It hasn’t disappeared… just buy Olives as many have stuck to with love, over decades.
I was browsing and salivating over the Olive thread - amazing love there… I love Olive sound. But I also embrace its evolution to the black boxes. Still boogies and is more refined sounding now with greater detail.
Something would be amiss if Naim sound stayed status quo over five decades. If anything, they have addressed feedback on the Olives and wrought improvements to where they are today. A good thing for us all as the fabric is still from the same sonic cloth. Naim CB and Olive systems are timeless classics. Win-win-win for all whatever we pick.
I believe it’s the case that the DR implementation is ‘more extensive’ on the Supernait 3, whatever that means in practice. This stuff about a new sound simply comes from the reviewer’s need to say something - it doesn’t have a new sound at all, it’s simply that Naim has refined its products over the years. Whether it’s from 1982 or 2022 it’s still got the Naimyness that puts musical communication at the forefront, with the newer stuff doing it in a more sophisticated way.
The key conclusion seems to be that they thought the SN3 was jolly good and that it would be hard to beat under $10,000. And as a happy owner of one, I’d have to agree.
I need to spend some serious time listening to it as I have read much that is good about the formidable SN3. We tend to get too carried away sometimes with the pre-powers - and why not - but a good well designed Naim integrated will always still be as musical - and enjoyable as they come, depending on the speakers, partnering components and the set up. A Nait 2 is still a musical baby beast.
Apparently, according to other reviewers, that’s mostly on par with each other. But; a HiCap DR, pushes things even further on here with SN3, compared with the bare unit itself >this is not cognitive dissonance<
And I think, the original post from Clare, containing the “more extensive” phrase [edit, actually it does not contain that phrase!], that I think you recalled in the thread linked above
Ultimately, I think it doesn’t matter either! The output stage improvements on both the XS3 and SN3, plus addition of the inbuilt MM stage, is more than enough to set them appropriately apart from their XS2 and SN2 parents. Though I would also be very interested to know of any material difference between the DR spec of the SN2 vs SN3.
Hi @Naim.Marketing , if you get a moment, would you be able to ask Steve what ‘takes it further’ or ‘more extensive’ actually means. I take it to mean that the DR is better in the 3, but a poster above is pretty categoric that the 2 and 3 are the same in this regard. It is of course all in the sound, but it would just be nice to know once and for all, if only to avoid ‘oh yes it is, oh no it isn’t’ pantomime discussions in future. Thanks!
If you look at the DR module in a SN2 it’s the same as the one used in SN3. Where does it say, anywhere in the marketing babble, that the DR implantation has been improved? apart from in these ‘pantomime discussions’?…And how does that beat a HiCap DR?
From memory of the SN3 launch, I seem to recall that Naim stated the SN3 has double the slew rate of the SN2.
Now how they acheived this I don’t know. I also have no clue what the slew rate is!
They said something about cascodes too. That is also a mystery. Anyway, I’ve emailed Steve Sells and asked the question. Let’s see what he says, if anything of course. He may well ignore me, and who could blame him?
I think the reviewer is saying that that the sound performance of the Supernait 3 has moved on somewhat from what they remembered of the old NAIT 2 of 34 odd years ago, with much better imaging, soundstaging, neutrality and refinement. It’s more a case of continual evolution rather than revolution in sound compared to it’s more recent stablemates. The trick of course being to “have it all” with the “PRAT” and engagement of old along with the other hifi stuff.
Maybe the newer integrated reminded the reviewer of the ‘older’ NAIT’s but with the added positive notes that Richard points out. I must say i can relate to that myself, as i had a NAC92/90.3 for many years, not perfect by any means, but really good fun, maybe even too much fun, but with some minor issues.
The SN3 for me is the amplifier i’ve always wanted and some. It reminds me of the good old days i enjoyed for many years with my older slimline kit, but with added dynamic capabilities, imaging, power, refinement, subtlety and tonal accuracy. Add a HiCap DR to the party and there’s even more of the above.
