This is my first post after long years. Looks like forum has changed…
My first introduction to Naim was back in 2012. I had many Naits, CD players, network players including Unitis, even Muso in the meanwhile while I was working in Hong Kong. Actually no component disappointed me, on the contrary when I moved up the ladder gratification became more prominent. I wanted to stop at SN3 which I liked very much. However, I felt my source component (CD5XS) was not good enough for SN3. And I could not find a decent second hand CDX2 to pair it with. At that time I was not able to swing an NDX2 either.
My only gripe with Naim is that they stopped producing CD players other than CD5si. I am not a huge fan of streaming. NAS was OK but I never got the performance that CD5XS-XS2-HiCap DR combination offers, day in - day out. Most likely, I will upgrade to XS3 in future.
Late last year I was posted to another place in South East Asia, left HK. Since I knew then I would be dealing with below par mains quality, super hot and humid air, frequent electrical storms, etc. I decided to send all my Naim kit and PMC, Neat speakers to my home country.
I live in a big place now and it is infested with many warts looking like smart weather stations! Yes, I am ruined by homepods, sonos and bose everyday. I am not without “music” but I suffer.
I feel your pain. I was sort of in the same boat. For such an advanced country, Japan has truly third world mains. There is no earth, the voltage is highly variable, and the east half of the country is on one frequency and the west half on another.
I’ve posted quite a bit about how I was in hifi wilderness after moving out here 20 years ago. I gave up a Linn system due to the fact there was no realistic way to use it. Then when I bought a flat in a new building I was able to specify fully earthed outlets throughout (to which the sparky thought installing earth for anything other than a washing machine was daft in his opinion) and dedicated outlet and loads of Naim boxes and PMC speakers soon followed.
Now, I’m a month away from moving into a rental flat in another city which has yet again rubbish mains. Absolutely zero earth and when I pried an outlet out of the wall, practically fishing line thin flex. All the Naim boxes and PMC speakers went away to long term storage.
But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It might not be Naim but there are decent things out there that are very resilient to iffy mains. Hifi that uses EI transformers instead of toroidal will be mostly immune to DC offset hum. And horrible power conditioners that you want to avoid where possible, might be the difference between decent hifi or utter crap (I too have Bose soundbars - they do a great job for what they get used for). I’d advise you to not give up. Your “Life after Naim” sounds more like “Life after a hifi”. That really needn’t be the case. Step outside of the brand. Get something a bit more tolerant of the mains situation; something a bit more tolerant to the heat and humidity (not paper coned speakers), and get listening again. It can be done. I set myself an arbitrary budget of building a whole system for the cost of one new SuperCapDR. I hope to be able to report in a couple months how satisfying music still is.
Thanks a lot for your well-thought post. I am currently stationed in Hanoi. It is not just only grounding issue here but also badly regulated voltage as far as I’m concerned. It is almost common in the district where I live the browning of lights especially during night time, full power cut if there is a big storm which pokes the generator to get in and power surge after things go back to normal. So I think I did make a good decision to not to bring my Naim kit over here, as I left them on 24/7 all the time before. It would have been nightmare here for me, even though I have nothing very sensitive and precious considering the line up.
I am not in life after hifi for sure After all, my kit wait me there, so in 4-5 years I will have them set up again (possibly upgrade some of them in the meanwhile) and enjoy, if the country I will be next posted to is convenient to do so. I know that time will not be good for capacitors and CD player but I cannot do more for the time being.
OK, those thingies I mentioned are only stop gap measures. I think I cannot live with them for long. Yes, I will be checking some serious Japanese electronic stuff as well as speaker options, that are tough and will be able to take some potholes (!) here in their stride. Luxman, Accuphase and Marantz are sold here in very competitive prices. First two, if I am not mistaken, come with El transformers not with toroids and I don’t think anything can happen to Marantz. Unfortunately, I also sent back my +2.5K CDs and purposefully-built NAS. So here I can only rely on a network player. As for speakers, not with paper cones, it is a wild affair.
Less money in the US, and the used market is tough since most that have them seem to keep them. What about a set of Proac’s? D30RS are really really good… just ask @seakayaker
Over the years I have owned the majority of the cb and olive products. I left Naim for a very inexpensive lo-fi as I bought a “once in a lifetime” bass guitar.
To cut a long story short, a long service present from my employer made me think that I ought to get some Naim back into my life. The 112/150 was nothing special to my ears so I ended up back on the upgrade trail. The “black” amps never really did it for me and ultimately I ended up using another manufacturers products and to scratch a very old itch, I have recently bought a pioneer amp and 3 tuners. The pioneer is not the last word in fidelity but is a lot of fun to listen to - it’s a competent all-rounder rather than being good in one area and deficient in another.
Looking back over the years, the Naim system which gave me the most pleasure was the 101/snaps/42.5/hicap/160/ibls. Just a pity that I was using a xerxes (but that’s another story).
So, my conclusion is that there is life after Naim and there are some very nice alternatives. However, with the vast range of Naim products now available and the service options, there are opportunities to start anywhere throughout the Naim history. Nobody holds a gun to your head to make you upgrade. To my ears, replacing the 42.5/hicap/160 for a 52/250 was not worthwhile. I still have a bit of a thing about the cb era and perhaps one day the 101 based system as above will find its way back to Nonaim towers.
Finally, respect to Naim for allowing this thread. I wonder how many other manufacturers would do the same.
My first piece of NAIM gear was a NAIT. I was so impressed with this upgrade to my A+R A60 that when it came time to go the digital route I changed to CDX and it sounded so good, I sold on my Sondek/Basik+/K9.
Next to go were the Linn Index+'s for ProAc D15’s.
Then the long journey from there to my current streaming kit (see profile).
Almost every upgrade has been NAIM. Even my speakers (ATC) have a NAIM connection for siteing their speakers in NAIM boxes…
Every upgrade has been a superb improvement. None were in any way a disappointment. While retaining all the musicality, more and more detail and depth was revealed.
I’m currently waiting for my latest addition, ND5XS2/Qobuz to finish warming up…
The NAIM equipment I’ve bought has never let me down. Why should I bother looking elsewhere?
Well, it’s the one in the middle of my avatar so I think that you are correct . Sadly, it had to go - it cost me an arm and a leg but I got two arms and a leg when I sold it.
I’ve made the move to another amp. My SN2 + HiCapDR after a year of trying to get things to work has been moved on. I had my Dynaudio S40’s in a small room and I realized that, that didn’t work, so I moved to a bigger room where the S40’ have room to breath ( and I added a REL S/510) I had considered moving up the Naim ladder but I’m in the US and that’s just not feasible with Naims US prices. So I bought a Aestheix Mimas. Much more power, tube front end. Only have 20 hours or so on it but it’s already surpassed my SN2 HicapDR.
Thanks ryder. What’s kind of ironic is that a Naim SN3 with HiCapDr in the US is $7490. My Mimas with the optional backlit metal remote is $7400. I was even able to customize it with the Cardas Silver Rhodium binding posts! The only downside was I had to wait about 2 months for it due to Covid and the need of custom parts.
After all, my kit wait me there, so in 4-5 years I will have them set up again (possibly upgrade some of them in the meanwhile) and enjoy, if the country I will be next posted to is convenient to do so. I know that time will not be good for capacitors and CD player but I cannot do more for the time being.
. Sadly, it had to go - it cost me an arm and a leg but I got two arms and a leg when I sold it.
