System woes

Miele do respond. Although they have replaced outright our range, washing machine and the compressor in the fridge all after many many attempts to get them to work. That does not reflect great build quality.

I heard the E380 recently with Russell K speakers, very nice indeed.

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Hi thanks and yes many years many different components but the NA has one of the most neutral sonics with a few tweaks on top! As with most things if you don’t have a way of hearing these things it’s hard to make a decision, they can’t stock everything! The amplifier was the same I was lucky enough to to hear it and being a die hard Naim lover it wasn’t going to be easy to change! But I loved the sound more than I expected too it’s slightly warm of neutral but still has a forward naim feel more like the old style naim that I used to love! But I was surprised to find a sound that I loved that wasn’t Naim and in one box and no power supplies! I am sure it won’t suit everyone and as you go up the naim ladder there are some amazing systems but that wasn’t what I wanted at the tail end of my love of hifi! Hope that explains it!

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Mtuttleb,

Yes it’s OK I did get that you were joking but just thought I’d take the opportunity to elaborate on my thoughts a little. Obviously it’s each to his own. I’m now retired and it’s perhaps a little ironic that with so much spare time on my hands I can no longer be bothered with the continual fettling required to keep a multi-box set up performing at its best. ‘Plug and play’ is my ideal now. It was all a lot of fun decades ago but now I would rather spend my time just listening to music and going on walks etc. with my wife. Times change - values / outlook changes.

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A gorgeous amp and certainly one for consideration in the future here too. Browsing the Accuphase website reminds me of the high quality Japanese Hi-Fi brochures from the 70s / early 80s :sunglasses:

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Pete01
Glad to hear that from you. Also let’s not forget that as we get older, dismantling and reconstruction (also necessary for cleaning), becomes more difficult and certainly less pleasurable. Those heavy power supplies and the 300 head unit.
That said I am not retired yet, but not far off and we move to France and I will have similar priorities to you like walks with the wife and dogs when we get some more.
My plan is to have a simpler system in our living room probably with an Auralic Altair G1 and my chrome bumper amps (NAC42N, NAP110). Currently i have some small wharfedale diamond 220s which may change. This is very enjoyable and I take the Auralic on holiday with us to the house in France.
The big system that I have in Germany will go in a dedicated room in the basement which is fully insulated and once decorated will be a nice home cinema and dedicated HiFi room.
At least that’s the current plan in a few years from now

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Absolutely spot on and something that took me a little by surprise.

I really hope that Naim get their issues sorted because it is not nice to read the number of threads with these sorts of issues, which as HH correctly pointed out should just not happen with quality products

Miele aren’t as reliable as they used to be though. Haven’t been for about 15 years. Their washing machines and dishwashers seem to develop serious faults just as frequently as the much cheaper rivals. If you bought a Miele dishwasher in 1990, it is probably still going. If you bought one in 2010, it’s probably been fixed twice by now.

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Thanks for the expanded info - very much appreciated. I am keen to hear Accuphase as they do have quite a dedicated following (just like Naim), a timeless aesthetic appeal.

Agreed. Their outsourced warranty technicians say buy Bosch

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Looks great, thanks for write up…. One for me to think over!
Gary

The Accuphase looks very interesting…starting to shortlist integrated amps for demo to replace the 552/500DR to simplify/modernise the system…

In no partic order - Accuphase, Luxman, Dan D’Agostino, Aavik, Simaudio Moon…

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Have you ever tried a Naim streamer at home with your Naim amps?

In my system an ND5XS2 (digital out via DC1 into nDAC) sounds perfect with Naim amps, where an Auralic Aries sounded not so good in an extended home demo.

Well, I have and preferred the Vega G2 to the 272/XPSDR into 250DR/ATC SCM40. I’ve also had a nDAC in the past, too.

Just one person’s experience, but not, I hope, irrelevant.

Roger

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Hello JimDog
I was thinking of an NDX2. I wanted to keep my CDS3 which needs and XPS2 or 555PS. The NDX2 would also benefit from a power supply. The extra boxes and the cost put me off. I heard so many good things about Auralic Altair G1 and decided to go for it. Certainly no regrets there both from a sound and control app (good software) point of view and a single box.

I also tried a Linn Akurate which was also good, but had various functional issues that were annoying and also a large price tag.

What did you use with the Aries? You need a DAC with that.

You might want to add Goldmund, Nagra and Mola Mola to that ‘look into list’. :slight_smile:

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I used the Aries with a Chord Qutest and a Naim DAC.

After 2 weeks I completely stopped listening to the Aries and just watched YouTube music videos via my Samsung STB - it was actually a good time for music discovery.

You may know this, but if you use it digital out, the ND5XS2 is almost exactly the same as an NDX2 - they both use the NP800 streaming board.

And the Int-250 by Pass Labs.

Hi Mark - Do you use the analogue out from the ND5XS2 or do you have the DAC card in the Accuphase and just use the ND5XS2 as a digital source ?