Linn Urika 1 is the answer if you have an LP12. Makes full use of Radikal 1 or 2. I got rid of of expensive Tom Evans The Groove plus SRX power supply worth £5k new to get Urika 1.
Reading the threads I reckon the Superline will be fine unserviced for many many years.
Has anyone had caps gone on Superline? And if it needs repair Naim will repair it. I wouldn’t worry about it. Enjoy it as it is.
Ultimately the Superline is repairable. It sounds like Naim can’t do services on them every 10 years any longer due to lack of parts. If it goes wrong, get them to repair it.
I’ll be tinkering with the SL as soon as im hone tomorrow. ( been up the smoke since tuesday morning). Ive got a extra full suite of load plugs to play with. My dealer reckons 100ohm is good with a linn krystal. Not what others say, but ill give it ago.
Absolutely. I worry about this as limiting the eventual A1 time for my SL but I won’t be junking it until it sounds bad and isn’t capable of being made great again. With Krystal or Kleos, I preferred SL to Ulrika or the Rega, but all are very good so there isn’t much on it.
I was worried about the message sent by making this change to a product that might have been bought new just recently. However, I take @Richard.Dane ’s points and will treat this as a sad one-off, rather than a harbinger of a new servicing policy.
By the time I need a new phono stage, I will hopefully be comparing the Ulrika 5 to NVC-TT3 and products not yet in existence….
Renouncing the brand’s most distinctive feature, serviceability, I would say is a high stakes. I Understand if Superline owners are both upset and disappointed. Think again Naim
oh wow thanks.
Interesting. So the caps Naim used in the Superline no longer available. I see it’s highly likely to be discontinued sooner rather than later.
Discontinued ?
Can you elaborate?
I read your earlier comment that your dealer suggested this, but feel that is entirely different from any official EOL statement from Naim
TBH, like many, been half expecting an EOL statement on SuperLine, any time soon. At least since NVC-TT arrived. But as I’m writing, have not seen or heard anything official as yet.
Not withstanding the fact of recent news probably rendering the SuperLine a lame duck, in the current Naim product collection. (No service available now maybe severely limiting any interest in buying a new one, etc). So, we might all reasonably expect an EOL notice in the weeks and months ahead.
Got this news from my dealer. And yes it is still shown on the website.
The whole debacle over SL servicing has been strange. I understand the issues, but equivalent spares can be found. Just look at the red caps used in olive daughter cards in nacs. Replacements are fairly regular caps. Nothing special.
The inability to desolder is a naim own goal. I hope they have learnt from this.
I also see it is possible to move forward with alternative arrangements, including equivalent specification components or indeed replacement boards. If you wish to…?
( where there is a will, there is always a way, et al ).
Including the facility to pay for such arrangements. As a more reasonable alternative to simply cutting a current product adrift in this sudden and surprising way. In so doing, leaving customers who have recently bought this product stranded - disenfranchised - with a new SuperLine and ancillaries which has suddenly had its serviceable life significantly curtailed.
This isn’t good news for anyone who owns an ND555, or someone considering spending big money on one. As soon as it’s discontinued, I can imagine it will also be added to the can’t service list. It’s not much different than the NDS and the decision to not service has nothing to do with parts availability.
Does it make sense to spend $22k on a source (without power supply) when the company who manufactures it won’t even service it when the time comes. In addition, this is the company who claim their products should all be serviced within 15 years.
Hello @paulbysea
That’s a thoughtful act, to signpost the alternative.
The NVC-TT and its PSU is a fine alternative. We considered this alongside the SuperLine and HCDR as external psu. So, equivalent two box solution .
For my part, would fully recommend this latest NC phono stage, it does everything well.
At the time, we considered the SL to be the slightly better product, for LOMC cartridges. And made our buying decisions accordingly.
Regardless of facia styling, our key criteria was sound quality.
Interestingly, others have reported similar opinions with A/B auditions, including at least two Naim staff sharing that same opinion on this forum.
At that time, last year, we were blissfully unaware that a service issue was gathering pace in the background- within the Naim service Dept - only recently announced.
We may have made a different decision if this news or design flaw had been known at the time.
We bought ours believing it would last a life time. That is, bought a new SuperLine, HiCap DR as power supply and several z foil Air-plugs for Linn and Dyna’ cartridges to save and keep for a lifetime of service.
Now the issue is known I’m told that Naim is investigating further. That’s good news as at least it means that if anything else may have similar issues then some kind of contingency plan could possibly be devised. I guess that the further good news with the ND555 and the NDS is that the most critical parts for service are in the power supply, which of course are in a different box and with no known service issues.
