Nait Xs mk1 facelift query

Perfect in what sense, other than it having both 4mm connectors in one “box”
Is it because it’s a right angle connector perhaps?
It’s a genuine question btw, over the years I’ve never bothered to use the supplied plugs and just used regular banana plugs and never found them lacking.
Also in my case my SN3 is on the Fraim base shelf so the NAC A5 exiting the amp at 90 degrees would make them harder to run out towards the speakers I expect.
Is there any expectation of what is used at the speaker end other than any suitable spade or 4mm banana plug?
I expect if the amp is higher off the ground it may have some benefits!
I’ve got Chord ones with the spring “bar” on and they seem ok to me anyway.
Thanks for feedback as always.

It’s a perfect metal to metal match as Nd the housing is all part of the design. It means the pins can as m find the best contact into the sockets without being dressed or pulled away from best contact path. Simple, elegant and really rather cool.

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That sounds like a good plan. I think you will be rather pleased with the end results. It’s not subtle either. I have been caught out on a few occasions in the past where the soldering was not done quite right (lack of experience, rush job, wrong tools), so this is where an experienced dealer is worth their weight in gold.

I might have a tinker at some point and wire mine up!
Thanks for feedback.

Mr.M, as Richard says, use the SA8 plugs that came with your amplifier and at the amplifier end. There is a bit of an ‘art’ (despite what others may say) in doing the job properly. So may i suggest you save yourself the hassle and ask an experienced dealer to do them for you. It will be easier, less costly (in the end) and less time consuming.

I’m ok with the soldering, I have all the kit here to do it, and a little more time than usual.
Never thought to do it tbh hence my enquiry.

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Of course. Trouble is, even being an experienced solderer will not be enough if one has not done them before. One has to be very familiar with how the termination is correctly done and even using the right type of solder will matter, again, this is where an ‘experienced’ dealer is worth their weight in gold.

Soldering is easy, anyone can do it but making up NAC A5 is not easy, even for a well seasoned solderer. It’s a bit like bricklaying, you have to put the time in to know how to lay the perfect brick, even though anyone can lay a brick.

Some may laugh but the better the termination is done the better NAC A5 will sound and that is not easy to do.

Just my tuppence.

The connector material I understand, which is Neodymium from what Richard wrote? I’d have thought it was aluminium or nickel alloy looking at it but having like metal against metal, ok fair enough.
Then the solder vs crimped connection process, not convinced one is better than the other here given modern 4mm banana plug designs.
Solder type probably does make a difference, certainly in terms of ease of the actual job of doing the joint, possibly to what reaches the speakers but again I’d expect that impact to be small if even measurable.
So regardless of the plug and socket material the A5 cable itself is copper so you are going from one metal type to another here, then the plugs at the speaker end are something different again and probably going to either be banana plugs again or maybe spades.
The only logic I can see in having/using them is to be compliant with EU Safety Regulations, there’s nothing I can find that explicitly states if you don’t use them it will cause a measurable degradation in the performance of the system as a whole.
I’m willing to try and do a comparison between the Naim plugs and the Chord ones I use, but looking at mine they have a tight connection to the amp socket, the cable runs towards the speakers without any excessive bends or strain and ultimately it sounds fine to me.
Ironically if I got a set of Super Lumina speaker cables they have factory fitted Banana plugs on them both ends anyway!
Maybe we should do a vote thread for amusement, see what the split is across a wider sample!

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Footnote and entirely unrelated but I finally got my open back headphones out of their box last night and had a listening session on the SN3 headphone output. Overall not bad, the sound is still bright/new inevitably but always found the headphone output a nice feature on the NAIT’s.
I wonder how the overall running in period relates to the headphone output vs the speaker output was my initial thought sat there at midnight!
Some nice vinyl out this week, may have to do some “virtual” rummaging on that front.

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I do remember that the headphone output on my NAIT XS 2 ran in as i used it quite a bit, still do, more so than the speakers if i’m honest. I found that the sound beefed out and became more nuanced at the same time as things when on. I do think the built in headphone stages are excellent. I don’t feel the need to crave for more as it were, well not yet anyway. :slightly_smiling_face:

WoW! - congratulations on your new purchases and what a time to cheer oneself up with in this lockdown period! :sunglasses:

P.S
I’m toying with the idea on pulling the trigger on a brand new old stock FlatCap XS. Trouble is one half of it will be wasted in my system. Or wait for a decent HiCap DR instead? Mmm…

It escalated quickly over the past few months, thinking back I think what got me motivated was a factory tour down at Naim HQ at the end of January. Had a good chat there with the techies about the SN3 and saw some in final stages of build, may well have been the one I ended up with oddly.
I had my XS 2 and SN2 at that time, had a vague idea to build a second system with the XS, I’d also boxed most of my kit up during October ‘19 due to a big renovation project at home, in fact the SN2 never got setup again and went with the XS as a trade in on the SN3.
Got a discount on a Fraim then traded in my ND5 and HiCap and here we are!

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I’d get the HiCap for sure. I had a flatcap on my XS v1 for a while then ran it on my CD5 XS, eventually let it go around the time I got my HiCap which was a very lightly used ex demo unit. It was a 2014 build so I’ve likely let it go at a good time in terms of resale value against age in the service cycle.
I’ll probably get a new one as funds allow to keep the system up to date but again a light use ex demo one might present itself!
I found the Flatcap was a nice uplift to the CD player but took some of the sparkle off the NAIT, the HiCap however improved the NAIT’s with the best “match” in my experience when paired with the SN2.
I may actually even look out for a used SN2 for the second system I’d planned for the XS originally as they are such good integrated amps, I’d have kept mine no question had the chance for a good offer on a SN3 not popped up as it did.

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No, sorry, that “Nd” was the result of a small phone and large hands. I have no idea where it came from, but it was supposed to say “and”…

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Thanks for correction!

To update this thread…, I’ve just bought a late 2015 Nait xs2!!! Arriving Thursday ish !! to match my nd5xs2…And ive got the week off work,:+1:

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wow ! thats a nice place to be in…

enjoy !

What a great combo, want a review !!!

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