Hi all
Sadly I have only joined the Naim journey after XMAS, looking to replace my OLD knackered turntable I bought a RP1 then had that a week, changed it for a NEW RP3, then after listening to a SN2 at my local dealers, I had to sell some of my old toys off…Meridian 500 series, Metal detectors, Nikon Cameras, Drones, you name it. or should I say …NAIM it…anyway, I loved the SN2 so much I also bought a ND5XS2 which I had for a few months, then I heard the NDX2 …so guess what ?? I had to sell even more stuff to finance that change over. So now my house is empty, but I do have my NAIM.
Loving it…
B
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My Naim ‘journey’ began in late May 2019. I’d become interested in (able to afford) hifi back in 2013, since which point I’ve bought (and sold) 7 Cyrus boxes. I moved to Naim in an effort to restart and slow down the ‘journey’ as the temptation to switch and accumulate boxes was beginning to frustrate me. It was a hard decision, as overall I liked the Cyrus sound, but I was reaching the point where I was looking at progressively expensive upgrades in the quest of “more”. So I made a full reset and bought my first all in one since my teens with the Nova. I’m not sure if it’s better, but I’m listening to music more now and enjoying it. And that’s what’s most important at the end of the day for me 
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What a nice problem!
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What a nice wife!
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My missus came with me when I was auditioning speakers to ensure that I got something
that was a significant improvement over the Credo’s 
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25yrs with a 32.5/140, the many CB and olive setups, added a Micromega source at on point, then became obsessed with box count and going active, got there then thought what a waste, sold up everything, 2 yrs ago bought a Muso and said no more, now on a Nova and very happy.
Aside from the Micromega and Focals it’s all be Naim.
Couldn’t want for better.
1986- 42/110
A lot of boxes in and out since then but the journey has been great 
Obsessed with music since I was 6 or 7. Parents introduced me to jazz and classical and then took to the great rock bands in the 70s etc.
When I left school in 74 I bought a Phillips Music Centre but in 79 went up to Tottenham Court Road and bought a Pioneer 512D TT, Pioneer amp and Wharfedale speakers. In 85 upgraded to Ariston RD 80/Linn LVX/K9/Rotel 840/Heybrook HBS1s. Then came parenthood but did add an Arcam Alpha CD in 1990.
That lasted until 2001 when we moved house and I said once the finances had settled I’d upgrade. In 2006 after a lot of demonstrations I ended up with the CDX2/XPS/282/200 and Dyna Contour 1.8s and added the Xerxes. Gradual changes since to arrive the current configuration in my profile.
Regards,
Lindsay
Only 18 months for me. Its been up and down with the Atom it has to be said. when its on song its stunning, but when its having one of its moods not so.
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About 25 years, started with a Nait 3 to complement my existing KI63 signature CD player using Dynaudio 40 speakers, loved it.
Up and down the Naim upgrade / downgrade path too many times including several NAP250s.
Left Naim once or twice but not for long and soon returned.
Now content with my existing setup 272/555dr/250dr/SL2 until Naim (if/when) release the 272 replacement.
I have been into HiFi for a very long time (depending on you definition of HiFi). Bought my first relatively good pair of speakers (Wharfedale Denton, still have them) in 1968 or 69, IIRC. Powered first by odd radios, then by Sinclair amps and preamp. Later an Armstrong receiver (about 1969 or 1970) followed by a Texan 2020 kit. Then built a Bailey amp and a Wireless World Preamp (it was a good design, still have them both). This would have been about 1974/5, I think - dates are a little fuzzy. Then bought my first Naim - NAP120 and a little later NAC12, plus Naim speakers - 702 or something like that, which used Goodman’s tweeters and Mordaunt Short bass. They were excellent speakers, particularly when I changed them to Active. I made a NAP120 (presumably not as good as the original but it was pretty good, and I used it for the bass drives, and the original for the tweeters) with an electronic crossover bought from a guy at Naim (who later left and started, briefly, a company called Audio Vois). All this was before 1980.
That lasted until some time around 1988, I think, when I changed it all for NAC52, 4 off NAP135s and SBLs. That lot lasted until a few years ago when I bought Ovator S600 and a NAP300. Wasn’t too happy with the 300, so changed to a NAP500. That was much better. Then more recently had the NAP500 serviced and DR upgrade.
