Like this then…
And the vast majority of components in even the most expensive amps cost that or a lot less…
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One would hope Naims purchasing department could do better than that 
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So that’s why it’s 5000EUR more than the earlier Nova 
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Organic wiring…
The module shown is a 1x425 W module, not sure that’s what’s had to be integrated into the Nova PE. Plus at least one fairly significant PCB has had to be re-engineered to accommodate the Class D parts, and it looks like some changes to the final output circuit to include some resistors. Anyway, the component cost doesn’t really tell us the whole story. And if it did I’d expect a while lot more fuss about the Naim NC power supply than the crammed full Nova casework?
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You’d need some pretty fancy alternative components to make up the enormous price difference. The standard Nova costs £4,400, whereas the PE is a whopping £8,600, pretty much double.
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Since when in recent times was a Naim product priced on cost of components? If they were, they’d be an awful lot cheaper!
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What is the huge ass probably not very efficient/environment friendly transformer in there for? Other class D amps I have seen and own do not have this? Did they really need it.
The transformer size makes absolute sense: The PE output is almost twice that of the standard Nova. Class D is nearly twice as efficient as A/B (typically 90% vs 50%). These two translate as needing virtually the same power supply capability as one another. Much smaller PSs you’ve seen in other class D amps might explain, or part explain, why they have sounded poor compared to class A/B you have heard.
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Indeed. My class D amp also uses a reasonable toroidal PSU, though much smaller than the one in the Nova ( but then again it’s also just a 70w/8Ohm class D power amp).
Not everyone is building class D into their amps due to size or power. For some manufacturers, it plays to their engineering strengths.
Saw a dealer post yesterday about a customer auditioning a Nova PE to replace his current Nova for use with his Kudos Titan 808s. Made me smile, sounds like they talked them into a 222/250.
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It’s a no brainer surely?
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I love class D and think it the future. I have never said it sounds pourer. I dont understand however why this needs the transformer of this size. I have had a 100w d class in my house for a few months (at least I think it was long time ago) it was effortless and had no such transformer in it.
I think this harkens to my lack of understanding. I am not criticising.
Sorry re reference to sounding poorer - it just seems the common theme and I should have looked back.
Re transformer, adding to what I suggested in my last post, there are manufacturers of reasonable sounding A/B amps that use smaller transformers than Naim’s amps of the same sort of RMS power rating, but Naim’s philosophy seems to be partly founded on maximising the quality/capacity of the power supply, and one might expect them to carry that forward regardless of the power amp design basis. Following this through, the NovaPE has a peak current capability of 25A into 1 ohm, which is 625 VA (effectively watts), which in common with most Naim power amps is about 5x RMS, perhaps continuing the old “Naim watts are different” approach (though I don’t recall specs on other Naim amps quoting the load at which peak power was given). unlike most amps that quote only 2x RMS).
You yourself seem to prefer class A, the worst efficiency of all… For the sake of the sound, or?
I just love the sound of the amp I have. I cannot say whether it sounds better than any Class D amps with adequate capability to drive my speakers as I haven’t heard any. It is more effortless than the Bryston 4B I used previously - but that is hardly surprising as it more powerful with much bigger peak capability. Whether better that the Bryston 14B or pair of 28Bs that I’d try if I could afford I don’t know, nor do I know if better than any NAPs.
Of course, its efficiency isn’t that important in winter, as the excess energy as heat reduces the need for other heat input to the room!
I don’t think the Nova PE should be compared to “how would I build something similar from scratch”.
To me this looks like “deer engineers, can you please give me a 1-box solution (similar to Nova) with more power but for a smaller addressable market, i.e. without designing a new box from scratch”. (To minimize development and also production cost for a limited market.)
So, take Nova, leave nearly everything as it is, replace the power-amp part for the power part. If the class D is about twice as efficient as A/B (as written above), then you target 2x power output and can leave everything else „as is“ - from the power supply, all the streaming components, the pre-amp section including all the inputs (which are going via digital domain), …
… „just“ replace the power-amp and to slight adjustment to height and possibly a bit larger cooling fins. Tada… more power for certain use cases, very focused development cost (integrated the 3rd party module into your own design) and production changes (reuse significant parts of existing product).
So, the goal likely was indeed not to build a „SuperNova“ (with improvements all across - taking in improvement from Atom HE / NSC 222), but indeed a „Nova PE“.
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If that is the case, then the PE is rather expensive…
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If you were to guess then, do you think you would prefer Class A over Class D, all else being equal?