End of my tether

Thank goodness those at the end of their Naim tether are in a minority.

And thank goodness those who aren’t at the end of their tether are prepared to help those who are.

A sign of a generous, knowledgable and confident community, one of the reasons I hang around here.

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In all fairness, Nigel, you should add to the members on the end of their tether the ones who had theirs snapped… My very good friend Max is one of them, now, after 16 years with NAIM, he is In a very happy place with an all American music system.

Help is good only for people who are willing to help themselves.

As for confidence, I really wish I owned them (Confidence 20).

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Excellent post! I personally will not expand beyond NDX2 and SN3 single box solutions, no power supplies or separates for me. If I grow tired of the sound I certainly won’t throw money at Naim - I would sell and look elsewhere.

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It might help the OP if you said why.

The issue sounds like it was in your own head, rather than intrinsic to the Naim boxes. Naim ownership doesn’t have to entail constant upgrades or a desire for the very latest. It’s perfectly possible to buy one or two boxes and use them every day for years on end without a thought of needing better. It is indeed curious why having moved on from Naim you felt driven to join the Forum simply to say how pleased you are to have moved on. From a personal perspective my system is a constant source of delight and I never feel underwhelmed, nor do I have any desire to upgrade. Maybe it depends on whether one is a fiddler.

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I’ve enjoyed (and it’s cost me) the ‘Naim upgrade train,’ but somehow have totally avoided the ‘tinkering train.’ From Nait XS2, to 552/300, and in between, I’ve never fussed with stuff, found it fussy, and never has it ‘gone off’ on me.

I appreciate that some enjoy the tinkering and the various benefits they derive from it. I feel bad for those who feel that they must tinker but don’t want to; my experience is that such is not required. And I feel the worst for those who do not enjoy their home hi fi; there ARE solutions and fortunately Naim retains re-sale value such that alternatives might be procured.

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Agree with that Nigel. My systems sole purpose is to entertain me. I have a dealer ‘that does’ so all I have to do is enjoy. The Naim kit never ceases to amaze me. I am sure other brands could do the same, but I ended up with it after extensive dems. It just delivers every time. I do think the majority of issues that I read about are linked to computer audio and streaming. I just play my records…

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Ha, there is a lot to be said for just playing your records. Computer audio certainly gives lots of fiddling potential, and some seem to like fiddling more than enjoying music, but it was always like that I suppose. I think it’s about making a decision and then just enjoying it. If one is forever questioning and fiddling, enjoyment of the music becomes impossible.

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I’m not sure what the point really was. It goes without saying that Naim is not the only way. The world is full of great hifi and people choose as they see fit.

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Blimey.

Hi @Christopher_M, not sure if you were responding to me but in any case I should probably qualify my last post by stating the reason for not wishing to progress further with Naim. It is because I have a good Naim system which I enjoy very much. If I felt the need to change at some point, any significant ‘improvement’ would involve spending a lot of money and the law of diminishing returns would be applicable.

A significant change for me would involve changing the voicing as I did by changing speakers to Kudos Titan 606. My NDX2 is a great streamer but to change the voicing I would probably explore a similar route to @Simon-in-Suffolk by using an external DAC also possibly from Chord.

My speakers should hopefully be my last so everything else would be trialled with them. Should my circumstances change and I found myself with a much larger listening space then I would consider a more powerful amp. As I have no intention of collecting boxes, I would have to explore an integrated from another manufacturer.

My only other purchase will be an Atacama evoke SE2 rack. Which just leaves the task of enjoying music!

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Thanks for qualifying. In the first instance I thought you were just dissing the brand. I need a bit a of positivity in this place, there’s enough crap in the world as it is. Now I, @mikehughescq - and those who come after us - can see why you think what you think.

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Some fiddlers create nice music, others a discordant screech…

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Yes, I am loving the sounds from my Naim gear and am very happy that I bought into Naim. But that is all I bought in to - good sounding music. I have no desire to scale the dizzy heights of the higher echelons of Naim.

Anyhow, back to playing some music!

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I have had a Naim system for quarter of a century, it has gone from Olive to Classic , rather like an axe, I have changed the handle and I have changed the blade but it still a Naim system.

I have had only one occasion when I have had to return something to Naim and like the OP I have a Naim CDX 2 , etc . Not bad in 25 years

I can say that DIN plugs have frustrated me, Naim cables are far too stiff and for a company that is all about listening Naim should listen to their consumers .

On two seperate occasions I have had to start afresh and have always gone back to Naim. The only solution for the OP is to dissemble piece by piece and isolate the cause of the frustration . He is lucky that so many have shared their concerns .

