I have a NAT01/PSU tuner (168xxx, late 2000 I believe).
I works well, but I wounder if the PSU (and maybe the NAT01) would be ripe for service?
Any experiences of what I would expect in terms of improvements in that case?
Mine was serviced around 5-6 years back at around 500GBP although this may have gone up. Most of the focus was on the power supply but as I recall the front end was re-aligned too. A Naim retailed should be able to give you an up to date cost. I think there are a couple of items including the display which are no longer made.
What was your experience from servicing the units? A major uplift in sound quality?
I was quoted 600GBP of which 200GBP for recapping the PSU.
Maybe I start with the PSU service.
I’d say it was better. The head unit stayed better on channel and it was worth having the power supply done given that the capacitors were so old. I sold my tuner recently but until then it was used every day for years with no issues at all. If you can it might be best to have both units done but as you suggest the power supply at the very least.
My 01 must be 15 years old at least. It has never been switched off in all that time and stays spot on station. One of the signs of a repair is drifting off station. So far this hasn’t happened but one day I am sure it will. The circa £500 charge was about right 5/7 years ago.
For what this product does on BBC Radio 3/4 and the repair cost involved, well worth doing.
It was designed by a Frenchman, Guye Lammot, not sure about the spelling, for Naim. Brilliant job. Compare the above stations on Freeview. No contest.
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Just Radio 3 for me!
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I think Radio 3 do a remarkable job bearing in mind its funding is probably the Cinderella of the corporation in comparison to their TV. The summer Promonade Concerts are a highlight.
Getting slightly off topic the BBC TV channels just don’t connect with me in the same way. Some of BBC TV4, bits of TV2, University Challenge? A lot of presenters tend to shout even though they have something called a “microphone”. I am lost with the main TV channels on a Saturday night. However a decent hi-fi system compensates.
I always thought the NAT01 had the edge over the NDS when it came to Radio 3 - especially on live broadcasts - especially in the old days when we had weeks of Proms!
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That is an interesting observation as FM in the UK uses a PCM sample rate of 32/13 low pass filtered to 15kHz… (32 kHz sample rate at 13 bits) whereas the NDS can play the AAC+ 320kbps streams at 48/16 … albeit psycho-acoustically compressed…
I also suspect quite a lot of the preference is down to the DAC implementation in the NDS… where as the NAT01 is actually part of the uk FM DAC reconstruction chain…
I would expect the NAT01 service to improve tuner stability and improve signal to noise and separation on stereo decode. Analogue tuners do need careful attention to work their best over a period of time… there are many sensitive tuned circuits. Clearly refreshing the power-supply components will help as well, but I think most are used to that.
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