Sorry to hear that. Reads heart felt. What did you change it for if I may ask?
A Linn Selekt Edition Hub and majik power amp
Not only that, but the Atom is an older design than the ND5XS2, so personally I wouldn’t be put off buying one.
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Garrard SP25 mk2. Rumbled like an old Coronation class stream locomotive! Replaced with a Thorens TD125 - no more rumble.
Harbeth LS5/12 speakers to replace my LS3/5As. BIG mistake, as they say.
I’m starting to regret my Atom purchase.
The ethernet input has become really flakey for the Roon endpoint, and I have to keep pulling the power cable to hard start it again, and hope it works. It’s for my office system. I really hope it doesn’t need service, because then I have to deal with Focal-Naim America, and my dealer gave up on that FU mess and dropped Naim as result. I’m not so sure my dealer will want to try and handle service, since their attempts to deal with FNA service/support for other customers has failed. They might prefer to tell me I’m on my own. FWIW: I bought the Atom on A’gon, so I don’t feel like my non-Naim dealer is responsible for handling it.
Starting to consider what I might get if I have to bin the Atom.
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Looking at the pictures that could well be it. I was never disappointed with any part of that deck, just that it had the wrong badge.
That was my last ever tape deck.
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The ND5XS2 is “heavily” related to the NOVA. Any upgrade to the NOVA software will almost certainly be replicated with the ND5XS2 .
The problem with previous generations of streaming Naim equipment relates to software, people have found something like a BlueSound Node can form an effective solution. Indeed that is one I am considering myself
Of course that also depends on the use case. For people that use streamers for large local libraries they rarely need any updates at all.
I would travel back in time to 1996… and NOT buy a brand new pair of CARY CAD-300 SE SIGNATURE monoblocks
(NZ$7,500 is a lot of money today. It was a TON of money back in 1996!!!)
Their total unreliability—and total lack of genuine concern and support from the USA manufacturer principal, whose main response was "Just sit back and enjoy them… "—inflicted a total of 11-years of utter misery.
You live and learn.
You move-on quicker next time, and start saving your pennies—again.
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I had a Cary Cinema 12 pre and a 500.1 amp quite a while back. The pre was quirky, but the amp buzzed like hell from day one. Took it back to my local dealer, he had the rep come in and he took the top off, fiddled with a few things and said it’s fine. Still buzzed to my ears, very frustrating for a 5K amp. My solution was to crank the volume up .
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My replacement was TD150 after just 2-3 year, enabled by my first year of work - and that remained for some 35 years, though with an arm upgrade in between. Whilst I didn’t regret the SP25 as it was my first TT and very much budget driven, but reviews hadn’t mentioned the rumble - if they had I might have looked elsewhere, though the only budget belt drive I recall was the Coinnisseur BD1, but I think the arm was extra.
Ovator S-400
SuperUniti
rega Mira integrated
Luxman L-590AXII
Bricasti M3
Pass Labs INT-25
PowerLine(s)
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In the ear, yes, ther only meter that counts!
(couldn’t resist)
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Nicely done JL.
Everything Naim I’ve ever bought - SuperUniti (notorious gateway drug), 272/XPS DR/250 DR, CD5si, CDX2 and on to 222/300/250….; OMG, when will it ever end 
.
ATB, J
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Thank you…this forum frequently provides fun moments!
Moved from a decent sized flat to a Victorian terrace in Kingston which although cute was ovewhelmed by my Yamaha NS1000, in retrospect I should have mothballed them as I have the perfect room for them now having moved out to the Warwickshire countryside, all of the above I appreciate are first world problems!
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I wish I had gone to more gigs for the money I have spent on hi-fi. These are the things you remember the most.
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I had an Arcam Alpha once. I really liked it with the Audiolab 8000A and enjoyed them very much in my wild years. However, the Musical Fidelity Xray3 and X80 were a significant improvement once I settled down a bit and had the patience to listen. But then the speakers needed a big upgrade ( Monitor Audio Gold) and then the cables and then at some point you get some Naim ha ha
should mention i do not regret any of these purchases. Is that what Edith Piaf sung about?
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Ps upgraded the amplifier/CD into MF all-in-one supersub, immeasurably upgraded and improved by the same John Simson mentioned higher in thread, and again coupled with MA speakers, platinum ii this time, it works very well, in some cases experiencing 3D audio (given good source), just close your eyes and walk between the artist on stage, but then tinnitus came to stay. Still enjoy leaving JBL bluetooth speakers in unexpected places in- and outside the house, playing the CD collection ripped by the Uniticore.