Naim quote quiescent power consumption at 16VA. If you want a real world Wattage figure you could temporarily plug it in via one of those power monitor things.
I’ve owned amps costing many thousands of pounds but I’m absolutely loving the little XS3’s sound so much; it’s so musical and definitely has a boogie factor that I was hoping for from Naim
It is just so musical sounding and gets right to the musical strands with such ease; I’m just loving it and can’t stop listening to more and more music today
A friend has a Rega P3 with the XS3 and it’s a great system with his Neat speakers. With regard to standby I leave my system switched on 24/7, it’s my indulgence in life, just makes great music.
MY XS2 is on 24/7 a luxury I do not even think about. I am more concerned about what music I am going to purchase next. I am looking at some ol Blue Eyes that my father used to enjoy so much. My brother has all his LPs.
I have an XS3/FC XS. When I’m not listening to music I just turn the volume down to minimum. I think it hardly uses anything (Naim amps verging on being Class B possibly helps?) when sitting idling - it doesn’t even get warm. We have a smart meter at home. On the days when the system has been switched off for a long period (e.g. during a period of lightning) I noticed no change in our daily bill - certainly no more than boiling the kettle and nothing like putting the heating on. IMO, the benefit gained from leaving it on (improved refinement, clarity and sounding more ‘real’) outweigh any marginal increase in electricity cost/consumption.
I’m blown away by how good this little amp sounds and I’ve been going through so many cd’s
Next thing I’m going to buy is a new/used pair of speakers. I’ve heard good things about Neat speakers with Naim but I’d also like to hear some ATC’s too; any suggestions either way?
Speaker choice is so personal as well as budget and room dependent, so I’d try a good range of models before spending any money. I have both Neat and ATC in various systems. My Neats are little wall-mounted Iotas, but as a main system, I’d take a listen to the Iota Alpha, which adds a separate bass driver. Still only knee high, though. From ATC, I’d suggest SCM11s. They’re reckoned to be easier to drive than the smaller 7s and I reckon you’d really need more than an XS with the 19s, which are the next model up.
Neither of these are particularly efficient, so if you’ve a large room or want it loud, you might try something from the Focal range. Arias or Kantas, depending on budget, could be worth an audition.
Absolutely PeakMan speakers are a very personal thing
Our front room is probably 18’ x 10’ so not that huge. I’m currently running the XS3 with some very old Goodman speakers that my other half has owned for years. The sound is amazing but I’m pretty sure it can be improved upon with a Naim cd player and better speakers
I’m currently playing one of my favourite cd’s: Derrin Nauendorf - Live at the Boardwalk and it’s sounding fantastic
The Mark Levinson was a huge and extremely heavy amp but I’m absolutely loving the XS3 at the moment; it’s a third the size of the ML and so lightweight but it’s still amazing me how it sounds
