Which from this one?
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Please read the thread, she refers to her husband several times.
Why is this so important to you?
The OP certainly refers to âaâ husband ⌠that tells you nothing in itself, right? I simply noted that a fellow forumite had been corrected and wondered on what basis.
Have been following this with interest. Iâve no experience of the SN3, but have recently purchased a NSC222, an Atom HE (for the office) and a pair of Focal Elegia (much cheaper than the Utopia!).
I can say the headphone amp in the in the 222 and the HE (I believe the same) is way way better than anything Iâve heard in a Naim amp before.
Also agree +++ with the run in. My Elegias are just opening up after a good month of regular listening after a few days of continuous running.
Suggest to the OP that if you arenât happy in a month or so you look closely at a 222/250 New Classic upgrade OR add an Atom HE for the headphones alone. The Atom HE is amazing value for the quality it provides and will make your Utopias sound better than your speakers!
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Point taken.
I am as sure as I can be that the OP has stated she was female in other posts.
I am not prepared to wade through these to confirm.
Apologies to OP if I am mistaken.
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@BrendanD Hi. I have no rack shelf space for an external headphone amp. Also the streamer in the Atom HE is below the quality in my NDX2/XPSDR. I have stated this several times. Also WiFi, which would allow me to connect the Atom HE anywhere is not viable in our apartment.
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To remove any ambiguity, I (OP) am a gay man, married to a gay man. I wonder why this issue has even come up here?
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An incorrect assumption was made by one member and said assumption was challenged by another.
Iâm convinced no malice intended by either.
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@Jaybar apologies. I missed those details in the long thread⌠(WiFi particularly in NYC!)
Iâm sure all will be well in the endâŚ
Getting back on topicâŚ
Are you leaving everything switched on and playing into the headphones continously? Gets the burn-in done.
Bruce
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@BruceW Yes I am. I have the screen turned off on the NDX2. I have the headphones plugged into my SN3. Dealerâs installer suggests about two weeks of continuous. I am on day 8. The streamer, headphones and cable are new. Things getting better.
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Interesting points in this thread about running in headphones and it has made me think about my class A headphone amp in my NAC332 (similar to SN3). My Oppo PM2 headphones are well run in but I will run them through each night to exercise the headphone amp. I only use headphones occasionally so perhaps the headphone amp needs running in.
@Bjm My situation is more clear cut. The SN3, which was installed in October, never had headphones plugged in until a week ago, when I got the Focal Utopia headphones. In fact, I did not have headphones for several years. It was clear the SN3 headphone amp need serious exercise.
From past experience I knew that I would not listen if there was a significant gap in SQ between headphones and my speakers. The last headphones that I really enjoyed listening to in a former system was Stax with their SS amp.
The Focal Utopia along with the Cardas cable are improving ever day and I have no regrets.
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My NAC 332 may only have 10 - 15 hours on it so far. Exercising it will do no harm although I am really enjoying the sound. I recall that I also enjoyed the SN3 at the time although my headphones are not at the level of your Utopias.
You have a few new items running in at the same time so things can only get better. I do hope you enjoy your music and that you become very satisfied with your system.
@Bjm doing several new things at the sane time (streamer, streamer PS, headphones and cable) makes it difficult to pinpoint where the improvement is coming from. Thanks for your support.
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last paragraph above (changing so many things at one timeâŚ) is the bane of PC game benchmarking and game tuningâŚ
change one thing:measure
Quoting above"My situation is more clear cut. The SN3, which was installed in October, never had headphones plugged in until a week ago, when I got the Focal Utopia headphones. In fact, I did not have headphones for several years. It was clear the SN3 headphone amp need serious exercise."
I found this true too, after months of amp breakin, first time I used the headphone output, it had a grain in the sound I often hear in equipment that is new from boxâŚ
After some time sound was improved quite noticeably.I wonder how many people walk away from using their Naim integratedsâ headamp without giving it a run in.
