Happy with the new Naim update

It has

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Itā€™s a very fine line we are walking between relaxed and easy to listen to and the edge, I imagine we all crave. Not enough edge equals less engagement and emotion and too much edge can get in your face or even listening fatigue. To top it off itā€™s different with different tracks. So finding that balance is the most difficult task according to me.

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Spot on 100% - I am bowing down :blush:

The relaxing sound (naca5 and PN will do their part) I like ā€¦ butā€¦
The last days I thought that the deep soundstage was gone and when it was very warm in the room (not anymore) it was a bit boring.
And this is all gone ā€¦
Butā€¦ small edges ā€¦ lol

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No good day todayā€¦ fear I have gone out of balance ā€¦
Hopefully all in my head

Same here. Just when I had reached the point of being fully happy with my SQ (after various tweaks, expenses and nail biting over a period of months), this SQ update has really set me back. Iā€™m losing patience and Iā€™m upset about it to be honest.

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I still believe there is an improvement, but I have not had enough critical listening time yet since the update. At first blush it seems a bit bright now, has me considering some minor tweaks to speaker placement to achieve a balanced sound once again. Interesting that others have mentioned tweaking as well.

Must give a disclaimer
The update is wonderful and there is definitely a lot improvement.
But I spent soo much time in getting my system into balance that I even go without more detail, air, punch and get my balance back.
Itā€™s only me - as often.

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So an update changed the sonics so much your dialed in system now sounds bad. I would have been very disappointed. I might have had spent big money on cables to tweak the sound in relation to how my source sounded and all of sudden. All is lost. Sad news if it is like that.

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Yes it is a bit brighter but also fuller with bass. Speaker tweaking wonā€™t do in my case

There is some big part of my brain is playing tricks on me but in summary it is how it feels - lots of lots of money and ā€¦

By the way: we are definitely posting under the wrong thread name :blush:

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I found that this louder sounding is what I dislike ā€¦

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Ah so thatā€™s why you always listen to ā€œKeith donā€™t goā€? :laughing:

I go along with this - but I also followed-up with some tweaks here.

I have found in past some Naim updates or upgrades (like the DR one) made my system more revealing of set-up problems previously comfortably hidden from intruding, so with that in mind I did my ritual micro-cleaning of contacts (wiggle the cable a bit) particularly at the ND555 source-end as every few weeks that clarifies the HF - and it made a lot of difference in a positive direction for the hard edge I was occasionally getting. That went and it is now resoving more detail and image-depth, so that was nice!

Iā€™m not saying this is going to be what others find, but since it is free to try and our music system not delivering can be a bit stressfull it is worth trying.

Also I found some ā€˜settingsā€™ had got defaulted by an update back to ā€˜onā€™ from where I had set them ā€˜offā€™ before and revisiting these via the Naim App (prompted by Drago) was very worthwhile. I donā€™t use Qobuz and turning that input off cleaned-up the low bass and improved micro-dynamics, so that was worthwhile.

If you are using that interface or any of them, I use the Tidal one, the you obviously need it on!
Some interfaces sitting unused may be worse that when being used.
Also some interfaces I donā€™t use, like Spotify, also sonded a tiny bit better on rather than off, so it is worth playing with these settings - it does not take long.

DB.

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Already did the cable work and tweaking :worried:

This is the direction I am leaning at the moment. I have been tweaking speaker placement for months. In my room very minor adjustments are audible. I was very close, but perhaps the update is revealing that Iā€™m not as close as I believed.

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So far Iā€™m still finding the new update musically better. Timing seems much sharper and Iā€™m getting some awesome low frequency notes from the DBLā€™s. I think the volume thing has to do with the dynamics being better. Iā€™m finding that listening around 8:30 on the volume dial puts me in row 10 of the audience. Then every half turn of the volume dial moves me three or so rows further forward. The increased realism as you move forward is amazing.

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Yes - same here.
But it is for sure, that the new fw has altered the sound signature. Tweaks can not bring the old signature back.

Timing is much sharper. But this sharpness bothers me in some vocals (e.g. sibilants). The smoothness sigma brought has vanished a bit.
Vodka effect is back :blush:
Low frequency is really better! This is really wonderful

I wouldnā€™t get too worried at the moment. My dealer reckons any changes, including updates, require two to three weeks to settle down. I seem to remember something similar when I last updated my NDac. He often suggests slight changes to speaker position can easily compensate for anything you donā€™t like. I know my DBLā€™s can change dramatically with just a move of 1cm.

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My kudos are also very sensitive to movement. But I need bring them nearer to the wall to gain less sharpness - this will make the bass to fat