If anything, that would probably reduce brightness due to less room reflections.
There’s no way to quantify what kind of improvement you’d see, as its all dependent on what your current line quality is/gear/room.
Is this brightness all the time or just on certain tracks? There are lots of bad/poor recordings that are bright sounding, is the setup just revealing these bad recordings? Do you have any room pics, is it full of hard reflective surfaces? You mention a coffee table in front of your listening position, this is never a good idea (again, large hard reflective surface). Have any speakers sounded good on the SN3 in your specific space? I don’t find NACA5 & the stock lavender cables to be the smoothest on the top end, so that could be contributing (as mentioned, poor termination of NACA5 can also be an issue). The Bluesound node’s internal DAC is also likely not the ideal option & could be adding to your problem. Could be a number of small things that are adding up to be a bigger problem for you. Might take some trial & error to see what solutions you can find.
Brightness on bad recordings for sure,and mediocre ones also sometimes.
Something like Van Morrison Moon Dance album sounds terrific streaming Tidal.
But some Wes Montgomery recordings sound thin and bright.
I used to have a Yamaha as1100 with Harbeth p3’s that sounded good in that same room,but lacked bass.But I do believe I can smooth out my sound with cables and dac for sure.I really like my set-up,but it’s too bright and lacking a little in the midrange.So yes,a number of small things are adding up it seems.
Have you put any fill into the stands ?
Are you using any floor protectors between spikes and floor ?
Are you just sitting the Neats on the stand or are you using blue tac ?
No blue tac. Thin rubber on each corner of the top of Kudos plate that’s stock. 3/4 filled stands. Base pad feet mat protector between spike and floor.
It sounds like a set up issue to me.
What did you use in the stands ? Sand ?
And I would try some Blue Tac you won’t need much
A piece about the size of a pea and cut that into 4 pieces ( bony use fun tac or any of the other off brands )
Also try putting something else between spikes and the floor ( unless you are on carpet )
Are you floors wood or are you on tile / concrete?
Ditch the cones and try the spikes the S 50’s came with
There is a matching floor protectors for the Kudos spikes it actually holds the spike by the sides of the point
Bamboo floors are good but since the dimple rating of bamboo is so high I tend to treat them as if the were concrete so don’t spike the speakers directly to the floor.
Can’t say but if you can get 6 of them on trial it might be worth a shot.
As a dealer I can’t make brand name recommendations due to forum rules but I can say I would try them.
I always like to try the cheapest pieces first ( The Kudos spikes ) and if I find they make a positive change to me then I try things that might cost more.
I forgot to mention that my Naim naca5 speaker cables are bi-wired with an “F” shape that goes to the speakers,but I only use the top 2 connectors from the cable to the speaker binding posts. Is that a problem? Should I cut off the top part of the “F” to make it single wire?
I read that Naim discourages the use of bi-wiring.
I have the Neat Petite 30’s ( small bungs left in as recommended ), Supernait 3/ HicapDR combo and Naim A5 speaker cable
Slightly out from back wall and slight toe in ( speakers come with recommended instructions from Neat) on Custom Design FS103 stands made in UK. Central columns 2/3 filled with their recommended inert filler
Plenty of run in time
Slight brightness to begin with ( most speakers like this anyway) but now brilliant
I’m very happy with these speakers
Maybe ribbon tweeters not your thing although the Petite Classics have I believe the same tweeter and you mentioned you liked those?
Bob the owner of Neat listened to all the 100 pairs of the 30’s and signed them all off.
Not sure where the issue is with your pair, more than likely a room issue maybe