I had a Chord Hugo(bigger bro to the Chord Mojo, and a better DAC than amp if considering the cost of part and the respective tiers of those productsâ category. (DAC is exceptional, at the time, to the 2k+ pricepoint, headamp could be bettered for ~1k pricepoint).
I loved that Hugo (Iâm into head-fi and like home hifi to render from a musical DAC)
When comparing a better (portable) headphone amplifier, an iFi Diablo, whilst any given listener could favour the DAC sections from either of these products, the extra power on tap from the iFi Diablo was very beneficial to just about every over ear headphone I own⌠-headamp in Hugo has enough drive, easily, for IEMs and some sensitive âon earsâ, eg sennheiser momentum and audeze sine, â by comparisonââŚ
The Diablo is a weaker amp than a Sony PHA3 (much better with large driver and harder to drive headphones)âŚ
I use my Sony MDRZ7 NOT with the PHA3 amp, but rather the Nait integrated with its nice âwall powerâ reserves it goes WAY WAY higher when seeking true dynamic swings and fidelious bass note accuracy.
I have owned, and still do, many headphone amps.
It takes two-four seconds to move the jack to a headphone amp that weighs more than my Nait ampâŚ
andâŚ
I use the Nait amp.
âŚfor my Sony MDRZ7
âŚand now, since the video I posted above, also with some Focal headphones.
great synergy and excellent Naim house sound.
The main reasons to add an amp, beyond volume, is to render more detail from certain genres⌠(bass slam if you like electronica or rock/metal maybe, speed, or soundstage if orchestral etc etc)âŚ
we can tune sound with amps.
Focal headphones sound great on Naim amps.
for the genres the OP listens to, Naims sound signature is an excellent match.
finding an outboard amp to have parity+ to the present part is not the OPs priority.
Glad that youâre enjoying your Focal Utopias.
Iâve got the Focal Elears, not quite in the same league, but they do make some very good headphones.
Continue to enjoy them and your music.
DGâŚ
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I probably should have elaborated a bit on this. I have the HD800 headphones and used them with a SN2/HiCAP/NDX2/XPS DR set up, so similar to your set up. I found that the SN2 wasnât driving the HD800âs as well as I would have liked. So I added a Heed Canalot headphone amp, with this connected directly off the analogue output of the NDX2. This works really well, you just need to switch outputs on the NDX2 through the Naim app when you use it.
I know you ruled out an Atom HE, but this could be setup as a standalone system using wi-fi, if you can get power to it near where you want to sit. Depending on how your disability impacts things, the HE could be a nice simple setup, all accessed from the Naim app and the lovely volume control on top - all set up next to where you want to sit.
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-=update=-
figured I would start comparing amplifiers (music I am familiar with prior to moving to the OPs specific artists)
I just listened to ONE TRACK ten times+ in a single day! (over a couple of hours no less)
As someone who always left nightclubs, as a youth, when a song repeated⌠(often parties too; thanks âCotton Eye Joeâ)
this isnât my ânormâ.
Has been fun- a real eye openerâŚ
I found a volume equvalent zone of â74â on my AudioGd being matched to midnight/12oâclock on the volume pot of the Nait XS integrated amp. (headphones are Focal Clear)
Tracks used for compare were from Alan Parsons album âthe secretâ; fantastic for having a rock version of âSorcerers Apprenticeâ as the opening gambit, but track four âOne Note Symphonyâ was the playground/battleground for todaysâ post.
Expectations:
figured the AudioGd class A amp would âoutclassâ the Naim headphone circuit included in the integrated amp.
thought the soundfield might be a âbit widerâ, potentially, and that better isolation of instruments and layering might be possible. Took for a âgivenâ that it would stage better front to back etc⌠and would be likely to demonstrate better dynamism or responseâŚ
WRONG. (I was)
I did find all the expected sound âdowngradesâ but required running the same headphones direct from the 90s CD player that was âfeedingâ the track.
