I spent another couple of hours listening to my favorite tracks and enjoying the changes the 3.6 brought.
God, that low end!
What a change!
But, how to describe that? While going deep and being powerful, everything seems to be a tab tighter. Not more detailed, I’d say more separated and therefore intelligible. I perceive more information, or intelligibility, in low mids and below.
More specifically, there is a better separation in bass drum kicks and between instruments. As a result, the powerful end, of the first movement, of Beethoven’s 5th piano concerto became more interesting, same thing for Tchaikovsky’s violin concerto in D minor.
While the mid to low-end has been improved, I have mixed feelings regarding the upper mids and highs.
Highs seem to have been brought to the front while mids, and upper mids, are a little restrained, less present. I felt like an imbalance. The Violin and the pianoforte sound a little thinner and brighter (not in a bad way, just different).
That shift in the upper mids and highs allows for a deeper sound stage, more 3D, which is rather enjoyable.
Is that really an “imbalance” I’m perceiving, or me being used to some noise/graininess? I don’t know. It wouldn’t be the first time…
When the noise floor is lowered and sound cleaned from some graininess, my first impression is always: “it sounds thinner”.
After some time, the brain adjusts, and there is only music. I got that impression when listening to some extremely revealing systems.
How did Naim achieve those changes, I have no idea.
I wonder what’s really included in the package they call “the firmware”
My reference albums, for today :