While I’ve found both Focal speakers and silver plated wire harsh sounding I haven’t heard them all and neither of yours and they’ll cost to change so leave that till last.
The Hiline won’t sound its best if not hanging free, the same is true of Snaics and Lavender interconnect but the effect is less, no cable, including power cables should touch the rack.
When I started out with Naim I used a steel framed rack, moving to a Fraim Lite removed a layer of glare. At xs level some say the isoblue racks are a very good alternative and cheaper too. Stacking boxes directly on each other isn’t the best setuo.
You might try speaker position and orientation, Experiment with toe in and none.
I found Sumiko Masterset was useful, though I don’t toe in at the start as they say and set that last, look it up. It’s a technique not a product so will only cost time, and maybe backache.
My goodness, so much advice!!! in the meantime thank you, therefore, from what I can summarize, cables, review the positioning of the electronics and then finally review the speakers. I think I understand and this will be the direction. just to give you some more information, the distance between the speakers is approximately 4 meters and the distance from the speaker to the wall is 1.20 metres. I will also try to remove the isoacoustics from under the electronics, which probably dry out the sound a bit. in short, I will know how to spend this Easter weekend by experimenting. I hope I understood everything correctly because I’m using the translator and something is lost…
The objects on top of the speakers are actually door stops… they were recommended by darko but I don’t know if they make sense…
I noticed this too, if I listen to a jazz album recorded in the late 60s I don’t have any problems, listening to an album from the 90s or 2000s destroys me, it seems that the bass disappears… not only that, I find the bass more present with tidal than with qobuz and I also find it softer to listen with the naim app than with roon; all very subjective things. I tried using the CD, with the CD the whole system sounds extremely hot…
I’m pretty sure I recall that YouTube episode. Didn’t he use them on top of electronics? Particularly small boxes that might move about a bit if connected with heavy cables. I don’t think he recommended them for speakers, but could well not recall correctly! Good luck fixing the issue, nothing more to add to the advice shared already
Number of factors at play possibly, but I can quite confidently say it won’t be the hiline, which I’ve always found a rich, engaging sound, delicate sod though!
I think a switch to Naca 5 or Chord Odyssey might quite likely help, but over and above although I don’t know the speakers experiment with the positioning first of all. After that it might just be that the Focals aren’t for you, lots of others to try!
From the picture posted by HH, your room looks like it might be very ‘live’ with lots of hard reflective surfaces. Can you soften this, with rugs, throws, wall hangings etc.?
Certainly speakers vary considerably in their presentation. ‘One man’s meat’ and all that, so it would be worth having a listen to some alternatives. Also definitely try to hear some NACA5.
I don’t know what your experience / history is with hi-fi kit. But there is always the possibility that it’s nothing really specifically wrong, it’s just that you don’t like the overall character of the system. Maybe you should listen to some completely different systems, if only to get some sort of orientation and reference points. Naim isn’t for everyone.
Finally, do bear in mind that live music isn’t always necessarily comfortable to listen to. Sometimes more realistic systems can tend to sound less comfortable and cosy than lesser systems. The sharp thwack of percussion, the piercing blast of a trumpet etc. can sound rather uncomfortable when realistically reproduced.
@PJL i am having the issue you noted. I upgraded from an ND5XS2 to an NDX2 plus XPSDR power supply. On Qobuz, some selections sound harsh and thin. Others sound astoundingly good. The ND5XS2 tended to sound warmer and more homogeneous across selections. Yes, more accuracy does not uniformly get you better SQ.
You don’t have to use it, there are other tracks that have a variety of bass notes. Probably best if it’s not a track you like all that much though so the horse song scores there.
In that photo I would experiment a bit.
Move your tv support to the right so the naim kit is under the window line.
Move the right speaker inside of that so the speakers are too close together rather than too far apart, ie one each side of the fireplace, but still as far from each other as possible. Change the angle of the speakers so that they are firing almost straight forward, just a small inwards angle.
I think the bass will be tidied up a bit.
