Yup, my Gen 1 displays went. But the displays on my old Onkyo and Yamaha gear also died. And when I called Yamaha for a replacement mech on the DVD player after 5 years I was told they only stock parts for 18 months after EOL. So yes, the Naim stuff is reliable.
If something has a defect, it’s more likely to manifest in the first year of purchase. The only real defect I had was a cosmetic issue from a bad batch of anodizing affecting nearly all my gear bought at the same time. A few members might remember pics of my shocking pink 282. All sorted now though.
On the whole, with over 35+ years of ownership of Naim amps and other items, I consider them very reliable. However I have had a few failures over the years:-
Naim 250 (CB), owned from new had an output board fail completely, only 1 channel working
Naim Dac, again owned from new started sounding crackly. Needed new main board, fixed FOC
Naim 555PS bought s/h from Dealer arrived and would not power up. Naim found IEC socket was faulty. Fixed at Dealers cost.
I also bought my NDS s/h from a dealer who advertised as it had just had a new screen. This appears to be one of the most common failure modes of recent years although obviously no problem for me!
My 252 developed a noisy volume pot after about 15 years of heavy use. Replaced as part of its service so effectively free of charge. Well done Naim! No other issues in over 35 years of Naim ownership…
As mechanical items subject to wear, it is unsurprising that they eventually misbehave or fail, life likely to be closely related to number of hours of use. With my (quite heavy) usage, different mechanisms, I found about 10 years to be a typical life before problems started.
I’m still mourning the death of my beloved CDS 3. But there was a silver lining, I was introduced to streaming (NDX 2 / 555 DR) and replaced the CDS 3 with a Pro-Ject CD transport. All of my other NAIM gear over the years has been absolutely trouble free.
Interesting, one lightening strike damaged our CDX, called HQ, drop it off, fixed in 1 hour, old school Naim i guess. Then 2 displays replaced on my UnitiQute 2 , as for the rest > rock solid.
Martin
I noticed today that my 2012 NDX has started to turn purple around some of the edges - although not something I’m going to get stressed about. Still sounds the same and planning to change it early next year.
I’m a relative newb, only powered up for 2.5 years. Had a minor issue with my SN3 with new; dealer completely handled it right off the bat (great dealers are vital!). Been making beautiful music, daily, ever since.
Have had the 90/90/72/150/Chrome250/Nait5italic/Flatcap/Hicap/HicapDR/NAP150X/172/272/NAP200/NAP140/XPSDR/250.2/282/252/SupercapDR and NC250 over the years. Only fault was with the NAC172 Streaming Board which was replaced for free.
- although not something I’m going to get stressed about. Still sounds the same and planning to change it early next year.
