As said above, read my post i think i explained it from where i am with it.
Maybe Naim would like to develop a new 500 series, a Statement streamer, new Statement amps….but can’t because Focal doesn’t want to invest. I doubt Naim decides of something.
Well that could be very true, but it would be a real shame if that’s true as naim didn’t run like that before the take over, but things change and obviously they dont own the purse strings these days to do as they please.
If you look at the current price list you’ll see that the range is very small.
If you look at the most recent accounts you’ll see that a profit in 2023 turned into a loss in 2024. You’ll also see a huge fall in turnover in 2024.
I sincerely hope that whatever is holding them back from bringing new products to market is quickly resolved. Naim is a fine company and it would be desperately sad to be a witness to an inexorable decline.
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I understand your post but not your motivations. You like what your Vitus do. So even if Naim produces in the not too long future new 500 series, why would you be tempted by them? You can also upgrade into the Vitus range.
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Basically years ago i hoped for a new streamer/dac to upgrade from my NDS, yes the ND555 was out,but let’s leave that one i think.
Then i wished for newer 500 amp and pre, but nothing. I was hopefully wanting a supper integrated to pop along but obviously nothing.
As i said for me the boat has long sailed now, but i would still like to see and hear what naim could do if they ever do.
As for my dCS kit, that’s as far as i go digitally and see no point in even thinking about moving that on unless i downsize as its far to good for me now really.
The vitus again is a truly fantastic pre amp/ amp, it can compete with hugely more expensive separates, probably because vitus used many parts from its hugely expensive separates to make it, again no point in selling unless i downsize.
But as said i for some reason, probably because naim was my music for over 25 years, i just want to see them bringing out new great stuff, especially in the hi end range, but this has stopped, must be well over 10 years now.
You might well look at say a 500 system your dream and the end,but once you get there and have been there for many years, you might start to think come on naim what is next, yes you had the statement to look to, but that is completely in a different price range, i would have thought naim would have done a mini statement by now to upgrade from the 500, as that must have been viable, but maybe not, i dont know.
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What a thoroughly depressingly clear post.
Thanks , I think HH.
I’d want to go back and see the trend pre Focal and see what the mix was but this doesn’t look good, especially when viewed in conjunction with the price / product list.
Hope is not a strategy!
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Me. Initially as a headphone amp and now serving as both headphone amp and steaming source for 350 amps into pmc fact8s. Awesome with all types of music.
Atleast they’re hiring and not firing people. Could of course also mean people are leaving due to other jobs and they need to fill those chairs.
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Looks like they have dropped the price of a pair of nap 350s? I am awaiting a demo of those, and a couple of other power amps…….
naim were, 2/3 years back, advertising for FPGA engineers.
Looking at the number of high end DACs using FPGA (Chord, new Lumin), do we think naim might be in the background working on a fantastic FPGA DAC?
Or is 1791A the last commercially viable built in DAC from naim? In which case where do naim go?
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They certainly were actively seeking that expertise. My gut feeling is that rather than field programmable gate array technology handling the whole conversion process, Naim will substitute it for their current Sharc processor. The FPGA handling the filtering, timing etc then handing off to a conventional dac chip for conversion to analog. But i could be totally wrong.
Interesting and a big drop in turn over between 2023 and 2024 and the swing to loss. It will indeed be interesting to see 2025 to see if the losses have been slowed or stopped.
I guess most of us won’t know - but I kind of doubt it. Remember FPGAs are used for the signal processing ahead of the DAC converter - not the DAC converter itself which requires dedicated specific hardware. Naim use standard DSP methods and off the shelf DAC converters and achieve very good results… I think you would need a radical new approach for it to potentially pay off in the DAC space to create new patterns and algorithms, or even custom converters - and I am not sure they have a Rob Watts or Bob Stuart in the wings… therefore I suspect it will be a case of refining standard established methods which is what they do now to great effect.
My sneaky suspicion it was more for in room/space eq DSP etc for next generation of hifi smart speakers, possibly hifi, in building audio, and possibly marine and auto audio.. possibly where the higher margins are.
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My preloved NDX is an excellent good value piece of kit. It streamed Tidal and Apple Music competently too albeit at 16kHz quality. Since recently buying a half price ND5XS2 I use its dac to improve the sound and can now stream 24kHz.
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You might be confused… nearly all streaming DAC products provide roughly 20Hz to 20kHz bound audio, I think you are referring to sample sizes which are typically 16 bit or 24 bit or perhaps sample rates which are normally either 44.1/48/88.2/96/176.4/192 kHz and this is determined by the source material, and the ability of the replay equipment to handle those sample sizes without converting down.
The NDX supports 24 bit digital audio, albeit its Tidal implementation is bandwidth bound to using only upto 44.1/16 content. (44.1kHz sample rate, 16 bit sample audio) If you fed the NDX by a seperate digital audio streamer it can play external web service streams upto 192/24 encoded audio through its DAC. It can play upto 192/24 locally using UPnP or SPDIF.
To be positive, which is unlike me according to SWMBO I reckon we’ll see a stonking new integrated at the Bristol show which will be a full sized NC box, build like a brick Sh1thouse and sound absolutely sublime and can be upgraded with the NC power supply.
Here’s hoping,
Tim.
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“Administrative Expenses” of almost £11 million are they charges from the parent company?
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By far the biggest problem is the sharp decline in sales. Administrative Expenses are the fixed cost I believe like the building, management, it, hr et cetera. I’m a simple it guy but I don’t think this is a situation of money grab by private equity.
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No, it will be staff, overheads and the like. There don’t appear to be any charges from the parent. You can see the full accounts on the Companies House website if you are feeling inquisitive.
When I say “ its “ I mean I am using the NDXs DAC. The ND5X2 streams at say 24 bit 96 khz using Tidal app and this goes to the NDX DAC via Digital BNC and S/PIF format PCM. This sounds to my ears much better than just using the ND5XS2 with say an ECM recording of Andras Schiff playing Brahms Piano Concertos because the NDXs DAC is better than the ND5XS2s. And all for £2000 which is cheaper than a good second hand NDX2. Please correct me if this is wrong!
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