Hello everyone. Since the day that I first turned it on, my MU-so Gen 2 has been an object of worship for me.; from both a sound and visual aesthetics point-of-view. NOW, I am starting to feel that the sound is just not “wide-ranging” enough and I feel there is something missing. Am I missing something? Should I upgrade? To what? I love the simplicity of the all-in-one unit, but I seem to require “more”. Suggestions gratefully accepted.
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If you want to stay with Naim, the obvious step up is an Atom with suitable speakers. My brother bought an Atom on my recommendation and runs it with Focal bookshelf speakers which he got as part of bundle deal. If you’re short on space for speaker stands, Neat Iota 2s can be wall mounted and pair well with an Atom. That was my office setup for several years. I’ve also heard an Atom with Dynaudio Emit 20s and that was a bundle of fun. Of course there are lots of other choices out there!
Roger
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Another recommendation for the Atom here. Like you a Muso (gen1) was the gateway drug into Naim. I’ve had various one box units (Uniti-lite, Superuniti and Atom) and for me the Atom with some B&W 600 floorstanders was a fabulous bang-for-buck combination. I still love my Muso and play it daily.
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Something like the Dali Menuet se (pretty and not dominating) work well with an atom. Both can be had used / Ex demo for reasonable money. May be helpful to share the size of your listening space as plenty of small speakers out there these days.
As great as the muso is having a pair of speakers will be a big improvement.
Of course if you have room / desire you could have a listen of the new Naim / Focal big all in one!
If budget is not for Atom level, try a Rega setup with fx a Wiim streamer.
Rega IO amp
Rega Kyte loudspeakers
Turntable if needed. System One comes in mind
Made in UK apart from the Wiim.
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There are interesting threads about reversing the “figure 8” power plug by 180 degrees, which affects the “active and neutral” connections of the AC power input.
I found there is a significant difference to the sound quality on doing this on my Muso2 (Bentley Edition).
The Muso2 is my third system-and I sleep with mine every night !!
A simple setup with active speakers KEF LS50 Wireless 2 can be an alternative. No additional devices, just a pair of speakers. And if you need more comfort at streaming, maybe you consider Roon as a subscription or lifetime license (KEF Wireless speaker are tested Roon-ready).
If you prefer passive speakers there’s a wide range of alternatives for speakers (e.g. Dali Menuet SE) with NAD M10 V3. I like the optional DIRAC for room correction settings.
That sounds as if you are saying you don’t have a proper hifi system at all, just a Muso, and may not have much idea at all about systems with separate stereo speakers and the potential that exists way above the Muso in terms of sound. If this is correct it’s time to start researching hifi - whilst this forum is good for some information, especially, though not exclusively Naim, it is worth bearing in mind that other brands, or mixing brands, can be more cost effective at least at the lower end of hifi. Regardless, you’ll need a pair of speakers, a “source” for which given your use of Muso I assume means a streamer, amplifier (which sonetimes is split into two parts, a “preamp” and a “power amp”). You can get “all in one” products conbining all the electronics, and you can get speakers with amps built in (“active speakers”), requiring just a source and in sone cases a preamp. An, particularly in Naim world, you’ll often find that electronic devices aren’t powered direct from the mains, but also require a power supply…
Going to two or three dealers would be a good place to start, where they can demonstrate what sort of options there are at different budgets, though be aware that different dealers will have there own different preferences. Also some background reading, books or hifi magazines, would help give you a flavour and prompt questions which is where forums like this can be very useful - but be aware there are sometimes different opinions, for example you could hear terms like “source first” suggesting tge source component is the most important to get right, while others of us have different exoerience and find it best to get speakers tgat sound best to your ears is critical, though at a level commensurate with the sort of quality of system you are building or have as a goal in the forseeable future.
Meanwhile if you are wanting suggestions for a starter system, it would be helpful to give sone idea of budget you’d be prepared to spend.