I have only enjoyed the SN2, and for very little time, because it failed quite crashed quite a bit and I have returned it to the dealer, who will send me a SN3 new brand unit as soon as it is available, let’s hope…; but from what I have read and commented on, I would say that the jump from SN to SN2 is quite important, long much larger than that of SN2 to SN3, although I hope to experience the latter personally shortly, we will see…
Cheers.
Just pulled the pin on a s/h 2018 SN2 at a good price. Hopefully I have made a good choice.
Normal WHF nonsense! Why test with ND555? This amp is clearly a match with NDX2 or ND5 XS2.
Again, just a superficial review which doesn’t look for short comings or comment on him levels or channel balance at low level.
Where are the true reviews these days? I don’t want fan boy reviews or “I must not annoy the manufacturer to justify my position” BS.
I long for realistic reviews that point out the bad points as well as the good plus real world comments on positioning idiosyncrasies as opposed to statements similar to ‘as long as you allow 250mm or so from a wall’. Why not describe the effects of tight against the wall or further out?
Ah well, rant over, time for another Guinness!
Hi @rich, yes an excellent choice. I loved my SN2, my SN3 was a very good deal price wise so worth the upgrade. However, I have sent my second SN3 back to Naim due to unacceptable channel imbalance at lower volume levels.
The SN3 uses the same ALPs volume pot as the SN2 yet my SN2 had excellent balance at low levels.
Enjoy your SN2 you will not be disappointed.
I thought this was due to burn in period of my sn2, but reading so far other comments with regards to the issue, seems something is really wrong there, and continues with sn3 as well apparently. As much as I tried to convince myself in beginning that everything was ok and probably my ears were somehow adapting to the sound while the unit was settling, I simply could not resist and had to adjust slightly to the left, this is the position in which the balance is in the perfect middle sound wise, probably 5 degrees or so to the left. Simply cannot understand how is this possible with such a high end amp. Nothing bad, just an odd position of channel balance.
Mine is in exactly the same position, but I think it is my ears!
Reverse the speaker cables and you’ll find out!
I only really notice on headphones, when on speakers I normally shuffle an inch or two on the coach.
I carried out another test - I switched preamps from the one in v1 dac (sn2 in av bypass mode) and then back to sn2’s own preamp, it was very clear it needed an adjustment when back to the latter option.
Hi @realdpg, don’t worry, your amp is not faulty. The fact that you have to adjust slightly to the left as opposed to directly North or 12 o’clock does not matter. The balance control is developed to allow compensation for the ALPs volume control.
Providing that the sound is in the centre, according to your ears, at all volumes means the amp is OK.
In my case, at very low volume my balance control would be at 5 o’clock! As the volume is increased my balance control would need to be 4 o’clock, then 3 o’clock etc. A faulty amp (like mine) requires balance adjustment for each change in volume.
I read that Naim prefer the sound of discrete resistors that have a 5% value tolerance with respect to their nominal value as opposed to the more precise 1% tolerance of more expensive resistors. They claim that they take 5% resistors and measure them, using only the ones whose value is close to the nominal value. I would suggest that their refinement process is not properly quality controlled. A 1k ohm resistor with 1 % tolerance could have a value of between 990 ohms to 1,010 ohms. 5% resistors can have a value of 950 ohms to 1,050.
This is a principle that they adopt rather than the fact that this applies to the ALPs volume control but still you can see that there is a 100 ohm swing versus a 20 ohm swing possible which could possibly account for the issue.
I do like Naim and am convinced that there are new SN3s that will perform correctly in terms of channel balance but how many do I have to try to achieve this?
I do at times listen at very low levels so this is an issue to me. others who may only listen at relatively loud levels may never notice the problem.
At £3,500 or so I expect Naim quality control to be much better!
Hi @Hollow, I did try this and obviously the balance control would need to be set in the opposite direction.
Hi @Mike_S, unfortunately my couch is only a 4 seater -
I would need to shuffle to the far corner of the room to correct the problem 
Thanks for your comments Bjm, this sounds bad. Balance is constantly in this position on my sn2, regardless of volume control position.
You can turn the display lights off on the balance knob though, then you’ll never know 
why not turn a speaker a little on the left or right side? adjust the balance with speaker direction.
Great news, that confirms that your amp is working correctly. After all, why include a balance control if it should always be at 12 o’clock?
Even if I had to set mine to 5 o’clock I would be happy if only it was consistent.
Ha ha, indeed the only problem with mine would be the fact that the balance would require constant adjustment with volume increase.
We’re on holiday and we’re staying 5 minutes away from the dealers. I might pop around for a cup of tea.
Great excuse Mike…what’s your back up plan if you buy something😉
How much can a cup of tea cost 
