I like EDM (some) and produce my own down tempo and trip hop… the Nait50 with DAVE is superb on timing tight speakers. You can hear clearly all those subtle cues that make that music… like tuning the kick to the root, BD layering to make the kick, subtle velocity changes to give a swing, dynamic and accurate timbral response to play with musical tonal and loop contrasts… and dynamic energy across the pass band (multiband dynamics) … it all there if your speakers are up to it… but EDM needs well damped speakers and room… or it can sound a mess loud… ( boomy or bloaty EDM is possibly what hell sounds like!)
EDM is often produced to be U or V shaped… and 50 handles it well going reasonably loud whilst retaining composure. (Loud enough to feel in your chest with obliging speakers… sure not like at a concert, you would need a genuine muscle amp for that, but satisfyingly so for home in my size room)
Edit. Listening to ZZ Top’s Precious and Grace track on Chrome, Smoke and BBQ, first time on my Nait50… and you can really feel Frank Beard’s pushing and pulling his drumming timing… fantastic, as well Billy Gibbons’ gorgeous sounding valve soft clip biased guitar amp, perhaps a Plexi… and the live Jailhouse Rock… you are there… really grin inducing.
Thats quite crazy to hear that nait 50 can better a 552. I do find that as you go up the naim range, the sound gets more controlled, and more fast in terms of driver control, but they lose the explosiveness that I came to expect with olive and chrome bumper.
Perhaps nait 50 is indeed what I am looking for. I had been using olive 82/250 and the sound while less clean and polished had a very upfront and somewhat uncouth sound that seems to have a lot of drive. Supernait 3 lost all of that but what it had was a comparatively pristine sound that didnt seem to pop well. I had similar observations comparing 250dr to 300dr. The 300dr seemed more reserved.
Yes remember that is for me in my setup. I am not going to suggest all will agree, far from it… but it’s an honest opinion from me… otherwise I suspect I wouldn’t have returned back to Naim.
But always do listen, borrow if you can for at least a week and decide for yourself. Remember no remote… for some that is a deal breaker.
If you are keen to swap to a Nait 50, these can be purchased BNIB (not ex dem) for as little as £1750 these days - that’s nearly £1k less than the original RRP. Even if you decide after six months or so that it’s not for you, you wouldn’t lose too much, if anything, selling it on.
I was musing on a second one… but can’t find anything in the UK close to that price, other than secondhand, ex shop demo or via auction sites… and even then most cost more… I am sure there were more used cheaper previously…
I have seen a store in the EU (France) selling new close to that… but I think I’d have to add VAT.
Any pointers within AUP?
Thanks… but opened ‘unused’ just doesn’t go well with me. If it’s repurposed it is resealed by Naim… otherwise you don’t know what you are buying… unless you personally trust the salesperson assuming they know the history.
Sorry had bad experience with unused box opened before…
Not quite sure why anyone would want a Nait 50 to drive the most difficult speakers at loudest volumes and/or in big rooms but if you are thinking higher end sources and highly transparent, not too demanding speakers in smaller to medium spaces, then the Nait 50 could well be your amp for transparency, engagement and unmistakable music in the room presence.
Unfortunately, as nice as it is, to me the SN3 is neither of these two…
I think that is fair point… difficult speakers should be fine with the 50’s full regulation and control using Naim’s new approaches… but filling large spaces say above say 5x7may be pushing things… or smaller spaces with very inefficient speakers might be limiting. Some super in efficient small speakers might not be a good match…unless in near listening mode. Larger floor mounts tend to be more efficient and can play better.
The 50 will happily drive 2 ohm impedances at 60 W RMS … difficult speakers typically are difficult for lesser amps as they have big and fairly rapid impedance response changes across the pass band… but these days many speaker/cross over designs have significantly improved here.
But all this is so subjective… so one must listen for oneself in your listening room, its damping and with your speakers… and of course how loud you like your music. I don’t listen at levels where my Apple Watch gives me sound pressure warnings….
I could part with my 552/250 tomorrow and happily live with a Nait 50, even though the 552 is special and sounds amazing so does the N50 when a good source is connected.
It’s probably fair to say Naim haven’t had too many misses with their products… they have a range to suite environments and tastes… as after all we tend to be different…
But I guess what we have in common is we like music such that it engages with us, and when we like to listen to it in our own homes, it’s done in a quality and enjoyable way.