As Naim have dabble with Internal phono amps maybe it’s time to think outside the box?
Can’t seem to find this on-line. But should have some line out outputs, either 2 x Phono or 3.5mm mimi jack, just get a suitable cable, then plug into a spare line in socket on your amp.
Given that Naim didn’t launch any new hifi-products in 2020 (see footnote) my wish list for 2021 is remarkably unchanged from 2020. There have been some posts from Naim on this forum that big changes are coming, hopefully making for a more exciting 2021.
- Replacement for NAC272 (an obvious one), my sense is this will come in the Muso, Uniti, Statement livery
- This will need a matching power amp that is also in the new livery.
- Having done that Naim will need to do a refresh of the si, xs, Classic and 500 ranges as these will look old - the risk of imminent replacement with a new product would put some prospective punters off making a purchase.
- There may be some rationalisation of product ranges so that product hierarchy and upgrade paths are clearer. At the moment the lower end of Naim’s product range feels confused. For instance, which is the right way in to Naim separates for those new to the brand, SI or Uniti? In a streaming world the answer has to be Uniti, so why keep the SI range?
- I keep hoping for a Naim wall mounted shelf, perhaps called the Wallfraim. Perfect for your LP12 or NAC552. It has not happened yet, leaving hope dimmed but not extinguished.
- A Statement streamer is an obvious gap in the Naim range that will be filled eventually. We will need to see if that happens in 2021. The dac chips that Naim has used for its top end digital products have all but run out meaning that new solutions will be needed. Trickle down developments from this may benefit us all.
Of course Naim will need a new website to show this lot off to an eager world.
Footnote: There were some software updates and an in car stereo launch in 2020. As far as I am aware the Naim for Bentley Musos only differ from the Muso 2 in styling. To my mind none of these count as new hi-fi products.
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I don’t think they would do this given the fact they have not long since updated the classic series streamer DAC’s and retained the same look.
In this day and age changing the design of a whole range when most people will have gotten to multiple boxes over a number of years, changing design would not bode well and look out of place in everyone’s rack if you then decided to upgrade.
Naims philosophy is still preamps and power supplies, this equals multiple boxes.
Unless you change the look of the whole range in one go (which I can’t see happening), with all the uncertainties going on currently I doubt this will happen.
Again any changes Naim would make would need to have a benefit on sound quality otherwise again, what is the point in changing and alienating 98% of your existing customers/clients with just a different looking box that now matches nothing else…
Obviously all the uniti range are designed as one box units so any design could have been done without any effect on anything else.
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I guess we will have to wait and see what happens in 2021 to find out W hich of us is right. I concede that the third bullet (new livery for SI, XS, Classic and 500 series) is at the extreme end of what I’m predicting.
I’d say that the new platform 272 is a dead cert for 2021. It’s also a dead cert that it will be in classic livery - looking like a NDX2 with a volume control - just as the 272 looks like a NDX with a volume control. I very much doubt there will be anything else of significance. Naim really do need to finally nail the glitches on the new platform. Clearly progress is happening but it’s taken an awfully long time.
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The long time taken is partly why I think significant changes are coming. The pandemic would have impacted development but it would not have stopped Naim from launching new products altogether (it did not stop other manufacturers from doing so). I therefore reason that Naim is working on something big.
The next question is what is this new thing they are working on? Clearly I have my vision of what is coming and this differs from yours. This is fine as crystal ball gazing is just a bit of fun.
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A 500 series Integrated would be nice.
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I have read ‘SuperNova’ a couple of times - once in this thread and some more times in others.
May I ask what kind of product you have in mind there?
Just a current Nova with more power or something else with more/other features?
Thanks …
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I doubt this is going to happen … with SuperNova, I can only guess that people are referring to the sound quality of the separates packed into a single box.
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A DR swap of the 552 head maybe? I don‘t mean just the ps which was done. But the NAP 500 got swapped the whole internal life. The 552 didn‘t. It seems that the Performance of the 500 is above the 552 right now. What about to let some more of statement ticke down to The 552 without launching a new 662. I can imagine Many would jump on such deal.
My thinking and expectations mirrors that of @Nathan. I believe that the website redesign will come together with the design refresh of the rest of the boxes.
Looking at my Naim history notes, the Chrome bumper and Olive designs each lasted for roughly one decade, whereas the “triptych” one has been with us for double that amount and still looks contemporary. However, as both the top (Statement-2014) and bottom (muso, Uniti, Core-2017) of the range have been re-designed, it is inevitable that the rest will follow at some point.
When moving from Olive to Triptych, first the slim-line boxes were replaced (6 products), together with NAP 500 in 2000-2001. One year later the “Classic” boxes showed up (~17 products). Thanks to some product rationalization, we now stand at ~22 Triptych boxes, and I would expect that the si series doesn’t make the cut.
Given that the dimensions of the new design are different (taller and not so deep), it seems that a simple recasing would not be straightforward, so the change in design would come together with some re-engineering of the internals… Let’s see what the future holds!
By the way, I just noticed that there are two landing pages for the uniti series:
(https://www.naimaudio.com/range/all-in-one-player#uniti)
and
(https://www.naimaudio.com/product/range/uniti)
The second one seems to be a new style and I also couldn’t find it through the menus, so I guess that’s how the new structure will look like.
Bring on 2021! 
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I guess a redesign is inevitable at some point but a volume control on the top is pretty useless in many set ups - only accesible if stand alone or on the top shelf.
Very good point. We will have to see what the Naim R&D wizards come up with to solve that conundrum.
I wish they’d re release the ARO, never heard a deck with one on that didn’t make me smile, certainly up there with the very best
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I hope a new design does come out as that would make my upgrading within the current classic series cheaper going forward.
I am a massive fan of the current look.
Being only 35, when I was younger and reading Hifi magazines I was always in awe of the black boxes with the half moon green logo.
They were an aspiration back then so I have a slight soft spot for this iteration.
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Totally agree and if naim don’t especially in the resurgence off vinyl they are missing a golden opportunity
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The market for £2,000 arms is vanishingly small. The Aro stopped when the man who made them retired and the stock of arrow shafts ran out. They never sold in large numbers and it just wouldn’t make sense now. I had one and while it did sound good it was a terrifying experience playing a 7”!!
I would like to see a cut down UnitiStatement integrated or SuperNova that would require the tall (or even taller) legs to sit in the Fraim allowing for better separation within the casing and in new style livery, but feel it would require a step change in innovation to lift the SQ to new standards in order to be viable. I don’t see a new livery for any add on power amp as that would be an “extra” (as is the case with the Nova/250DR now). I also don’t see a new livery for the classics range as that would be counter productive to the hordes of collectors who are still working their way through their own personal classics roadmaps and in any event believe the current lime slice triptic style is still well liked by those that are on that journey…
Why change the design of the classic case I see no point in this the guts yes but thats about it the classic case is timeless.
Wish list: I would like to see a dedicated Naim streamer no DAC, probably see a human set foot on Mars first.
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