THAT headphone socket gives 2.5Watts of juice and has nearly cooked B&W P5/P7 when given the opportunity.
It did render a ~20% smaller stage (and sounded 'naff vs the decent R2R DAC I use)⌠but it was âvery listenableâ for the track, and did a nice job⌠(the headamp built into the ten year newer CD player of same pricepoint was HORRIBLE by comparison, and âof no valueâ given the other options available).
So getting the âbadâ out of the wayâŚ
Moving onto âthe goodââŚ
The Nait integrated ampsâ headphone circuit was such a close match to the AudioGd headphone amp (bought as a replacement to items such as a Grace m903/Burson Conductor V2/iFi Diablo/Sony PHA3âŚ).
The caliber of kit the Nait was up against was âvery goodâ, and the fact that without ear training to a SPECIFIC TRACK, my ability to figure out which would be which would be almost down to a coin flip (random chance).
The Naim has the benefit of the way the amp âprocessesâ sound (herein refering to the way electrons flow through the circuit rather than âdigital processingâ); the Naim had slightly less taut bass notes in the mid to low level drum hits in a few bits of the song⌠but the extra âoomphâ given to them made them meatier and more solid, a much better to realise in a 3D stage spaceâŚ
There may have been some violins that dialed in better warmth direct from the DAC/headamp, but for any instrument I might lean on the AudioGd for, there were MORE âbetter renderedâ instruments on the Naim.
Trumpets could go either way (the OPs Cardas cable and Utopias extra resolution should smash a track like this), there was a couple of instruments that sounded tonally âslightly recessedâ or held back, or âso I thoughtâ, and each time I would double check; NOPE- both renditions were SO CLOSE TO EACH OTHER that I certainly wouldnât spend money upgrading headampâŚ
In fairness some echo/decay on Norah Jones - Come Away With Me had made me feel that the Nait was âin my faceâ, not correclty placing the echo information on walls, but rather attached to the vocal⌠(familiar with tracks via speakers mostly)âŚ
For everything âin my headâ (ideas and beliefs): real world testing showed that there wasnât muc of anything in it.
Ultimately I prefered the Nait rendition if only because it can comfortably drive the headphones as loud as I would care to go⌠(at twelve on the volume pot dial, that is my âupper limitâ (mentally) for where I like to keep things.
I want to stress that the track âOne Note Symphonyâ by Alan Parsons is a fairly complex track with a wide range of tests inbuilt⌠many Parsonsâ âprojectsâ have a killer track; One Note Symphony is nearly a reason to buy the album, in my humble opinion
I am familiar with many different amplifier circuits⌠(/headphone amps)
The performnace realised via testing, on this complex track (for speakers to recreate) showed me easily and clearly that the Nait headphone amplifier circuit is not shabby at all⌠(and would smash most budget stuff/most portable stuff, and holds its own against dedicated headamps)
Iâd put to many readers who assume âincluded headphone socketâ and âaverage sound qualityâ, simply not trueâŚ
a classical period enthusiast on specific tracks with âtheir best headphonesâ might upgrade to a hi-end Vioelectric and find a little to justify the price (scaling returns would fit, and theyâd be happy with a very mild SQ upgrade from big $$ spentâ), but for the majority of us,âŚ
again;
Iâd not blindly pick them apart- without a lot of âNOT BLIND A/B testingâ first.
I thought Iâd have prefereed the more expensive headphone amp, but, turns out, the super subtle differences in their renditions are in the ballpark of âcable differencesâ, and if I was using the DIN inputs, would likely be noticeably less.
The Supernaits RCAs are better situated than the XS line (which internally has a thin PC data cable connecting them to the main PCB)
Break in netting the results wanted, an equipment âsidegradeâ probably of zero value!! (your present headphone amp is a GREAT FIT for those headphones: ENJOY!!)