Sometime in there I got an HDX, then changed it to an NDX.
Which is where I am now.
Oh, I had a CDX with XPS for quite a while.
Decks where first an old BSR autochanger ('nuff said), then a Garrard deck - looked like a 4HF, maybe that’s what it was. Then a Garrard SP25, followed by Pioneer PL12D, then Regar Planar 3, but now I have no deck.
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Thought I would join this conversation, and add just a few words to describe my “Hi-Fi Journey” which began in my teens with some listening to other peoples systems. Most notably at the time was a Quad 33/303, ELS 57, a Garrard 405 with SME tracking something I cannot remember, but I do remember being most impressed. Further listening at the time included some well constructed tape recorders and being involved in some recording work, and a friend with a Revox… One thing and another, and I purchased a second hand Leak Stereo 20 with varioslope preamp at an affordable price, fed in the first place with a Garrard SP25 from the family radiogram, with a B&O cartridge. I built some Wharfdale kit speakers in the kitchen much to the annoyance of dad who objected to the chipboard dust (which later in life I describe as toxic and would ban from any workshop). Sometime I had heard some Rogers speakers, and I scoured the second hand small adds in the local papers and local Hi-Fi shop until eventually I found a pair, and they were installed in my system, replacing the Wharfdales. Via further Leak equipment and Mitchel turntables the journey led one way and another to a system of Alphason Sonata turntable, Atlas psu, Alphason HR100 MCS tonearm, Audio Technicia AT OC7 cartridge, Naim 62/140/HiCap/NAT 02, the Rogers BBC Studio Export Monitors, a pair of LS3/5a, oh, and I got a Meridan 208B CD player. The Naim system started in 1987 on 1988, and on one occasion in the decision process I had the 62/140, a Quad 306/606 and and I a Linn amp for home dem to decide which I preferred. (The Quad and the Linn were collected from a dealer in or near Hastings to take home for home dem, and as I drove away I remembered that I had not given the dealer my name nor any security for the amplifiers, and additionally, I had never visited the dealer previously. Such trust in those days eh. I felt slightly guilty when I returned the two amps with a thank you but the Naim was preferred!)
Most of the equipment from the earliest days was purchased second hand (or ex-dem) as I could never have afforded new pricing and I was prepared to wait. Still, it is frightening to tot up the investment!!
Once the Naim had matured into the NAC62 / HICAP / NAP140 / NAT02 (which was a few years as at that time I had a decent income), it has remained unchanged to the present day, and indeed just recently I have decided to have the Naims serviced, they have never been touched in the intervening 30 years.
I have read many of the conversations on the new forum, and although the recent offerings from Naim look attractive (well, not appearance wise for me, as the “Chrome Bumper” series has a distinctive appearance that has not been surpassed, even by the “Olive”), I do not see an “upgrade path” for me and further investment seems unlikely.
However, I welcome suggestions…
(Sorry this has turned into a lengthy item)
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My journey: Discovered music at secondary school, older sisters played rock and soul (Thin Lizzy, Bad Company and Marvin Gaye, Al Green) on all-in-one record player of unknown origin. Loved it all.
I had no money so drooled over HiFi Answers for a couple of years. As soon as I got some money in 1981/2 I bought the ubiquitous Rega 3/NAD 3020/AR18s… Heaven and started building a library. But at Grahams I had heard the LP12 and I knew I had to pull on the string…
LP12/Basik through the NAD and AR18s; then sold the lot to go travelling…
Then back and LP12/LVX, and then Naim 12n/Snaps/110, then Ittok/Asak bought secondhand from a reviewer at HiFi answers (as was the NAC 12)… This was followed by Ekos/Troika and 12s cards…
Then the mistake and guilty secret: Naim out and Linn LK1/280 in (I convinced myself they were good enough - couldn’t afford a 32/Snaps/250), I used them to drive SD Acoustics SD1 (brilliant but had to stand in the middle of the room), sadly didn’t last long; then beautiful rosewood Isobariks (why did I sell these??), still driven by the Linn amps (!?)…
Then four kids and school fees… not compatible with expensive hifi, cars etc… so down to Rega 3 (light blue - don’t know why) and Kans, and still with the LK1/280 (probably couldn’t sell 'em - still have 'em now - anyone want 'em?) - all horribly wrong I know… then iPod/PC… The Lo-Fi years…
Then… time passed… lots of Lo-Fi music, no money all on kids, mortgage etc.
