A while back I fancied a change from my NC system, albeit I wanted a zero-sum exercise with little, or preferably no, additional cost. My dealer rose to the challenge suggesting a number of alternative brands and potential solutions that pretty much met my (financial) requirements.
However, and it’s a pretty big BUT that you have to take on board! After several auditions, at the dealer’s insistence, I was compelled to recognise that there are no unicorns and, bearing in mind I was being offered a very good trade in price, whatever I chose would simply not sound as good as the Naim NC system, and that’s the NC entry level!
After some extended listening to v5.4 over the past weekend, this is patently even more the case!
Also worth remembering to take into account is the obvious fact that trading ‘down’ to a lower cost system to achieve a zero-sum change will result in much lower trade in values should you wish to reverse the decision at a later date……….
Update 04/09: Just seen how quickly the Quad Platina depreciates, ouchie, ouchie
Learn to be content with what you have, the occasional tweak if you must, and enjoy the, frankly incredible, musical experience that Naim provides.
Linn Selekt, both active and passive configurations, Hegel H600, effectively another one box solution and the new QUAD Platina series as a bit of a wild card.
Yes, then I took a couple of aspirin and went for a lie down in a darkened room with a cold, damp towel wrapped around my head .
Waaayyy out of budget, save for a life changing lottery win. And, considering what HH has achieved with an Atom HE and a pair of active speakers, the law of diminishing returns really begins to bite, again save for that life changing lottery win.
Glad you are enjoying your system. Budget is always a factor. When I upgraded from OC and did not have a budget constraint, I changed everything at once. I wanted to not worry about incremental upgrades.
And I wonder if I might have subsequently joined the ranks of those here who, having disposed of their Naim kit, subsequently return having had to purchase/repurchase more or less exactly what they had to start with…… an even more expensive lesson to learn .
@Osiris i changed everything within a six month period. Racks, speakers, NC, cables, TT, CDP. I have no regrets. The only negative, is that b/c I changed everything, it is not possible to attribute SQ improvement solely to the NC gear. At this point I don’t care. My system makes great music.
Interesting tale. I hope for your benefit that having briefly being tempted by the grass is always greener temptation that you will find peace and satisfaction with what you have.
Some people are forever tweaking, changing cables, changing routers, etc, or changing boxes, searching for tge gold at thr end of the rainbow: and it seems to me unsurprisingly, that they never find it. They never feel satisfied. The difficulty there is will they ever be satisfied? In that circumstance I would suggest trading it all in and starting completely from scratch auditioning new systems with a view to finding one that sounds right installing it that the settle will do any adjustments and from that point onwards refuse to touch it again. In trying that of course it would be possible for the person to recognise that what they was actually exactly what they wanted and they can go back to it and live with it for good …or not.
To me it is very like people having extra marital affairs, swelling in the excitement of the chase, of the clandestine, always wanting more, than realising their wife or husband was the right person and going back… only to repeat again. That is until one day they lose everything they held dear to them. Each person has to decide: am I going to be happy with what I have, recognise how good it really is, and live in a state of full satisfaction, or will I be one of those doomed to be forever searching, with brief moments of gratification butnever truly happy. In my view that applies just as much to hifi as other aspects of life!
Re the comment on the NC series being a financial drama for many my response is
A) in this case the OP already has purchased his NC. The drama would be losing money selling it or trading it. Then more financial drama when he realizes he made a mistake and needs to go thru the cycle yet again to get it back.
B) Naim NC is not cheap. Nor should it be for the quality that you get which is impressive. Further if you compare the NC with older generations using an inflation calculator you will see it is basically the same price in real terms. Compare this with much of the audiophile world which has gone off the deep end on pricing.
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