Excellent sound. I am running it through a Qutest at the moment but I have bought a Vega G1 which waits in the UK for me to arrange getting over here (France). My study system is where I am considering an Altair G1 to enable synching room to room.
They will replace my Node (s) plus Qutest. To be fair the Node/Qutest is pretty damn fine but the Auralic adds a depth at all levels.
Thanks for that, I might well give one a demo as I have a dealer nearby
Interesting. I really like the Altair G1. It sounds so right to me. Interested to hear your comparison of the Aries plus Vega against the Altair if you ever do that
Indeed. I really hope that Naim can pull through these difficult times.
Another part of the problem here from what i understand is that demand for Naim kit has never been higher, it’s just that certain parts in particular are creating problems for some products.
Yes but I suppose the crux of what @bruss is touching on is whether demand is measured in actual pink slips and back orders or mere inquiries to purchase that cannot be fulfilled.
One of those scenarios keeps the lights on. The other doesn’t.
Of course, I do know it is not our right to know that information, and I doubt that to necessarily be shared (unless of course they confirm they are sitting on a pile of pink slips and swimming is cash with nothing to do).
I see the potential for a nasty chain reaction for smaller suppliers who are unable to supply nearly anything who eventually go under and then their customers who cannot produce anything for long enough or find new suppliers that fast when conditions improve.
Well, in actuality, what keeps the lights on is products delivered and payment received. Naim only receive payment after the product is delivered. Apart from that, I’m not aware of any particular problems. Certainly production is extremely busy, and just some frustration that some product can’t be built fast enough to keep up with demand.
I’ve just received a message from my dealer - my NAP 300 arrived in store late yesterday afternoon. (I ordered in October and have an amp on loan.)
There is hope - don’t give up!
It’s not just Naim or components with chipsets in them. In the mountain bike world, pretty much everything is in very short supply. Back in January I enquired about a SRAM 12 speed cassette, and was given December as a delivery date. And for many bike brands, if it hasn’t been back ordered already, you’re unlikely to see it until 2023.
Personally, I’m waiting on our distributor to get a DR upgrade kit for my 300, but I’m anticipating that it’ll be rather some time to go yet. Fortunately the 300 still sounds good without the DR.
You are two weeks ahead of me in the queue for an ND5 XS2, Stilts.
My frustration is that no-one is giving me any steer at all as to whether it’s likely to be weeks or months. Naim must know which orders it is fulfilling at the moment - April’s, May’s? - but it’s not sharing that with the dealers, I’m told. For some reason, the dealer was told 4 months when I ordered the streamer - and that looks very optimistic in retrospect. If I’d been told 10 months at the time I wouldn’t be frustrated now. I think I’d still have ordered it. (But might not have handed over the full price.)
Naim: can’t you give the dealers better information about backlogs on specific products that they can pass on to customers?
I share your pain! Rest assured, when the happy day comes that I take delivery, I’ll be sure to post it here.
For what it’s worth Naim give their UK dealers lead time updates each month. Your dealer will have a Naim rep who they’re regularly in touch with - the rep will always have the best and most up to date information. Of course, because of how things are at the moment, if Naim themselves don’t know…
Things could get worse - apparently there is now a Neon shortage; a critical gas for chip manufacture.
Ukraine is a big supplier of Neon
Thanks for responding so quickly, Richard.
The dealer says the update doesn’t tell them where they are in the queue for that product - or where Naim has got to with the backlog. They are told when production of their order is imminent, but not how far off that might be if it’s not.
I appreciate you can never give a date for orders in the distant future, because component supplies are erratic, but you know how long the last person who received an ND5 XS2 waited for it and what the average wait is. That would give customers a rough guide. You could manage our expectations better than you do, and that’s all I’m asking.
Perhaps this is something your dealer can discuss with their Naim sales rep.
Right, that’s all very noble, but…
I see what you did there
Hi Richard,
I think you can tell from my last post that I had quite an in depth conversation with them about what they could and couldn’t find out from Naim. When I pressed for this sort of information the conversation became quite irritable and I was told I needed to be patient and it would come when it would come.
I’m afraid that’s why you have so many messages on here from frustrated customers like me. We have no idea whether the dealer is fobbing us off or Naim is fobbing them off. But given the number of similar messages on here, I doubt it’s the dealer who’s at fault.
I think we’re both arguing the same thing here; the information won’t come from here on the forum (the info I get is the same lead time info sent to the dealers) but from Naim - if they can provide it. And the best way here is via the dealer and Naim rep, but ultimately, as you say, it’s probably a case of being patient and it will come when it comes…