Understood and thankyou.
Now that I have the Naim DAC in the pipeline what digital cables do you like? Concentrating on using the Coaxil mostly. I’ve heard Black mentioned but how is there a Naim equal or better? I also currently have a 3 Terabyte hard drive loaded with FLAC files.
I’ll get my coat ahead of time, but that’s absurd. I’d ditch the SN3 and get something like an Exposure 5010 pre with a 3010S2 amp - whether stereo or monos.
Many Naimees will say the DC1. I’ve used probably ten different ones over the years, each with relative strengths and weaknesses in several Naim systems. The most neutral for me from top-to-bottom, IMO/system, was oddly the Blue Jeans (Belden) 4794R BNC-BNC. It just disappeared and wasn’t there. The most electric, fireworks producing was the Nordost Silver Shadow BNC-BNC (discontinued, but discounted on certain sites where available). Man, what a digital cable!
Anyway, prepare for an onslaught of recommendations.
Jasawyer09 -.thanskfor the feedback. I
Naim DC1 of course…
That’s 2 for the Naim DC 1.
Zena arcade, very interesting comment. I’m just beginning with the Naim sound and community. I think it’s may be a little early to throw the baby out with the bath water. I still have a lot of options and am looking forward to them.
Caio
Oh, I appreciate that. I just think it absurd for a dealer to suggest a $7K amp to upgrade a $5K integrated amp that would be outperformed by a number of other possibilities at or below the original cost of the SN3.
Svetty- the dealer was pushing me a toward spending money up front instead of buying redundant pieces. He mentioned the Supercap so I would be ready if and when I wanted to slide into separates. That way I would have the power needed. I wouldn’t have a stack of boxes in the corner needing to resell.
Caio
Naim DC1 BNC.
For me Naim’s DC1, good though it is, was a non-starter because it only comes in one standard length, and being quite stiff, on my small rack it ends up bunched tight against the rear wall, and looks rather ridiculous. I’ve had good results with far cheaper cables from Gotham and Mark Grant, so my DC1 is currently back in its box.
You mention the flac files. Do you intend to play them? I may have missed it, but I thought you had a CD player. If you want to play the flacs you will need a streamer of some description.
Good morning! I don’t have a streamer. I did stream low -rez Tidal through my laptop for a while. However I do have an 3 Terabyte External Hard Drive with FLAC and WAV files on it. Using the Oppo for conversion. A permanent solution is in mind but I want to get my analog straight first.
G
Ah, I hadn’t realised that the Oppo could act as a streamer. Very neat.
Really interesting thread with lots of good advice already. I’ve used a bare SN3 with a variety of sources and now have an ND555, so I can confidently say that the amp is good enough to show the difference between upstream and downstream components. Of course the question of optimal value and bang for buck come into question but, in my view, this is where personal preferences come into play.
I’ve also had Ayre equipment in the past and loved how it sounded. My problem (being in the UK) was the terrible response from the distributor when things went wrong. Ayre in Colorado were trying their best, but I had a power supply issue that really needed testing in real world (i.e. UK) conditions as it failed repeatedly, so not something Ayre could do effectively. Indeed that situation led me back to Naim, and whilst I don’t believe Naim is the be all and end all in hifi, my experience taught me that the whole package of dealer, distribution, manufacturing is worth consideration along with the sound. In the UK it’s the dealer support and Naim servicing support that gives me additional confidence in my purchase long term.
If Naim’s sound is competing with Ayre’s in the US, where Naim generally seem to be relatively more expensive, then they are doing something right! And I understand that support there is good too.
In the end I am upgrading to a NAC 282 as the preamp in the Supernait, although very enjoyable, doesn’t allow me to get all the potential of my ND555. I had the cash to do it, and make a move to active speakers, so the box count stayed the same, so I did. It’s better, but I often wonder whether these upgrades really bring more joy through music, or whether I just enjoy the process of rediscovering my music with different equipment. I hope you enjoy your journey @Gracie.1
Another DC1 user here as well
It’s not very good used as streamer, but as a cd transport it’s surprisingly good IMHO. Granted I didn’t give it much of a whirl as a streamer.
I can use my Cambridge Audio UHD Bluray as a local streamer to, it sounds very good, but the UI isn’t as good as you need to use a TV screen to navigate through the music files. Basically, it can see and play any media file on your local network.