Looking to upgrade my Atom after adding Kaya S12 speakers

Hi-Fi Corner
25

Hi again!

Got the chance to listen to the new nap 250 with the Atom HE at a dealer this weekend, and it sounded amazing!

They don’t carry Vivid so that pairing wasn’t possible. Instead it was paired with the Magico A1 with Chord epic XL speaker cables.

Regardless of what we played it was never not tidy. Amazing control.
I must say that the Kaya s12 is more open, in my opinion, than the A1 but then again, I didn’t A/B. The A1 felt warmer and with more meat on the bone and I’d be really happy owning them!

The guy who helped me had a theory that the Shawline X cable that I use might add to the brightness. Do any of you have any experience in this regard?

They didn’t have neither the 222 nor the Nova so that’ll have to wait for the next time.

The search goes on!

1 Like
26

The Vivid speakers that you have need more than an Atom as a source/amp, as you’ve discovered. You need a ‘better’ source and amp, imo.

Concentrate on that first rather than faffing with cables.

The Nova is OK, but I’d look further up the chain than that. The NDX2 with SN3 is a very strong combination; quite a step up from Nova (I did make exactly that move, so my opinion is based upon experience rather than conjecture)

Don’t match a NC250 with an Atom HE; the NC250 deserves a better pre and source.

If you can stretch to it, then 222/250 is the way to go.

Of course, loads of other choices outside of Naim.

2 Likes
27

For sure this is far from being true