Rega Naia

And with a cue lever too. Bliss!

One obstacle for me would be the need for an extra shelf. Currently I use a Urika, which is situated inside the turntable. This Rega offering (indeed all Rega) would require an off board phono amplifier. But it does look visually appealing.

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I do find it strange that so far not one dealer has also set the P10 up with the same cartridge as the Naia so you can hear them both on a level playing field. Not even rega themselves have demonstrated it as far as i know.

So come on do it or is the difference not that great or maybe not even noticeable???

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I had the aphelion 2 on my P10. It was better than the apheta that is generally paired with the P10 but not a huge difference.

Was with @BasicallySound, two weeks ago, auditioning one or two things…

Their demonstration Rega Naia arrived during the morning.

At some point, Graham set it up in the next demo’ room, with their Naim 300 system, which was left out from their 300 series demo’ session, previous evening.

Later that day, realised it was being used in the next room and curiosity drew me in. Just for fun, Graham played a few tracks and we both marvelled at the “straight out of the box” music we were listening to. We also played several tracks from a favourite David Sylvian album. So, familiar material too.

It was stunning. Enjoyed it more than the 333 + 300 from the previous night.

I was also struck with how nicely constructed the Naia was. Really well engineered, beautifully finished materials. I’m not normally a fan of the Rega skeletal direction. But have to admit, close up, the Naia is impressive. It just oozes quality.

Time was against me and I left Tony and Graham as they were swapping out the Aria phono, to replace with an Aura and then give that a listen too.

Wondering if that was maybe even better? (Must remember to ask them how they got on with that).

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So, which David Sylvian album is your favourite?

Tend to prefer his earlier works…

…Brilliant Trees is probably in my top 100 albums. (Impossible to do a top 10). It gets played a lot in our house. Along with Secrets of the Beehive (1987) and Dead Bees on a Cake (1999). All much loved…

Posted this recently…

Happy listening
R

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your answer is anticipating my question: is there someone who made a ont to one comparison P10 vs Naia? The cost differnce is huge and the diminishing return law could be really severe

Dealer’s should have both, and should be fine to demo it

I’d want to know how much of any improvement is down to the new arm and how much to the deck.

Would it make much difference in practice?

By the time you’d (say) added the new arm to the P10, you’d not be very far away in terms of total price I would have thought.

Interesting experiment though, maybe one for the dealers amongst us who have both to hand!

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At this years NW HiFi show the only Rega I saw/heard was a P8 using a 3000 rather than 800 arm. That suggests the arm matters on a Rega? Moving from Alloy to Titanium surely has an impact? Reading the thread I notice a poster with an Aro & Armageddon was mightily impressed with the NAIA. Surely you’d expect a state of the art modern arm (and PS) to improve on a well used, 30 year old arm & PS? I’d certainly expect the new Rega arm to beat my early Ekos which I chose over an Aro all those years ago. But would it beat the current Titanium Ekos which must surely beat my Ekos. Obviously if you want a full plug and play package you’d just compare the Rega package with similarly priced offerings from Linn, Vertere etc. Others might just need a new arm/PS? Just musing really! I’m sure the Naia is great by the way.

All very good points and some of the reasons why this Aro/geddon user is going to go and hear a Naia!

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I’ll not be the only one interested in your feedback I dare say :+1:

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I prefer the music via my Solstice to when I owned a P10. Different approaches . . . P10 was very detailed to my ear at the expense of some “warmth.” Solstice is just as detailed but overall warmer, perhaps “more musical rather than all analytic” if that makes sense. Of course not just the decks but the cartridges are different – Aphelion2 vs Equinox.

Of course from system to system YMMV, but if given a choice or if I needed a new deck I’d not go back to the P10. I’d listen to a lot of things.

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As I understand it the NAIA is likely on a much higher level than the P10, so definitely would like to see a respected reviewer comparing it with Solstice and LP12 even swapping the cartridges trying them out in each to even things up

Jason Kennedy has a YT video to follow up his Ear review…

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I’m sure they hit 8 belts within 5 years :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye: I’ve had the P8 and I never clicked with the foam plinth. But that arm on the Naia though, beautiful.

Blimey, the best turntable hes heard. Would defo like to hear one.

Three very different approaches to turntable design – LP12 suspension system, Solstice’s 20kg or so platter and multi-layer plinth, and the Rega ultra low mass design. I’m sure with a proper listening comparison people would have preferences and I’m guessing they’d vary.

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Ed Selley is writing his annual long form review for AV Forums to be published at Christmas, and this year he has a Naia sat alongside a P10 on his Quadraspire rack - should be an interesting read, especially as he has his own Vertere (SG-1, I think) to add to the mix as well. Photo screen shot courtesy of Ed’s IG feed…

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