Then Atom…
…and up the tree we go again, now the kids are off my hands…
I’ve been into music and audio gear most of my life but didn’t get my first Naim until 2000 (at the age of 30), a second hand CD3.5/FC/Nait 3 which was transformative for me.
Just over eight years and amongst the many Naim units I’ve owned the one that gave the most enjoyment but not necessarily the best was one of the cheapest 102/HC/180.
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I bought a Nait in about 1985, at the time it was fed by a Trio KD1033B and drove Wharfedale Shelton XP2s. The Trio became a Roksan Xerxes/RB300/K9, ES14s replaced the Wharfedales. The amps went through the olive range, 62 to 72 to 82, 140 to 135s. The amp stayed constant from 1993 to last year when the pre went from 82 Hicap to 52 Supercap. The TT became a TMS/Artemis/Shiraz/Artaxerxes in 1993, in 2008 the ES14s got taken out by a lightning strike and were replaced by B&W804S. In about 2010 a CD5x came in to replace the terminally failed Micromega Trio. A few years back I added a HDX, then an NDX, after a while I sold off the HDX and CD player. 3 QBs got scattered around the house, then a Nova appeared as a second system with some PMC 25.23s. A couple of months ago the NDX was replaced by an ND555.
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My hifi journey is more than half a century old now (dreadful thought). For most of that time I listened almost exclusively to classical and rather dismissed Naim as not classically oriented. My brother had (still has) a Nait 1 and, great though it was with some material, it was not the amplifier I would choose to listen to, say, a Mahler symphony. (My final pre-Naim system was a mixture of Meridian and Musical Fidelity class A monoblocks.)
All that changed thanks to Mr Everard, of this parish. His advocacy of the then recently introduced Uniti in the Gramophone magazine and a realisation that there was a local Naim dealer led me to audition it. Hmm, not bad I thought, but is it worth comparing it with a separates system? Not long afterwards an XS setup was in my lounge. This was ten years ago and I soon started on the dreaded upgrade path.
A Flatcap XS came next, then a nDAC using the CD player as transport and also fed from a dedicated Mac mini. This eventually led to the amp being replaced by a SN1/HiCap. An XPS to go on the DAC soon followed and when the DR upgrades came out both PSs were upgraded to DR status. Thereafter, things stayed that way until the 272 was announced and the enthusiastic reception it received led to an audition, so in the next upgrade to 272/250DR only the CD5XS and XPSDR survived from the former setup. My most recent Naim purchase has been a Qb for the kitchen.
The most recent change of all was prompted by the several occasions on which I heard ATC active speakers. Every time I heard a set, I found the SQ remarkably convincing and so I finally opted for SCM40s which have been here a week now. But what streamer/pre combination to use? A shootout between my 272/XPS and an Auralic Vega G2 was a convincing win for the latter and, given the non-appearance of a 272 successor using the new streaming platform, I went for the Auralic.
I’m not completely without a Naim as I still have the Qb and the CD5XS and have no regrets at all about my Naim journey. One interesting thing it has done is to broaden my musical tastes significantly, particularly into jazz and folk, though I still find a good deal of modern pop unlistenable. Overall, it’s been a fun decade.
Roger
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My first amp was a Musical Fidelity A1 integrated amp, which I bought together with the LP12/Ittok/Troika back in 1987, all sounded pretty good to my ears. I recalled a friend of mine commented that my system did not sound like hifi, it sounded like ‘real’ music!
However, one day the MF A1 produced some sort of hysterical, high-pitch noise, so I naturally looked for a replacement, and thus started my Naim journey -
NAC 62/NAP 140 -> NAC 82/2xNAP 135-> NAC 52/2 x NAP 135 -> NAC 252/NAP 500 -> NAP 552/NAP 500
My biggest upgrade is probably from the NAC 82 to the NAC 52, it was just WOW. I am now very happy with what I have at the moment, so I think my Naim journey stops here unless something else from Naim that can vastly improve the SQ with a reasonable price.
My front-ends have always been Linn over the years, and IMO I personally think, like Naim on the pre-am/amp, the Linn players are on the money.
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