Thanks. This is exactly what my dealer said to me yesterday when I thanked him over the phone after I initially set it up and could not contain my excitement.
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And an amazing album also
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Comparing the Naits in 2014, the XS2 scored higher than the SN2 on the “Immediate involvement with music” criterion. The SN2 bettered the XS2 with respect to “Depth of insight into music”. There seems to be a trade-off between these two aspects of music reproduction, within the Naits.
Further reading here :
https://forums.naimaudio.com/topic.php?oid=32541172442538518&coid=159503632588890
Jan
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Depth of insight is not much use when the amp is un-listenable, removing the suspension from my car would give me a greater insight into the road surface but the ride would be horrendous.
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I am finding the NAIT XS 2 is more upfront than my 5si ever was but on the same token with better clarity, definition, depth and solidity to the sound. If the Supernait2 is dark sounding like 5Si then i’m glad I went for XS 2 in the end as I wanted more excitement than what I have been used too. NAIT XS 2 has answered those niggles for me thus far.
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In the SN2 much better than the first one? The original was significantly worse than the XS of the time, IMO. Nothing obviously wrong with it, was just boring fo listen to.
One dealer once described to me the XS2 as a Mazda MX5, the SN2 as a Golf GT, and the 282/HC/250 as a Porsche Cayman. I kinda got his drift.
Regards,
Lindsay
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Hi Stephen, as you have seen on another thread, I had the ND5 XS 2 and Nait XS2 with Neat SX1 speakers - what a superb system it was! I had the amp for a couple of years but the ND5 XS 2 for just two weeks. The sound was very good but I wondered if there was something better before settling on the ND5 XS 2. The Xs 2s are such a great combo that I knew substituting one of them would disrupt the balance which is why I determined that I needed to swap both. MyNDX 2 and SN2 are excellent - a worthy upgrade indeed, to my ears.
I fully understand the OP’s comments and agree that a higher spec on paper plus great reviews does not mean that it will be better. I would have suggested he considered upgrading his source as well if funds allowed but reading his happy comments after reverting to the XS 2 there was no point.
He is a musician so obviously knows what he considers musical and is once again happy with his system.
It is a good lesson in trusting your own ears. I know that everyone buys into the notion that Naim products do take a while to achieve their best but to me if it doesn’t sound amazing out of the box it goes back!
There is another thread where the ND555streamer is criticised and that costs the thick end of £20k with a power supply!
I think with Naim and perhaps all high end HiFi, that matching becomes critical rather than nice. The more costly, the more difficult to match.
There are several threads now where the ND5 XS 2 with Nait XS 2 or NDX 2 with SN2 are proven good matches.
So glad that your combination is so good!
Anyhow, back to some more listening!
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This is very true. In a roundabout way, I’ve ended up with two regular systems (a third with a used Uniti2 in the games/converted garage). I started with a UQ2/NAP100 with Totem Hawks in my lounge. They went to my office/media room and I got a Nova and Totem Forest Signatures for the lounge. This year I decided to get the SN2/NDX2 for the lounge (with the Forests) and the Nova is with the Hawks in the office/media room and the UQ2/NAP100 was traded in. Anyway, both these systems are nicely matched for the rooms and are both very enjoyable in their own ways. So, I agree that system matching and room matching is very important.
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I can’t comment on SN2 as i’m not familiar with it. My dealer told me it was a big step over XS2 and I believe him and trust his views very much. However, the NAIT XS 2 is a big improvement over my 5si which I have now lived with for 5 years. I do find it odd that the OP hasn’t found an upgrade over XS 2 with SN2. Perhaps a balance with system synergy is a lot more significant than first realised. Indeed, I did not want to upset the balance in my own system which is why I have kept things tight, glad I did as it seems to of paid off. Glad also that NDX 2 and Supernait 2 owners have also found that same satisfaction, as it should be, considering the extra cost!
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you made very probably the best choice. For myself i made an error 2 years before in buying a nap 300dr. It was too much for my room and speakers. I lost around 3 k in trading for a nap 250 dr 6 months ago.
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Consider that the SN2 has way more power supply… it weights 30.5 lbs vs the XS2 which weights 18.lbs that a huge difference and from the pictures I’ve seen it’s all in the power supply. So I can imagine that the XS will break in much much quicker than a SN2. Also I’ve worked in many hifi shops. Most gear doesn’t get a proper break in… So I’ll bet a XS will sound great after 25 or so hours… The SN2 might take 200 hours to really come on song… that just my $.02 worth
The more revealing amp will show up any (relative) source deficiencies which is where matching comes in.
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By this metric, the Statement will never come on song then?
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my source was at that time an SME 20/ SME V tt/arm and nds 555dr. So the unbalance was not there.
It was just that the bass was a bit overwhelmed and the sound too heavy. The unbalance came from a matching with my room, speakers and power amp.
Maybe, but probably a problem I’ll never have.
The run-in was at least 2 months here. Especially the hicap-dr witch make the sound worse in the beginning but after 2 months or so I decoppled the hicap-dr and then I was surprised. The sound was then much worse then with the hicap-dr. I’m no very happy with my Supernait 2 set. So I’m hoping that in time you will do to.
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Hello Murphy.
Whilst my experience is not exactly as yours…
I have xs2, over the last year I added some titan power outlets, hi cap dr through some old spendor speakers, and nd5xs2. All sounded a little better as I added the new’parts’.
I then decided on a speaker upgrade, and bought some ProAc d20r, and purchased some second hand tellurium q jumpers.
Of course speakers need a bit of run in time, but after 3 months the sound was lacking and not the sound one would expect for the outlay and not what I was expecting.
I am not one for listening loud but I gave the system some weekend thrashing to see if I could loosen things up, then reverted to normal listening.
Things got a Little better.
After about 3 and a half months we took a short break, turned everything off and return 5 days later.
Within a week( I put the system on most days) everything lifted.
Now five months on I’m Super happy with the sound.
In Essence, of course my speakers need time to ‘warm’ up and I feel the injection of volume helped but mostly to me it seems the time of all the different electronics, boxes, wires etc to gel all of a sudden clicked.
Two months later it sounds better still and ever improving.
No idea if this is fact, of course.
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I’ve been following this post for a while and I just need to say, I’m not sure where all this criticism to the the SN1 is coming from, it was constantly well reviewed at the time and having had a Nait 5i and a Nait XS then to a SN1 I can firmly say the XS is more Nait 5i than Supernait.
The XS may have the wild punchy ride, but that where it stops, to be honest I think the 5i was better value than the XS, the XS felt only a little better than the 5i, perhaps this is why i like the Supernaits, it is a big shift in sound
Now I loved both of these amps, they where fun, but to say a Xs is better than a SN1 or 2 is crazy, thats effectively putting it the territory of the separates.
And now that we have all this HD music and such great streamers like the ND5 XS 2, I think the Supenaits are really perfect for this, they are just capable of so much, there is so much I hear that a 5i or XS just can’t do.
Perhaps it’s just a preference to presentation.
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Or perhaps putting the Supernait 1 in the “not that great” territory…
I thought we were free to have opinions, vs. what the rags tell us to believe.
I maintain that at the time I felt the SN1 was the most boring of the Naim integrateds. You are right in stating that the XS was more 5i than SN: both of those sounded good, so yes they were more similar to each other than to the SN. 
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