That’s so yesterday.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Naim have the 272 successor, or whatever it turns out to be, ready to go but have chosen not to release it at this time. Launching new and strategic products in the middle of a pandemic is probably not considered a good marketing strategy for various reasons.
Good if strategic product doesn’t became obsolite by the time pandemic is over. Nobody can predict for how long it is.
I am hoping there may be good news spring next year…
Best news would be a vaccine.
You never know Mrs @NigelB might have got him up early this morning, an hour or so after he went to bed after all his shenanigans last night
The knob is fine with a couple of nudges😁
I’m up and I see you chaps have got all serious again.
BTW, the pre amps are indeed fine. Why spend good R&D money getting rid of a bank of buttons with no advance in SQ?
Anyway this thread is about the 272, which apparently I forgot last night? Bit hazy, I must admit.
Because for some people I’m sure, the look of a product has a bearing on its potential purchase. There’s a post on the Awards thread where someone is honest enough to admit to not buying a particular brand of speaker as the web site was crap. To my eyes the preamps are chuffing ugly with the two banks of buttons, most of which will never be used. Like the man said, who records anything these days? Who has more than a few input devices? 4 would do, 5 at a push. I’d rather no buttons and run it all from the app anyway, so that it would sit as another anonymous box alongside the power supplies, amp and streamer. Less is more…
Right, I’ll try to inject some controversy into the discussion.
Maybe talk of replacing/updating the 272 is way too tactical in Naim’s current thinking. What if Naim are being far more radical in their thinking? We are thinking inside the box, whereas Naim will in part be thinking outside the box. All companies who want to survive must.
Let’s face it Naim’s traditional (higher end) market is withering on the vine. Their traditional customer base is, sorry, fading away. Naim have made massive steps to introduce the new breed of audio consumer to the brand with the advent of MuSo and Uniti. But what happens when an Atom or a Nova owner is ready to move up the SQ hierarchy, and the addition of a power amp just doesn’t cut it?
Naim are saying to this ‘new’ customer, who has been wowed by the convenience and unobtrusiveness of his or her Nova, he or she now needs to get a Fraim (possibly 2) and fill it with an array of black boxes that need very careful setting up, that need a load of cables that must be carefully dressed. This rack of hugely expensive stuff bears no resemblance to the tiny, neat box that made such great music. Yes, this customer has been sold on SQ, yes this customer wants more, but not at the expense of the Fourth bridge in his or her living room. This simply encroaches too much on modern living.
So Naim have a relatively new MD who seems up for a revolution rather than evolution. That is of course a guess on my part. But maybe, just maybe, we will see something more radical than mere ‘like-for-like’ product replacements.
So what’s next?, I hear you ask.
Well to persuade Nova man (or woman) to move up the SQ hierarchy, convenience, simplicity and compactness must be at the heart of any development, if Naim are to persuade the new breed of customer to continue the journey to audio Nirvana. Think active speakers (possibly containing DACs, fed by a digital signal) , silent/advanced SMPSs, simple (low noise) home networks, fewer boxes. The key to all of this is developing a system of smaller, fewer boxes where SQ has not been compromised. So far Naim have not found the answers. But they could be looking!
I know this thread is supposed to be about the 272’s successor, and that of course still may come. But maybe it is time to think about the bigger picture where black box replacements are a thing of the past.
Afternoon, Nigel,
I see you’ve gone all sensible on us today, and there’s a lot of truth in what you say, even if it’s not as outright funny as last night’s shenanigans.
“Think I’ve raised that a few times already. All their pre amps need updating.“
Me too.
I have mentioned more than a few times.
Hhhhmmm, there always been kind of message that good SQ could be achived by having dozens of separates and PS for each one. Then, overthesudden you can have all in one. What a breakthrough. Ever been a chance to make something in between ?
Last models from ML - good intergated amplifier and CD/Streamer. Two boxes.
I couldn’t agree more Nigel, as somebody who until recently had two Novas I was faced with the scenario you paint in terms of the way forward with Naim. The thought of a full fat fraim with the associated cabling was not appealing plus I was only looking for a better digital solution so there would be a degree of duplication. In the end I went with Chord Dave/Etude.
You are right Naim have to think out the box, a new DAC ? a digital solution, not everybody wants a record deck, CD player or even a preamp.
This is interesting … as my bedroom system consists of of little Ruark MR1 Mk2s… they are fantastic for the money… the sound quality is amazing…bluetooth,optical,wired…flac up to 192… I use TV to link to NAS … This is probably what Naim is up against…
The secret to all this ‘separates rationalisation/integration’ I talk of is cramming the same amount of system componentry into a smaller space and fewer boxes without compromising SQ. The major hurdle is coming up with a replacement for Naim’s traditional transformer-based power supplies.
So such a massive development will have to employ lower noise components, and isolation techniques will have to be advanced in some way.
None of this may be technically achievable at this time, but I feel this is the way in-home music reproduction will (must?) go if Naim are to satisfy the needs and wants of the new music consumer.
Or perhaps not cramming in the stuff I don’t need, I want better sound quality to replay stored files and to stream Qobuz. Maybe a modular approach ? a separation of the DAC and streaming platform ? maybe this direction is more flexible and future proof.
Yeah…whoops … anyway still would like to see a 272.2 …