My guess it it’s the ups and down of the 350 settling in. I know my NC250 had a few days of sounding rough.
Quick Initial thoughts on going from 252DR to 332/NPX300
Even cold out of the box it was better. Lower noise level and more detail. What I like is it’s not detail for details sake.
It adds more (I think this is the best way to describe it) “space” around each instrument and voice. It gives each musical line more room to breathe. You can hear the subtle over tones and under tones. More decay, vibrato etc.
If the vocalist take a deeper breath or adds a little bit more emphasis, or intonation you can pick up on it.
The most important thing is everything holds together better. Nothing sticks out like it’s trying to be “emphasized” so it takes away from the structure of the music. Lots of detailed hi-fi turns into a glorified “air show” and just tries to "show off’ what it can do.
It just sucks you in to a place where you’re like “Ahh, I see what they are trying to do here” and everything makes more sense.
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Just for clarity, you compared 252/300DR with 332/300DR?
It appears that you notice the greater insight - does this distract from the musicality and enjoyment or enhance it? I ask because sometimes being able to discern separate threads can be distracting and lead you to follow a particular thread or instrument rather than the whole. Music is better enjoyed as a whole in my opinion but if the greater insight is not intrusive, it means it can be followed if desired.
It was with the NPX 300. Not 300DR. I think my phone autocorrected. It is edited now! Thanks for the heads-up
The greater insight on the 332/NPX300 is adding to the musicality and enjoyment. A lot of gear that focuses on hyper detail ruins the experience like you pointed out.
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Good to know you heard something. At least I wasn’t imagining it!
This is what I am hoping. As I think I said earlier, I need to do some more listening.
Fully agree.
It might be just me but I’m not seeing a huge amount of love for the new 300 series. The 200 series got what seemed like a mega reception in comparison.
I think it’s early to say. It’s worth noting most of the demos we’ve heard from so far were on kit that was plugged in for a short time and not really run in.
I agree but wasn’t that the same for the 200 series which seems to have got a massively bigger thumbs up early days. The overwhelming feeling I am getting is that new 300 is still running in. Maybe that’s the deal and we shall see in the next few weeks but it doesn’t feel right to me.
It was probably not so surprising that the 200 series received more attention as they were the first products in the new Classic era 
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And the NC300’s price point also makes people expecting more, I suspect. So that fewer people get “wow” moments first time they hear, as did with the NC200. I’m not saying it’s bad, but with higher price, comes higher expectation
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…plus the market for the NC200 series is infinitely bigger than the 300 series due to the cost increase of 300 over 200 especially if you go the whole hog with 2x P/S and 350’s. Its got to be a small percentage of people who can afford to drop that sort of cash in the current climate.
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From reading many of the posts, it seems that the star of the show is the 350 power amp.
The 332 and 333, while both incrementally better than their predecessors (NDX2 and 252), are coming across as just that, incrementally better. If so, they will generate a less ecstatic welcome but will leave a lovely, 500 shaped hole in the range below the Statement family.
Almost like Naim’s Product Planning team had thought of it first …
Best regards, BF
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The step-up from the 252 to 332/300 is much bigger than from 282 to 252. Not incremental at all to these ears.
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The NSC222 replaced the 272, and there was a lot of demand from 272 users for a newer product with the modern streaming platform. People with other classic systems were not in the same boat, as they could just swap a new generation streamer into their system. The new 300 series is going to have more appeal to people entering the Naim ecosystem, or upgrading from the 272, Uniti or Nait ranges. Those all ready invested in classic systems are less likely to be swapping into the new 300 series.
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Don’t believe that’s true.
I spoke to a dealer yesterday - who wasn’t overly impressed by 222, but loved 250NC.
On 300 series their opinion is 333 is excellent, 332 is excellent and 350s are awesome.
As others above have posted, this dealer’s feedback is that the sound of the 300 series is very different to classic boxes.
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That’s fair enough. The overall impression for me is that the word “different” has been used a lot more to described new equipment over the last couple of years rather than “better” or “worse”. It never used to be like that to a great extent. Whenever I listen to anything these days whatever level from my lowly Nait5si at home to a full on CH-Precision / Accuphase / Fink team system that I heard recently, my overall impression is always….“different” 
I think the dealer’s impression is that, like @nicnaim says above, there’s more neutrality/openness to the sound (332/300 vs 252/SCDR).
That is different but also better, surely?
Doesn’t mean anyone with classic boxes needs to jump across urgently, and some may not like the new sound when they audition. Or could require system component change (speakers etc.) to rebalance.
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It’s interesting that you feel neutrality and openness is better. I’m sure many will agree with you but I believe some prefer a more coulored sound. I remember trying an XPS2 on my NDX while waiting for my NDS to turn up and initially it seemed to sound better in detail and soundstage but after an hour or 2, I removed the XPS and preferred the NDX without it. I can’t really explain why, but I just felt more relaxed and contented. Maybe there is a threshold where a system is giving you more hifi than you really want and that the impression I get with higher end and newer kit these days. Obviously this is a personal experience and others will differ.
A bit random but I drove an MX5 a few days ago with a view to buying it as a runabout. In theory it should have been great fun but the reality is I was glad to be back in my CRV afterwards. Maybe I’m just getting a bit boring these days. 
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To be fair I think the 200 series demo systems had more time to be run in before we were knocking the doors down as they were receiving their kit before the official starter’s gun was dropped and the full announcements came. I know some people got early looks and ordered immediately but some like me had to wait a week or two. With the gap between announcement of the 300 series and actual availability of the kit, there was/is a pent up demand to listen before they were even out of the wrapping.
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