All I want is Naim to be still here in three years time, designing and building in the UK
Oh and a Naim cassette deck so I can play my Round The Horne tapes
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I hope itās a new switchā¦ with a supercap power supply.
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A new streaming cable and call it the CatSnaic.
Hold onā¦.might need to come up with another naim.
SuperEtherSnaic
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Naim design, from CB to Olive to Black, has always been timeless (to me), and I hope Naim to keep it this way.
What I would like from Naim is a ātop levelā integrated pre-am/amp in one box. Top-level here means at least @ the level of 552/500 or even higher.
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All kidding asideā¦ Iād love to see a Statement Integrated+Streamer. $100K US. I would be first in line for just a product.
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I think Naim are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Whatever they do, they are likely to alienate a large set of existing/potential customers.
Whether it is more integration or less, new styling or old, the camps are fairly entrenched and whatever decision they make is likely going to have to be a knowing wave farewell to one group. You canāt make everyone happy. Iāve worked for companies that make roadmap decisions where the internal memo admitted to knowingly dumping nearly the entire current customer base to go after something they felt was more lucrative long term. So it certainly happens.
I would say I think there is more meat to be had from the legacy bone. That means current classic styling for new products and continued emphasis on power supply decoupling. The reason being that they know this works. And the desire to change both of those things can be interpreted as āI like the Naim badge. I want to be a Naim owner. I just donāt like anything Naim do or make and want them to change the product so I can buy the badge.ā
Certainly, a lot of posts read a bit like that. I mean, honestly, if you donāt believe in the core principles of how they engineer the product and you donāt like the styling, why is there this insistence that Naim bend to your desires? There are other things to buy that fit the bill surely.
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Also their SN3 & XS3 (this is what i meant by core products) must be doing well with their additional phono stages. A stroke of genius in these unusual times. I have just purchased a SN3 myself and think itās sensational, even without using itās built in phono stage.
Olive range: 1971 to 2002: 31 years
Black range: 2002 / 2020: 18 years
Time to refresh now
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Back to olive indeed 
FR, Olive ran from 1989 to 2002. Bolt-down from 1971 to 1980, and Chrome Bumper from 1980 to 1989.
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Olive, Chrome Bumper, Black are not really ranges though are they. They are just styling. Weāve had multiple refreshes in the Black era. Things like Nait have gone through three ranges.
Some brands I can think of have not bothered changing their style since the early 80s. And I think, if youāve found your look, why bother making any change.
You can be contemporary or timeless. You canāt be both. And there will be those that want one much more than the other.
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One thing I know is if they do change the classic casework, I wonāt be following suit.
Hopefully others would and that would see a nice opportunity to possibly upgrade via ex demo and used examples of ranges that were largely unobtainable by many.
I think those that still have full systems of the older ranges look fantastic.
We will seeā¦
The demand (From a quick glance at the forum) seems to be for a 272 replacement, Headline replacement and a new Naim DAC rather than a change of look.
It would be interesting to know where the profit is though - my pic the Qb, Muso and Unitiās.
I like the classic styling and the Unitiās (old and current). Sound quality is King though. But the future is less boxes, so my wish would be simpler power supply options that can power multiple boxes and a headphone amp with system automation running directly off the streamers and a 272 updated to match with a Focal active speaker.
I think if Naim were to release a 272 replacement with a different look it would likely alienate customers who would already have matching PSUās and power amps.
If I had such a system I would then been looking at different ways to replace the streamer/pre-amp given that any competing alternatives wouldnāt match either.
Indeed, as for longevity & success, Naim needs to go where the wider markets and money/profit (to support R&D) is although, as demonstrated with the Unitis, there can be severe road-humps and potential damage to brand/reputation if things arenāt delivered as promised and/or product quality shortfallsā¦and, in these markets (streaming et al), Naim isnāt a big player and stands on its USP of quality & innovation to justify the premium pricing of products compared with competition.
While things like re-casing the Classic series and perhaps introducing a.n.other model(s) will help a tad, I suspect the market for separates in general is over-mature, and price inflation (e.g. a bare 252 is now listed at Ā£7k (-Ā£1) in UK), must be dragging on sales/profit. Investing relatively heavily to update this range wouldnāt seem to be sensible from a business case standpoint (unless this is a strong profit centre for Naim?, which seems unlikely given the contraction in the number of hi-fi dealerships across the UK).
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I agree with Popeye.
There might well be enough styling junkies dumping their āoldā Classic boxes for the new look to make some juicy āpre-lovedā upgrades available at comfortable pricesā¦
Happy days.
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Mike - I wouldnāt get your hopes up!
When the current Classic casing started, it was on the back of a slew of new kit (e.g. NAP300 = replacing Olive 135s). Per my comments above, I suspect thereās no business rationale to update Classic boxes at this timeā¦but we never know.
Within reason. But if they really wanted to just make money they would say āRight ladies and gents, letās pack in this niche hi-fi component guff. From tomorrow weāre making iPhone accessories!ā And if it was really about money and nothing else, theyād all quit and become bankers.
It is more like, what is the most profitable path forward doing what we actually want to do? I suspect if for the business to survive, the sums said they had to pack in all separates (hypothetically to make a point) and just make one box Uniti and Muso and nothing else, most staff would just walk off - well maybe not immediately in this economic climate, but eventually.