I did the nasal sprays, steroid sprays, now unblocked… drinking a few diet cokes to lessen my stress (have another issue in my life) can’t be helping with the sleep either.

such is life, but great that I could listen to my system to get my mind off the worries.

[Blackbird]

Those sprays can actually make the problem worse and you end up being addicted to them. Have you looked into trying to reduce the use of them (that is if you use them often)?

Also some are allergic to dust mites in the bed which leads to blocked nose at night.

Diet coke = caffein. Not good for sleep

[AndyJ]

I use a Muso QB and nearly always play music to go to sleep to and if I wake up as I often do, I reach out to the iPad and put the music back on.

It help’s me and gives you something to concentrate on other then start to think about other thoughts that keep us awake.

[Analogmusic]

yes it could be the dust mites, the doctor who removed the polyps said I should use the steroid nasal sprays for life now, other doctors say the same.

blimey. it is ok - if it stops polyps growing back

[BrendanD]

You don’t don’t addicted ted to the steroid sprays. It’s ‘sudafed’ (xylometazolone) you have to treat very carefully.

[Christopher_M]

Sorry to read you are not sleeping.

I can be a bit the same. I find the soothing sounds of the Shipping Forecast on the radio help but probably irrelevant in your part of the world.

NAC202/NAP200DR has got to be the best value in Naim’s range

[Analogmusic]

the 202/200 seemed to be an enormously expensive purchase for me at the time I bought it brand new, but it has stood the test of time for me, 15 years now. I didn’t have money left for a good source. In hindsight I would rather have bought NDAC and stayed with Nait XS. I didn’t understand the importance of a source at that time. Now the source is the most important component for me.

I learnt enough now to make most set up sound good (even if it is not Naim)… I could be happy with an Uniti qute 2 also now… I just need the right Naim speaker plugs for the UQ2, NACA5 cable and properly soldered banana plugs at the speaker end… modest speakers, and I heard the UQ2 sound really good. to me the Uq2 was the VFM star of the Naim range. Naim DAC V1 / NAP 100 was also a value star, sounded really good to my ears.

my other rig is a Mscaler/Chord Dave/282/HCDR/250DR, but the 202/200DR is just as engaging…

[MikeD]

Out here at this time of the year until October, if you don’t get up early enough to get everything done by midday (cleaning the yard, doing the laundry, looking for missing celebrity doctors), you don’t get it done because of the extreme heat.

I’m a poor sleeper because of pain from a deformed spinal column caused by a severe MTB accident ten years ago so an early start comes naturally - coffee and a slow three-pass brush and blade shave while listening to “Today” on my lovely (you know it, we’ve all got one) NAIM system and a “start-the-day” track of choice.

The prevailing culture enables a guiltless afternoon nap to compensate and there’s always the occasional pain killer cocktail for extreme occasions and the resultant feel good factor!

Happy days.