I believe the High End Munich show issues a CD/playlist of demo tracks, the idea being that you can hear the same music on different systems and then go home and realise how your life would be enhanced if you bought whatever it was that took your fancy. A friend gave me a copy of the CD from a few years back. I can’t say that I listened to it more than once, although it’s ripped to my Core…
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Whenever my dealer puts on some vocals and acoustic stuff to demo some gear, I say, let’s roll out some complex rock and see what this sytem can really do 
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I thought on a YouTube video by Jay Audio that the Focal Utopia Evo needs a lot of power. They were powered by a Boulder 3050 , which is comparable to the Statement.
So in that case 2 nap 350 would not be enough. Don’t forget that the Focal Evo are around 50 k too.
Everyone tries to show off how good their new amp is by mulleting it with speakers ten times the price. Nearly always.
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This with the choice of speakers might imply something about the level the streamer and pre are on when paired with 300 power supplies? Closing in on 500-series perhaps?
The worst thing that has happened with demo tracks over the last years iis the infected mushrom and alike. Hard to play or rather reproduce but then again why would you. On the other hand if my chosen brands of hifi did not introduce me to new music it is a good sign to go somewhere else. Naim is not good here in demos but have many things on the naim label from the past that is worth hearing.
Claus
Possibly, but then again I guess Naim are being diplomatic and using the only speakers that they should use. Maybe they picked the best out of what’s available from that. It would look strange to pair their kit with a competitor of Focal at the Munich High end show. Also, was this not what is used in statement demos.
In the end if it works for them great. I was hoping that they would influence the speaker range but I guess that is not happening
I see. I thought that was a really bad idea. Using very revealing speakers would show up the weaknesses of the electronics, no?
From the pictures it looks as if the speakers are Stella Utopia which are aprox 150000€ here in Sweden.
At a show it just makes people go “Ooooh. Ahhhh.”
A lot of people bought the Atom with $20k speakers based on those dems.
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And if that is how things sound at their best then it rather knocks the unpopularity of mullet systems!
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It can work with undemanding music, hence why female vocal, jazz and other lighter-weight tracks are played IME. There again, trying to play energetic rock won’t enamour the manu to others at the show and the dem spaces will probably struggle to manage the energy?
Indeed. Why not play some widely appreciated organ music? 
Probably a case of looking rather than sounding best. However, there’s a grain of truth in what FZ says here. For obvious reasons. loudspeaker makers tend to love a lower cost source and amp that’s able to work reasonably well with their much more expensive speakers. I remember many years back one particular high end speaker manufacturer was promoting the combination of the NAIT 5/5i amp and their Sophia floorstanding speakers. I heard this combination and it did kind of work in a way, however I guess the speaker manufacturer loved it because it provided a much lower entry price point, and ensured the focus was kept very much on the speakers.
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IMHO, I think the NAP350 solves a major issue for Naim in having a ‘cheaper’ more powerful NAP, which can sit in front of a high-quality NAC.
It’s not just the Focal stable which will benefit from this, as we know many brands (e.g. B&Ws) prefer more current pushed through them to open them up and control them. And it’s not until you hear a much more powerful amp do you realise what the benefits are.
As has been discussed on the Forum many times, the larger speakers can to be very efficient (not current hungry) at lower volumes, but feed them something bass-ier and their impedance curves sink and current demands escalate rapidly. When the marketing people put these combos together, there should be a warning about never driving them in top gear 
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Didn’t one of these get shot down over the Kremlin the other week?
G
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11/10
I understand Naim’s choice but I tend to agree with you.
With millions of CDs out there in great quality I think it’s a great shame that Naim don’t build CD players.
Would love to see their approach now, especially a high-end full-on disc spinner
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I biked it over yesterday to Munich High End just in time to catch the last half hour of Al di Meola relating stories about his friendship with Les Paul and collaborations throughout his long career.
That was a real highlight of the show for me.
Then I bumped into Dr. C.W. Öhlrich, who makes rooExtend, and who told me about his new product rooAIDJ due for release in a week or two, which dials into ChatGPT to generate playlists on your watch or phone, according to your criteria (e.g. hey siri, play me upbeat rock music from the 70s).
A cool innovation.
Then headed over to Linn to have a listen to their new 360 speakers. They sounded rather good but it’s academic - they are way too pricey for me.
I couldn’t find Naim in the list of exhibitors in the show’s app; maybe their room was listed under Focal, it was certainly dominated by those massive speakers which you either love or hate. And with Naim, of course, you’ve got to love black boxes 
.
Well, the air inside the building was pretty thick so that was enough for me and I headed off to the beer garden for fresh air and refreshments.
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