After finding out my Star lost 30% of the purchase price on a trade in in the first year this gives me hope LOL
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To me, expensive means high value, for example Bentley Motors, Breitling watches, etc.
More correctly, I think it should be, āis Naim gear dear?ā
Yes, itās a top end brand and has commensurate prices to match, but does that make it dear.
For me and a lot of others users, I donāt think itās dear.
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Not a comment on the price as such but Iāve been away & recently unpacked my LP12/32-5/250/CDI/NATO1/Isobarik DMS etc from the late 80ās and am amazed to find it can all be brought up to spec by Naim. Whilst its away being serviced I bought an N272 streamer and am feeding an old A60 & Mission 760i speakers and am transfixed by the quality and convenience of it! I had forgotten how involving and musical Naim equipment can be in comparison to what I thought was OK ish mainstream audio kit e.g. Yamaha Receiver & Wharfedale Diamonds in the kitchen. I sat on the Sofa and played about 10 albums in a row I cant wait to get my upgraded kit back & try it 
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Didnāt expect that there are so many replies in a short time. Donāt get me wrong, I like Naim and Iām also using Naim. My system is CDS3/555PS, 202/200/HCDR/NAPSC,Highlife. Iām thinking to upgrade to 252/300 in the future but I donāt want to buy secondhand anymore. I calculated that the price in total is around 23000ā¬, so I start to think using same money what I can get from other brands and the like
Should be Ā£120000 rather than Ā£10000?
Price is relative to the market ones in. In the US Naim is a very poor value for the money and resale isnāt that great either. Just my experience, just my opinion.
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Indeed, this make sense. There are preferences of different places
FWIW no I donāt think so. There are very few hifi brands able to deliver great-value products from 1000 Euro up to 150,000 and with everything in between. Compared to other very expensive stuff, the Statement isnāt even all that expensive.
Whenever I see people make the too-expensive comment it turns out they are talking e.g. about the upper end of Classic. Well yes, it is costly, but it is the upper end of the Classic range. Other options exist.
Last time I checked, Naim was not making huge profits. So to make it cheaper, costs would need to go down. Can be done, e.g. manufacture in China, pay less to staff in UK, less attention to detail, and so on. But I buy Naim because they donāt do these things, generally (Mu-so notwithstanding) and I donāt want them to stop being Naim so that people who donāt love Naim can buy Naim
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Iām reminded of Charlie Croker retrieving his Aston Martin from storageā¦ 
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I got my Atom in Jan 2018 for Ā£1750 j thought it was expensive then it now goes for around 1999 - 2100. Would likely not pay that much now but there is not a lot out there thatās cheaper that does what it does and sound as good. If I sourced seperates (not Naim) I couId find something but I wanted an all in one. I am still on the fence about Naim in general , yes they sound good when they are on song but from my experience they have not been the most reliable for sq as it varies a lot and software is not their strength. 3.5 update has made me value stable software more than anything else as its really not up to.much at the moment in this regards. For the price we should expect this all the then and currently they donāt deliver.
Not quite sure why itās worth more now either. I guess I see Naim as an investment, itās earned more value than my savings account has in the same time. so when I come to upgrade or sell on I should be quids in.
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Why is that? You seem to think Naim is expensive, prompting you to look at other brands. Whilst there is every sense in seeking what is best for you rather than sticking to a particular brand, buying secondhand makes an expensive product less so, and with amps at least, given that they can last forever there need be no detriment in buying secondhand and cheaper. Streaming products are a bit different matter as the newer products may be better, depending on your requirements - but that just limits how old you can go buying secondhand. Most of my hifi I bought secondhand - that is how I could afford a better system than otherwise (and one that most ānormalā people would consider extremely expensive).
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If your careful you can easily get very good value for money Naim kit.
The first Naim I bought was a CD5si for Ā£900 some 10 years ago. That took me a few months of careful saving to get it. But, at the time was thought of to be the best cdp around the Ā£700 to Ā£1300 price range so I thought Iād saved a few.
Then later picked up an ex demo Ndac for 1.2k and the little Unitiserve for 1.2k, which is still giving me much musical pleasure.
I suspect the reason you have had so many replies so quickly is because you might have hit a nerve. āTooā expensive is ridiculously subjective, but yes - high end hifi, including Naim, is very expensive.
Comparisons with something utilitarian, such as a car, are not very helpful because, whilst these items vary wildly in price, they all do something āusefulā.
High end hifi is an expensive way of projecting art and art is basically superfluous for a lot of people.
Not for me, but for a lot of people. My two cents.
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Okay, I changed the titleš
There are brands much more expensive. Is for Instance the MSB select dac ( 130 k euros) specially better vs ND555/ twin ps? Or Audionote M10 preamp at 200 k better than Naim S1 at 1/3 of the cost?
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Well access the the naim sound is now possible with the muso QB2 which is a great way to start
Nobody really forced anyone to buy a 552/500
Price is linked with performance
the naim sound is accessible nowadays on reasonable prices
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Wrong forum.
On the other hand if you buy a car for, say Ā£35k it likely will only last you up to 10 or 20 year (assuming you use it), and with an annual running cost. Depending on the type of person you are it may give great pleasure when new, but the pleasure may lessen as it gets old. The same money on a hifi system can give you great enjoyment for many hours a day for considerably longer - perhaps 40 years or more - with running cost less, and, assuming streaming from your own stored music, still as good sounding as when new.
It is therefore better to spend the good money on hifi and minimum cost on transport.
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+1
If you are changing the title you may wish to remove āIs thereā and add āDoesā.