Xanthe, I was unaware that you are a Lady. Humble apologies🙏

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Dear Mike,

This is a very extensive topic with oodles of replies. I am sorry as I do not have a solution for you. My heart sank one day when I saw that the XS2 amplifier was off as I leave my Naim equipment on all the time. It turned out that the AC 240 Volt plug had dislodged from the power board. Yes I have all this beautiful XS equipment, Naim cables and etcetera all powered by a common four outlet power board which will be changed one day. I am still in shock by how much I paid for our XS2 system. CD5 XS, Flatcap XS and XS2 amplifier. To be joined one day by a ND5 XS 2 streamer. One day, maybe.

Our system suffers from a soft Bass response and this is down to inefficient speakers that also have a soft bass response curve. A double whammy, I live with it, knowing one day I will replace the speakers. Though this will not happen in the near future as it has not happened since I purchased the speakers in the late eighties. I enjoy what I have and it is loud enough for my wife to shut the doors from the music room to the rest of the house and still force her to bed to get away from the “Din” : )

I sympathise that you have spent stellar amounts of money and still do not have Nirvana. It would leave myself feeling flat as well. Maybe it is time to take a break and enjoy another hobby for a while, then come back late one evening with you favourite spirit and sit back and enjoy your favourite artist.

I have PTSD and other mental aliments and enjoy a bit of Expert “CREATOR” series LEGO (The new Bat Mobile is coming out soon at $400 AUD) to use my hands again, a ride on the bike with my military mates twice a month. Learning morse code for my Amateur Radio hobby and maybe some shortwave listening to music and NEWS from distant countries over the airways. Yes it is all on the NET and local TV, yet I find that these platforms overload my senses. I like the old ways which are more relaxing and will one day come back to vinyl for that experience too. For now spinning silver and gold discs is nice to fall back on. You have a wonderful setup and one day I will look into replacing the $20 power board too.

Warm regards,

Paul.

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No problem, I don’t advertise the fact, well apart from my name on the forum(!)
(Xanthe is a female name).

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Thank you. That’s a very kind offer. Alas I’m in the north west.

@Innocent_Bystander I think you make a valid point about the different voicings of CD, TV and DVD. I think there’s a possibility I posted in haste this morning having been lulled into an apparently sensible suggestion, which possibly wasn’t.

Listening to the TV tonight I would say it’s not as good as it has been but no-one in the family commented until I asked the question and I suspect that had the CDP output not been so poor I may not have expressed any great concern about it. It’s great having the TV sound through the pre but it’s not and never will be a sonic priority.

Using the DVD to compare music was a fools errand really. There can never be any meaningful comparison between a CDX2/XPS2 and a Toshiba DVD player costing 20x less; with an entirely different character on music and piped through a Sky+ to the pre (so you need the TV on to get any sound and thus can’t even be judged in isolation). Until today I must have listened to maybe 2 CDs through the DVD in 17 or so years so there’s really nothing meaningful to be said about the DVD player. It sounded like it was warmer and had mids but actually it could just be tuned to accentuate the mid range to give sound body. A diversion I think.

On balance I think it best to stick to the original plan. Remove HL; take to Audio-T; loan lavender DIN to DIN and see what happens at my end and at theirs if they have a HL to connect to.

Once we’ve ruled that out then focus on the suggestion to remove the AV from the system and see what happens.

After that, review.

In the meantime I’ve entertained myself with the rantings of @anon32455950 who would apparently like to make a point to me but wouldn’t wish to cause offence.

I note that on this thread they first suggested that I test my power supply; then suggested it was the Burndy. That was followed by the suggestion to reset the 202; a very adamant suggestion that it was “amp, amp, amp”. Magnificently they have now moved onto speakers.

Is there an element of the system you think or definitely isn’t or are you going to work through those as well? :slight_smile:

Finally, a small observation for those posters who persist with variations on the tone of FFS do something/help yourself. One can only hope you never work with mental ill-health. There’s nothing going on here but mild depression and even then only specifically in relation to the kit.

I think I calculated that all in I’ve spent £14k if you count cables; stands; mains distribution and so on plus about £3k on repairs/recaps etc. I also reckon that such issues have occupied around 2 years of my 17 years of ownership. That doesn’t feel especially normal to me.

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Ah, unfortunate; that’s a bit too far to walk from the South West!
I did suspect that was the case, but wasn’t sure; so I offered anyway, just in case you were in range.

I hope you do find your answer(s).

Xanthe

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