At the risk of sounding like broken record I’d like to garner some info from the experts on here.
I’m looking make an upgrade to my system so as to go to the next level and being the over thinker that I am I’ve landed on several options. I currently have an Atom with Dali Menuet SE speakers, which I’m keeping. With that in mind I have several options that I’d like help with. These are: Atom with a power amp, Nova to replace the Atom, ND5XS2 with a Naim Nait 50 or similar. I’m open to suggestions and thanks in advance. FWIW I’m no audiophile but do appreciate lots of detail almost to the point of being clinical but I do appreciate a bit of warmth and pace. Thanks in advance.
Does your dealer have all the bits you are contemplating and can they demo them? If so, you probably don’t need opinions at all.
If buying blind, bear in mind that the beauty of the Uniti range is that they are one box. So within that framework, the Nove is a more logical upgrade to me than a power amp.
That said, a ND5xs2 with something like a Nait XS3 would be a big step up I imagine. IIRC the DALIs are a 4Ohm load and while that is zero problem for any Naim amp at all (including the N50), the headroom decreases. You tend to get nearly twice as much power into 4Ohms with a Naim amplifier than you do with 8Ohms, but the capacity of the power supply is fixed so teh headroom differential is somewhat reduced. For that reason I suspect (but I do not know from experience) that the N50 is not a natural partner with the DALIs
I agree that if you enjoy the DALIs they should be kept. A good speaker for a room is hard to find if they work, messing with the formula could be a lot of bother. DALI make exceptional speakers - if somewhat rare on the forum.
Thank you. The Dalis are fabulous but I just get the feeling they could do more with more. Please excuse my ignorance but I don’t quite get the headroom comment, can you explain further please?
The N50 delivers 25w into an 8Ohm load. Which is most loudspeakers. But it can swing well over 200w for transients so that you get a very decent sense of scale and power.
As the load increases, so does the power delivered. So the N50 will deliver almost 50w into a 4Ohm speaker. That doesn’t mean you are getting a more powerful amp just because you connected 4Ohm speakers. The power supply (the mains transformer and the AC/DC rectifier) inside the amplifier doesn’t scale with load. It still has the same maximum capacity of over 200w.
So the transient difference in available power for 8Ohms would be 200w - 25w = 175w. But for a 4Ohm load more like 200w - 50w = 150w.
It’s not a huge difference to be honest but when listening at volume with music that has extreme transients (so things like EDM, hiphop, or a lot of classical music that ends in huge crescendos) an amp will start to sound hemmed in and compressed as it runs out of steam. It might even start clipping.
If you read the N50 speakers thread you will see that it is immensely capable, but needs sensible pairing with speakers appropriate to the listening levels and size of room. From what I have read, it will comfortably drive a large but very sensitive 8Ohm floorstanding speaker to loud volumes in a large room. Which isn’t the DALIs. They like a bit of brute force.
I’d be struggling to demo close to me with the Dali’s so the only real option is to take advantage of certain dealers 30 day returns and buy to demo at home. Im so indecisive and a habitual over thinker so taking one of several paths is proving very taxing.
You can probably buy the bits and sell them on for what you paid for them on fleabay. Most of my friends do high end hifi horse trading like that. Always second hand. Rarely if ever losing money en route to final purchase
I can get an ex demo nova for a great prices with full warranty. I can also get the PE for £5k but that’s total overkill. I’ll look at the options and maybe try the separate streamer amp option you mention. Thanks again for your advice it’s been very helpful indeed.
I have gone Atom > Nova > Nait 50/nd5xs2.
With my ProAc Tab10 I always felt that the Atom didn’t have enough grunt. The Nova improved things quite a bit but was still lacking on some recordings. The bass was ok but not particularly articulate and the setup struggled with complex, busy recordings. The Nait has lifted things to a completely different level and I am astounded by the bass now delivered by my little ProAcs - quality and quantity.
I do have a small room, but if your Dali more or less work for you now, I imagine the Nait 50 and nd5xs2 will be a very nice uplift.
On paper the Nait 50 is much less powerful than the Atom’s amp, but in my experience that’s not how they sound. The 50 really woke up my Neat Iotas which are even less sensitive than your Dalis. But I do use them in a much smaller room than yours.
If it were me, I’d put ND5XS2/Nait 50 top of my list, but your tastes may differ and you may feel you need a remote. With your little Dalis, surely you could take them along to a dealer’s for a demo? It ought to be worth it to make sure you get best value from expenditure.
Roger
BTW if you do want to try a Nait 50, don’t spend so long overthinking that the ones at current bargain price are all gone.
