How do Naim voice their equipment?

Hi-Fi Corner
1

As a member of the Beta test group there are often comments re. the difference in SQ between various Betas.

This set me wondering ‘how is the sound quality of the equipment ‘voiced’ & whose ears, if any, are relied on?’.

Is it:-

1 Purely by a computer programme setting the parameters? i.e. coding bass, midrange & treble by numbers.

2 Purely by Naim engineers listening to the equipment with a set playlist?

3 A combination of 1 & 2 above?

If it is 2 or 3 above what music is used for the listening tests?

Apologies if this has been asked before but a search did not provide what I was looking for.

2

AFAIK, it’s down to Gary Crocker and Roy George as the final “ears”. Roy has of course been the “ears” of Naim since the '80s…

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3

As someone whose office was above the r&d listening room, its done in 30 seconds bursts again and again and again of anything from Ed Sheeran to Dire Straits. Roy apparently would listen to London Grammar.

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4

No wonder you left !

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5

Music chosen simply because they liked it or because they considered it well recorded?

6

I recall Roy often listening to Radiohead tracks, and most often one or two tracks from The Gilmore’s album The Lipstick Conspiracies - My Own Private Riot and Land of The Free were favourites, IIRC.

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7

So, as he is he has aged so the voicing changes to compensate…? That may mean that for older buyers new kit always sounds like an improvement – but what about younger buyers??!! :grinning:

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8

The latter. Often something disliked is chosen, else it is spoiled forever. But always they are listening out for something specific in that recording.

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9

I know Naim is good but not even Naim can make London Grammar palatable IMO :grinning: :grinning:

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10

I think i would be a good candidate for this position at Naim, is there somewhere i can apply? I have attached a photo of myself to get acquainted, i can send a resume later.

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11

I presume that in colour we’d see that your ears are golden as well?

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12

Let me disagree

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13

Note to Naim- I recommend that the Moderator of this Forum have final word on voicing of all new products as he must deal with all of us lunatics on a daily basis :grinning:

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We are all mostly on this Forum because we love Naim and stuck with it, and payed out a lot for it over the years. We must put that partly down to Roy keeping the consistency. Thank you Roy. If you dont like the Voicing, you can of course buy something else.

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15

At least for me the question is not about the “taste” of Naim as I love what I hear. My question is with comments suggesting that every firmware vastly differs in SQ from the previous/next. Which I am not hearing.

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16

This is an interesting subject! I’m assuming the voicing process isn’t as crude as tailoring frequency response in the audio band as a component with a built in EQ curve is not particularly desirable…
The only obvious voicing decision I can think of with a Naim amp is the giant power supply and slight band limiting which are going to help with the snappy transients. Tantalum capacitors are used a lot in Naim gear which have a sonic signature. Are there any other engineering or parts bill decisions that have a distinctive sonic effect?

17

Perhaps Roy only gets involved in the last phase of Beta testing, and every now and then he gets a weeks holiday where the odd release slips through.

Interesting thought, what might Roy do on his holidays? I doubt you will find him on the dance floors in Ibiza.

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18

So we’ll separate them into the Roy-full and Roy-less releases?

Or just what is the Roy level of the SQ of this release?

Or something…

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19

You might need to add Roy-Zoom releases also

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20

Technically I believe he is retired (there was a big leaving do in July 2018) but I saw him at the factory pretty regularly.