I feel that a stereo Statement power amp would sell well. Priced at S1 level and in the same single case. The disparity in price between 500DR and the S2’s is huge so it should draw interest from S1/500 owners like myself but that might not be considered a wide enough demographic as it were.
I’m reliably informed, and contrary to what some guys have written on the forum, that a revamped 500 series is NOT in the works. A pity! Statement Streamer I’m told is and maybe two years away. The price will be eye watering but early prototypes are by all accounts are sounding fantastic. Hardly surprising with the brilliant Steve Sells heading its R&D.
It’s an interesting one. If the 333/350 effectively kills off sales of the 500 amps - and that’s of course an if - there is a huge gulf between the 300s and Statement. The latter hardly sells in big numbers and is out of reach of the vast majority. I’d have thought that a new 500 series would be pretty high priority.
I think I said in one of the threads that I didn’t see a NC 500 amplifier as likely. It would be a lot of R&D resource for a relatively tiny number of sales and I still feel that it’s really mainly about how soon Naim discontinue the NAP 500.
How about a Muso Sub? A separate box that works with your Muso or Muso Qb to give them more low end omph. Connection to the Muso Sub would need to be wireless.
I would like to think that naim will have a 500 series replacement, as like others have said the price difference between the statement, and 300 series is huge. Plus it leaves a massive gap in the market from naim, so surely it will happen.
A statement streamer/dac is certainly interesting, but will have very strong competition in that end off the market, and at that end guy’s get very particular about the badge that’s on it.
But a new dac must be on the cards, but again that’s not as easy for naim as the NDS to ND555 was, as the opd dac chips are no more, so a completely new design is needed, and we have already seen naim adverts for staff in this area, so that’s definitely something that’s being worked on.
Not sure if naim have any plans on statement 2, as that’s probably a big one to try and come up with, but seeing all the developments from that working it’s way down into the other series is great to see.
Maybe the next 500 / 552 series might be the statement but in 4 boxes and simplified somewhat?
Only time will tell.
Cheers dunc
They probably still have quite a few as i remember them buying quite a lot years ago.
But obviously going forward a new dac design will be needed, but not really sure what the life span is on a burr brown dac chip, but i don’t think you need to worry about that, as it will probably last for decades as never heard off one ever being replaced as it broke, and that goes for many manufacturers as its not just naim that used them
I father that the BB1704s are very reliable, but not infallible - I have heard of one two failing all the same. But way, way better than the Philips TDA1541/1541A DAC chips which had plenty of failures.
Could be someone messing with words.
Q - “Are you working on a new 500 series”
A - “No”
…But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a higher range, just that it’s not called 500. Maybe they’re working on a 400.
Or maybe it’s done already, so no they’re not working on it, cos it’s done.
Speculation of course, but I’d be very surprised if Naim didn’t have something to fit between 300 and Statement, that has the new Naim look.
I’ve asked more than one person BB. Acoustica sell more Naim than any other dealer so they would know if anyone outside of Naim does. I asked them to confirm or deny whether the 500 series is to be replaced soon. ‘Sadly not” was the response.
I’d heard that work on a new 500 series hadn’t started, but I taken that to mean that it would be along eventually. I’d already said on another thread that my ‘guess’ would be Statement streamer, followed by new 500 series using any trickle down from the new streamer tech, whatever route that takes, plus floated preamp and new power amp. That way 500 series really becomes Statement lite. Pure speculation obviously.
Surely the statement series are an ‘all in’ application of Naim’s latest and greatest technology? They encompass the pinnacle of performance but the price is stratospheric due to the small number of people who can afford to buy them and therefore negligible economies of scale.
The 500 series incorporates a version of this technology which lowers costs, plus they will sell in higher numbers meaning the economies of scale start to have a bearing on cost also - but not much.
The 200 series brought about similar technology but far cheaper - for example the SMD resister version of the volume control as opposed to the fully discrete resistor version.
The 300 series costs more but gets closer to the ‘cost no object’ statements. The trickle down effect is the major player here.
While the statements allegedly offer the very best, I doubt that their performance is streets ahead of the 500s. Anyone who thinks that they are that far ahead are obviously just trying to verify their cutting edge purchase - the law of diminishing returns is certainly applicable here.
The 300 series take advantage of the trickle down effect and will be arguably the most cost effective way to great sound.
The 200s will be there to give people a taste and the 500s (if a new series is released) to cater for the cash rich people who can afford the extra £££ for an arguably marginal increase in performance.
Controversial of course but to my way of thinking there are a small number of people who can really appreciate the sonic benefits of the statements. Just like those people (professional, classical musicians perhaps?) who can tell the difference between particular concert pianos, violins etc., that the rest of us would not comprehend.
I haven’t heard the Statement and love my 552, but the noises made on the forum by people that have moved to Statement from 552 suggest to me that the difference is pretty large. I haven’t gone looking for a demo as a result. I’m thinking about the pricing of the next 500 series. Could be £40,000 a box (source and power supply), very spendy. Just extrapolating from the other series.
I should imagine that corporately Naim will want to kill off the green logo. So the CD5si, Naît 5si, XS, ND5xs, SN3 and 500 will all need revamp. I wonder what sales of the XS stuff and below are in comparison with the Unitis to make replacements viable at all? Time will tell.
A few years ago we held a well attended event with this combination of 500 and S1 systems. The attendees were pretty enthralled as we went through the permutations of white and green logos. Speakers were Scala Evos.
The consensus was the S1 pre was the significant step. The S1 power amps not so much at least with the speakers we used. One comment was that the addition of the S1 NAP added the ability of the system to act as a PA system which may or may not be a requirement Of course the ability of the S1 NAP to drive virtually any speaker would make it much more relevant for “difficult” speakers.
Separately we compared S1 and 552 with 250DR and relatively modest speakers (I believe D30RS) with a modest CD player source. This was for a customer considering the significant expense of our demo S1 pre. Pretty much the same difference in that system as well, maybe larger. Given how much people are often prepared to spend on turntables, cables and speakers it’s food for thought.
but to my way of thinking there are a small number of people who can really appreciate the sonic benefits of the statements. Just like those people (professional, classical musicians perhaps?) who can tell the difference between particular concert pianos, violins etc., that the rest of us would not comprehend.
Of course the ability of the S1 NAP to drive virtually any speaker would make it much more relevant for “difficult” speakers.