I had intended SN3 NDX combo for my main system rebuild, but no more SN3 momentarily leaves me with selection dilemma.
I’ll raise this thread to prevent derailment of others, but my options are the following amps…some of which I will not be able to home demo, some of which I will…..
ATOLL IN300 EVO
ATOLL IN400 EVO
REGA AETHOS
QUAD PLATINA
SUGDEN A21SE
SUGDEN IA-4
LUXMAN 507Z
HEGEL H150
HEGEL H400
EXPOSURE 3510
EXPOSURE 5510
Speakers are ALCHRIS AUDIO TX-9, easily driven with 92dB sensitivity at nominal 8 ohms and run a ribbon tweeter that I don’t want to excite overly….
The NAIT 50 into them ove Xmas was sublime… Ran the tweeter a little sharp though, but not unlistenable….
It’s a solid line up and one that I think you might want to consider the Michi X3 mk2, I don’t have one but there is at least one owner on here who has Naim experience for comparison.
One other consideration could be the Technics SUG 1000, which is available at the moment at a bit of a discount. I’ve got it’s smaller brother , the 700M2 and it’s a supremely capable amp with a fantastic sound stage and the next model up received some very high praise out there.
What is your room furnishing like - plenty of soft surfaces, carpet curtains etc, with unevenly filled bookshelves on side lls and behind you, or hard exposed surfaces, leather seating, bare flat walls? If the latter then it likely would be easy to reduce treble harshness. Speaker and listener positioning can also have an effect, including toeing in/out - have you played with these? If you can tame that treble your description of the NAIT ives your answer. (N.B. Why do you feel the Supernait would be right?)
Stick a flagship source on it or jump to the new Rega Pre/Power (if budget is no problem)
(your list of suggested amplifiers seem pretty interesting, but imagine you get 5-6 of them home, would that not be possible from your dealer ? The Atolls looks well build, Rega Aethos bettered SN2/HCDR at my place but irritating volume, Hegel is boring sound, Exposure amps are pretty good - but not quite up there, just my opinion.
There is a minter on the auction site.
£2695.
Looks great.
Don’t worry about long term as Naim did the decent thing and mothballed spares for the future.
I love mine and has bags of power and headroom.
Sugden or Exposure would easily be my first choice. They are not the same sound as a Naim, but both are superb amps, and I would be happy to live with either.
I recently tested the Moonriver 404 Reference, I’d say it’s one of the best alternatives to the SN3. I couldn’t make a direct comparison, but it sounded really good and I was not missing the SN3 to be honest. So I was pleasantly surprised and happy to have finally been able to listen to it.
Other great alternatives could be the Exposure 3510 / 5510 and the Rega Aethos in my view.
However Moonriver and Exposure, despite their own sonic signature, have many similarities with the SN3 sound, at least to my ears.
If I had to buy an integrated amp in that price range, I’m pretty sure I’d go for the Moonriver. It has a finesse that I didn’t find on the Exposure (but I did not heard the 5510, I owned a 3210). Rega is very nice and enjoyable, I’m sure it’s an excellent match with some speakers, but it’s a bit coloured for my taste.
You can be proud of that indeed 