Having waited for the change itch to subside, and having avoided the urge to scratch several times, I thought I’d summarise my thoughts and the dilemmas therein.
I’d decided that whatever I did, it would have to be pretty much cost neutral, which led to the auditioning of ATC’s SCM20ASL’s, replacing my current amp and speakers, Hegel’s H600 streaming amp, replacing all of my Naim NC 200 Series and Linn’s Selekt DSM, Classic or Edition, in various configurations, replacing the 200 Series and/or speakers (and sundry other Naim kit).
Now they’re all very well thought of options, several of which have replaced a number of forum members Naim systems over the past few years, nearly all of whom reported positive results.
However, I found myself in the (fortunate) position of concluding that none of the above delivered the listening satisfaction of my NC 200 Series, further leading to the (obvious) conclusion that a cost neutral upgrade may well be/probably is well nigh impossible, even with more recent, lower cost options.
The adage “you don’t get what you don’t pay for “ would still appear to be true…….?
ATB, J
PS Perhaps unsurprisingly, my dealer thought all of the above could be an upgrade to my current system, but things are pretty tough at present.
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The fundamental question is, what is driving your itch? Do you not find music for your system satisfying? Do you find it in anyway fatiguing or tiresome to listen to? Do you just have a feeling that something else might be better? Unless you are someone who just likes change for the sake of it, there’s no point changing without a reason. If your itch starts again, maybe try to analyse what it is that doesn’t let you just enjoy what you have. (In my case at virtually every step changes with simply because I knew better was possible and I had a mental in game in mind in terms of system sound,)
As for “you don’t get what you didn’t pay for”, that takes no account of personal preference in sound, where it is not necessarily something more expensive that sounds better, nor advances in things like digital technology making even lower cost digital things found much better than the equivalent some years ago. Then of course if resources are not unlimited, buying ex-dem or secondhand can make much better things available at all relatively low cost.
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I am swapping my NC NAP250 and Russell K Red 100 speakers and stands for ex demo ATC 40A active speakers, which is cost neutral and has delivered a decent uplift in SQ.
Not sure what amp/speakers you have, but ever considered going the second hand/ex-demo active speaker route, keeping your 222, which you seem to like?
If you’ve got a posh car, you could swap that for a cheap car and use the balance to upgrade your Hifi.
Personally, I’ve usually had no car or a cheap car and never more than one car, but always a very good Hifi system.
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For the last 22 years, my modus operandi on HiFi has been:
- Stick with Naim, including speakers.
- Change as little as possible.
- Research every change very carefully, especially on the forum, weighing the comments you read according to what you know about the poster.
- Make sure that the change improves the sound quality of your system, and make sure that you can return the item if it doesn’t.
That methodology has worked extremely well for me and resulted in very little wastage and an extremely good value system.
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