Mr. M, could not agree with you more. Judging from comments from some contributors, many seem obsessed with having the latest and most expensive Naim kit. Although I am reasonably well off compared to the average Northerner with no mortgage or kids, I pride myself on not overpaying for anything, be it Hifi or cars. I started off with a NAC42.5 and 110 combination bought secondhand for £325 in the 1980’s. I added a flat cap 2 and a stage line N. This lasted me for over 25 years. Traded in with dealer for a brand new Uniti in 2009 when they first came out - had a 12 week build wait (no change there then!).
Once I had more funds I upgraded to a S/H NDX then a NAC202/200/NAPSC pre/power. Added a XPS-X5 to NDX after that. Thanks to EBay this got upgraded to a NDS, then a NAC52/52PS and a NAP250DR. also added an ex demo uniti star to bedroom, not to mention the Supernait MkI in lounge with HCDR with the NAP200 biamped to a pair of B&W 702 signatures, again dealer ex demo grade B stock.
Part of the pleasure is adding extra components and upgrading existing items over the years. I must get round to selling off some surplus stuff as even the conservatory has a HCDR/62/140 lurking in the corner.
I do hope that Naim do not loose the excellent customer support and repair/service facilities of old, but from recent comments by others it seems to be going this way. Easier and more profitable to sell new £5700k boxes than offer a HCDR as a useful upgrade to existing kit.
Hope this stimulates debate!
So current Nap300dr and Nac252/Supercap can be had ex demo for £14.5k or thereabouts - absolute bargain. Get them while they’re🔥
They will keep producing the HiCap and other PSUs for the Classic series for some time. So they have the new range, and also ongoing support for the old range, at least for a while.
I can’t see the 300 series being anywhere near £26k. The vitus ri101 is 15k and would be a much better bet
Well current 300DR / 252/Supercap is £21,600
Very different performance
each to their own
I’ve heard Vitus, not for me and no matter what price level.
Hi,
Sorry, no. The MM input on the NSC 222 can not be made a line input.
Yes, it can be MC with a step up transformer. Or MC with the soon to be released NVC TT (same spec as the Solstice version).
When it is turned off in the app it disappears from the input list. This make toggling through inputs simpler. All inputs can be re-named and change their relative sensitivities too.
Me too, my dealer kindly lent me an ri101 for a week or so. Very good and i would have loved the reduction in box count, but in the end, not for me.
No, they don’t.
They really, really don’t.
Cheesy beans?
It’s just a phrase of course, highly likely some people (obviously from the reaction) wouldn’t even hold a can of baked beans let alone place some on a fork and eat them.
Holding a can of baked beans I can do, but I’d run a mile before attempting the latter.
Btw I managed to grab a listen to all three new boxes yesterday so I should perhaps add something relevant to the thread. Got to swap out the NPX300 and swap it back in again and the impact of the new PSU comes through pretty clearly - more visceral, more slam, more music, more of everything really - I could even feel the vibrations through the floor.
I was a bit surprised really that the 250 would provide a lot of that on its own, but overall it still sounded pretty good although the jury’s still out, for me.
For context, I was listening though a pair of Russel K 120s whereas my speakers are PMC 25/23i’s whose presentation I’m much more familiar with. Currently run an Atom so the new units would be quite a step up, but used to run a 272 so the 222 has been of particular interest. Am also intrigued by its phono stage which I didn’t get a chance to hear yesterday.
RE the MM phono input. Don’t forget that Naim’s MM stage design historically partners very well with both Dynavector and Sumiko high output MC. I doubt the one in the 222 is any different. Giving you more options.
Historically Naim phono stages run at +24v. The 222 phono runs at +12v/-12v, so a different/new design.
Quite a step up on an Atom, they share the same streaming platform though.
I felt the standout of the 3 new boxes overall was the NAP 250.
Hopefully in the coming months there’ll be more feedback and more setups with mixed generations in the wild.
My first (and as yet still only) demo of a 3 box setup was driving £70k Dali Kore speakers.
You then often have to contend with dealers shoving all sorts of exotic wires “round the back” to further skew what hits your ears (wait till you hear the £1500 Ethernet cable etc)
I’ve got a few more down to earth demos lined up in the coming weeks. I’m looking at where the greater gains come and in what order, quite likely an NPX 300 on my NDX2.
Alphabetti as a Plan B perhaps?
@110dB Ah, now that’s interesting. Any more info? The voltages are different from the old Classic pre-amp and P/S powered inputs. Can the NVC-TT be used with the old series or is that a non-starter?
Also. Any new classic pre amps will be powered with different voltages, if they are powered from the new classic power supply. The old classic where powered from numerous +24v rails. (Although not sure the 552 is 24v) which the new power supply can’t provide.
I recently purchased a Supernair 3 to be a partner of my NDX 2, I love the green logos and I do not like the white ones because they are very flashy, on my Atom HE the white is very strong, the green is easier on the eyes.
But my main disappointment is that I wanted to add an hicap dr and my dealer said they are not available anymore, also was planing a xps dr for the NDX 2 latter in the year.
I do not want my boxes to be different as much as I like the new look, but I want to make the power supply upgrades on my gear with the same design and logo colors, I do not want to have a system that has two different design approaches.
At least keep the older power supply upgrades available for some time.
Also the new power supply is great but more costly making the upgrade on existing gear not very appealing for me.
Hi sonwleo. Your dealer is mistaken. Naim have said they will manufacture the “old” power supplies according to demand. (All mentioned above)
I will try to talk to my dealer tomorrow, but his reply when I ordered my powerlines this week was very clear, no more old power supply’s available. I acquired my supernait 3 new two months ago, I was very disappointed with this situation because in this case no logical continuity of upgrade pad stoped by a launch of a new more expensive new classic series.
I know things have to evolve, but not in this way cutting all the options to existing and new recently acquired users.
There is always the second hand market, it’s not like they have all disappeared from planet earth overnight.
You’ll most probably be able to find bargains from Naim stockists with ex-dem specimens also.
As George sang, everything must pass.
.sjb