My volume settings mainly sits at around 8:30 on the volume dial on the Nait XS 2 amplifier. If you have been following my posts over the years. You will know that I have a CD5 XS CD player a Nait XS 2 integrated amplifier and a Flatcap XS power supply. Also, there is a Linn LP 12 record player.
After listening to the latest ABBA release Voyage on vinyl with the amplifier volume pot set to 8:30 on the dial. I inserted a Led Zepplin “Mothership” CD into the CD player. With my inefficient Celestion SL6Si speakers, I jumped with the opening slam of the kick drums My wife complained that the music was too high and I mentioned that I had not turned up the volume setting from the last LP.
What I am trying to say is what powerful amplifier the XS 2 is. The smile across my face was a very broad grin from ear to ear. Smiles all around. Sadly I had to turn it off and will have to wait until Shelley goes shopping this week to continue my immersion in this album. I never thought in my wildest dreams that the XS 2 could handle such a slam of music. So very impressed with falling in love with this amplifier speaker combination all over again.
No need to upgrade. I thought I would share this with the group. The XS 2 is a winner with 84 dB SPL speakers with a 6.5" woofer for midrange and bass. It is a little bit embarrassing calling a 6.5" speaker cone a woofer. But slam it has.
No need to upgrade and am now looking for spare parts as this speaker pair ages. Thirty years now and still going strong.
Hey Mitch, I have a Nait XS 2 as well & this past Thursday received my HiCap DR to add to my system. I have enjoyed the Amp immensely for 4-5yrs. About 2 yrs ago I paired a Rega P8 TT & a Roksan Caspian CD & again, Awesome! So, this HiCap DR has definitely added more punchy Bass & a little crisper highs(maybe slightly brighter?) & finally, the soundstage has changed too. I’m still listening & evaluating this new Power Source upgrade & will try a few different things in my music room(speaker placement etc). Overall, I love the Nait XS 2 as well, it’s all I need, speakers are Vandersteen C2e’s with a Lehmann Black Box phono Pre & Arcam irDAC2 for streaming. So Blessed! SgtRock/Dean
I can not really say as I purchased the Nait XS 2 and Flatcap at the same time. I thought if I was going to purchase an XS system I would go in boots and all. All I can say is that I am over the moon with my system and have apparently avoided the rabbit hole of never-ending upgrades. At least for the time being.
I am glad you are happy with your system. Those speakers look formidable. Rock ON the XS 2. Part of me wishes that I had purchased an SN2 at the time. But that is history now, as, like you, I am so happy with the XS 2. I have spent years ruminating about purchasing larger more powerful amplifiers and the only one I needed was the one I had.
Thought it did not do enough for my Nait XS to justify its cost and space, so I sold it shortly afterwards. I don’t think it needs anything more, and is still performing well in my second system by itself.
I like complete systems and it would annoy me that there might be a small improvement that I was going without.
It is just me and the way I do things. I purchase an Apple iMac with the maximum hard drive, RAM, and microprocessor speed. This also goes for my amateur radios to be fully optioned as one day the options will be no longer available. A lesson learned when I first purchased my first 486 DX computer.
That is comparable with Focal Kanta No. 1 speakers at 88 dB SPL. Your speakers are twice as efficient as mine come in at 84dB SPL and it looks like they have decent woofers too.
I purchased the SN3 when it came out. Some folks say not worth having the HICap DR with it but I purchased it a number of weeks later and a good jump in quality
Any ideas on where you might go to set up house next ?
G’day, Bevo,
As my wife and I lost all of our superannuation in a legal fight with my old employer. I won the battle but lost the war so to speak.
We went heavily in debt and with the proceeds of the payout, we paid off our debt with a little leftover to live on for a few years.
The house we purchased was to be our new superannuation investment so to speak and it has at least doubled in value over the last four years. We will be moving to somewhere we can afford and have enough to invest and live off for another thirty years, hopefully with the aid of a government old-age pension.
This will see us move into remote Victoria Australia, or maybe New South Wales. Hot dusty places where no one whats to live. Mallee or desert country by a dry creek bed. The creek bed is a hopeful idea when it rains once in while. The town will have to have a church, a pub plus some shops not too far away.
Just a point of order though! I also have the XS2 it’s a fine amplifier.
But the Led zepp Mothership cd is brickwalled to hell!
Or put it another way mastered louder than loud.
I have the vinyl version and it’s much better.
That is nice to know. I missed out on the vinyl version and will keep a lookout for one. When I said it made me jump in my seat I was not exaggerating.
I also like the Naim sound, no matter how hard I try not to. Even the biggest, most prestigious amplifier manufacturers in the industry have been recently unable to equal the excitement of the Naim presentation in my system, in my home.
However, I firmly believe that what you describe concerning the volume pot/level is an on-going error and industrial shortcoming from Naim. Insisting blindly on using volume and balance pots that, in their great majority, systematically present tracking imbalances, channel level discrepancies, lack of balance centering detente and the extraordinarily high gain setting of the volume control is literally incomprehensible in this day and age. There are very few amplifiers manufactured today that present a usable volume range of only 20-25%. It does give a false impression of “power” but in reality is is simply electrical gain that is set much too high for most of today’s 2v source components, including those from Naim.
To be fair, this may or may not be a problem, depending on listening volume levels…especially for those who have no problem with these particularities and if, at the end of the day, they do not prevent one from enjoying the music. Once again, I enjoy the Naim system I am currently listening to at home.
Another incomprehensible and illogical position from Naim is when they claim these ALPS Blue Velvet potentiometers “sound better”. Naim also likes to say that the volume pot is there in the signal path in order to compensate for the volume pot’s imbalances (!).
This is entirely laughable from a signal path standpoint. Inserting components that alter and manipulate the signal both in terms of gain and channel (im)balance should not be claimed as a sonic virtue. If you want to do this correctly, you deploy Luxman’s LECUA technology or Accuphase’s AAVA technology for rock solid, dead-center imaging and channel balance at ALL listening levels with a proper course of volume gain. I really don’t understand why Naim does this. Even McIntosh has mastered this on its integrated amplifiers and preamplifiers to the point where you can count on symmetrical accuracy every time.
It’s no secret that Naim is different, a bit quirky and particular. The misgivings I list above do not, however, prevent me from owning and enjoying Naim equipment but I do wish they would someday rethink and re-engineer these particular design elements. Brgds.
This imbalance issue has been concerning me recently. I have 91-92 db speakers, which are truly rated as such and not over stated. My plan is to get a supernait 3 to partner with my recently acquired (but not delivered yet) NDX2, but I’m worried that the channel imbalance and gain is going to be an issue. I do a lot of listening at lower volumes. I can’t test anything before purchasing as I’m too far away from a dealer. I’m starting to think of alternatives such as the new audio research i50 instead. I’d go for the xs3 as it doesn’t have a balance pot but I wanted to spend a a bit more. Not quite sure what to do.
