Aye, and there’s the rub…
Speakers are somewhat dependent on the electronics driving them, but even more dependent on the room in which they are placed; and what is overly polite or muffled for one person can sound aggressive or strident to the next.
Thank you for your lovely kind words.
Nice to see that you have found what you are looking for Andy.
I too started off with Naim, luckily only demoing various bits and pieces before I changed direction completely and ended up with CH Precision. The 500 series for me, and to my ears wasn’t a patch on CH P, as nice as it was. I trialled a few other brands, Soulution as well but again, CH P was superior across the board.
I had never heard of that brand until, coincidentally, 10 minutes ago, I read a Hifi+ review of one of their products. A CD/SACD player - not cheap, but it got a great review. I hope you enjoy your system.
Andyblain, would you please compare the sound of your Naim system, with the Vitus integrated you have tested, and with the Dagostino?
Thank you!
The Vitus was smooth and relaxed to my ears and whilst nice, was a little too polite. The NAIM (282/250/HCDR) was harsh, shrill and fatiguing. During lengthy listening and at higher volumes, it became annoying, frankly. The D’agostino has the same PRaT (god I hate that acronym) as NAIM, but far more detail, control and soundstage.
The only way to get to the right solution is to listen to alternatives in your own listening environment, but I know this isn’t always possible.
Sure, thank you for the explanation. Can you remember what was the exact Vitus model and version?
It was a Vitus S25 integrated amp. About £20k I think.
He may change his mind and revert back to Naim 
Joking aside you have a lovely setup @Andyblain
good point !! 
Indeed, more than lovely!!
Oh yes! Thanks for the reminder.
Just another perspective. The sia vitus amps are class a. I found the integrated a bit smooth and polite. The cheaper integrated (RI 101) was much more punchy. I now have a 282 hc 250 and do not find it harsh at all with a well treated room.
I don’t dispute your experience though I wonder what might be the culprit that has contributed to the unconvincing performance of the 282/250DR in your system apart from set up and listening preferences. I note that there are several owners who use the same amps on Kudos Titan 606 on this forum, and there’s quite a sizeable crowd here.
The 282/250DR is considered to be the most forward and vibrant sounding amp among other Classic separates in the line up. Perhaps that may have contributed to the high listening fatigue and shrill treble, further exacerbated by the relatively forward sounding Kudos Titan. Well, relatively speaking when compared to Spendor or Harbeth etc. However, that still doesn’t explain some owners who use the same 282/250DR on the Titan 606.
Enjoy the D’agostino.
Following a house move I learnt the very painful lesson that room acoustics play a huge part in the performance of audio equipment, suspect that’s why there is not universal agreement on what sounds best!
Rooms very somewhat too though. Underlay+carpet on wood flooring and plenty of soft furnishings will better tolorate a bright sounding system.
I think the OP has found what some of already know: there is more than one way to skin a cat.
The market is full of different and, quite frankly, very well designed and engineered gear with vastly different engineering focuses. You pick your poison. While I love my Naim system, it isn’t the only thing I have and it’s certainly not a hill I’m prepared to die on.
The 282+250/300 can be egged on just over the top and for sure, needs some careful pairing with speakers and room. But rather than unpacking that, the Naim sound might not be everyone’s cup of tea. And yes, there is a Naim sound. Of course Naim claim their sound is transparency and any house sound would imply colouration. Well I’ve got news for anyone who believes that: nearly all hifi manufacturers say the same thing.
We need to get past notions of “correctness”. It’s a fallacy. Gosh if it was true, THD would be the only value we’d ever need - as it stands it is fairly useless. No one knows what the engineer was hearing in the studio. As you go up the ladder of expensive gear, things get better in terms of resolved information, presentation, drive and presence. For all we know “correct” from the engineer’s perspective s substantially worse than what we are able to recreate in the home on our systems. Ergo, if it sounds better to you then it is better.
I do get a sense that many people are massively frustrated by the simple fact that this hobby entirely governed by subjective preference. It might be an aspect of a slightly OCD mindset that really cannot cope with the idea of there not being a right answer and there never will be a right answer beyond an audience of one.
The silliest thing would be for the OP to continue using something they are not happy with because they thought they should be happy with it.
These days even Harbeth is very forward sounding. I have actually moved away from Harbeth for this very reason. A lot of modern speakers sound too bright to me too. Kudos 606 are also tiring for me. Same story for their smaller siblings the Super20. Bowers Wilkins, same story. Audiovector R3 are some seriously well balanced and entertaining speakers. They have a punchy sound and a pretty smooth treble indeed.
The champion in my book of all the 8 speakers I’ve demoed in the past few months were the Dynaudio Heritage Special.
So to get back on track, from my point of view it’s the speakers that are the problem here.
In term of harshness/brightness, the problem with my system was definitely the 282/250 combination. There is absolutely no doubt about that, having tried numerous combinations of amps/speakers.
My source didn’t help either - there are far better combinations out there than the ND555/555PS. You are right about the Kudos Super 20s. I tried these originally and found them totally different to the Titans.
