The Naim New Classic range - Part 1

I am loving having a volume control that works. Talking purely about functionality not sound quality here.

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The Gain has been changed (reduced), compared with, say, a 282.

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Thatā€™s no use then - mine is regularly set to 11.

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Yeah, but now the Volume goes to 13ā€¦!!! Two louder, innitā€¦

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Ah, wasnā€™t aware - cheers. Order now placed.

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I am listening anywhere between 45 and 55 on the 222. Never past 9:30 on the 282 but also it is much easier to set the perfect volume without going from to quiet to deafening

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The sound quality is better

As I saidā€¦ :expressionless:

@110dB has confirmed that the overall gain has been reduced by Naim, on the 222, compared with such as the 282 or 252, etc.

(now +16dB, was +22dB, I thinkā€¦)

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That would not be a fair comparison either, unless your giving the 2nd item, in this case the 282 a couple weeks/same amount of time as well. The human brain adapts, so if you listen to the first item exclusively & only give the second item a short listen, chances are good youā€™ll prefer the sound of the item you listened to longer.

I know there have now been a couple new owners here that have posted comparisons to higher up gear they havenā€™t owned for several years. These comparisons are not valid, as they both owned lower level gear for the past couple years, their reference will have changed to their current gear.

This is getting a bit off topic but while I believe in break in, I also very much believe in the human brain breaking in & have first hand experience. If youā€™re listening to your new piece of kit the whole time its breaking in, there is no way to tell if its the gear breaking in or your brain. When I break in new gear I try to do it while not listening, this way I can confirm the changes are from the gear & not my listening adjusting to the sound. In my experience Iā€™ve never had a piece of gear take hundreds of hours that some manufacturers claim. Typically 10-20hrs is all it takes.

Unfortunately, science says otherwise

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I would argue that if you have to listen that carefully (A-B-A) comparisons, listening for a few weeks to each etc to tell a difference then the difference is not that great. :wink:

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At one time science stated that the earth was at the centre of the universe.

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Yes, I wasnā€™t implying you need to listen that long to tell any differences, as you say if you do the differences are rather small. More so that your brain adapts/compensates so listening to one extensively & the other for a short period of time is not a fair comparison.

Generally Iā€™ve found if I donā€™t like something from the get go, itā€™s more then likely because it a big departure from the sound Iā€™m use too & probably not something I want my brain to adapt too. Couple examples:

Bought a power cord with Rhodium plated plugs. Initial impression was the sound was too bright/ forward. Swapped back & forth with old cord & could confirm. Let the new cord ā€œbreak inā€ all was sounding a bit better/smother. Out of curiosity I swapped the old cord back in to see how it sounded & it now sounded very recessed/dark. So it wasnā€™t the new cord breaking in, it was my brain adjusting. Didnā€™t like the fact the new cord was making the system brighter, left the old cord back in & after a few hours, no longer recessed/dark sounding.

Another example, had two systems setup in the past, the second small system was with small speakers in a far too large room, had to run them close to the wall for some bottom end but this resulted in an unnatural bump in the mid bass, that was very obvious. One week I listened to this small system exclusively & guess what, each day it was sounding better (all long run in gear), after 4 or 5 nights I noticed there was no longer a mid bass bump. Thought thatā€™s not possible, sure enough go & listen to my main system & it now sounds like thereā€™s a suck out in the mid bass.

As you can see, your brain adapts, thatā€™s why I feel a lot of comparisons not to be valid & have issues with people speaking about how much their new piece of equipment has improved after XX hours when they have been listening to the piece of equipment the whole time. In general if a new piece of gear is a real improvement, you should noticed it basically straight away.

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@110dB the itch did get me. Ordered a pair of these Designacables to tide me over until the Naim ones are available. They are 4 pin din to XLR to connect the Supercap to balanced amplifier.

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Thanks for explaining, about Nap 250.2 and Nap 250 Dr

Does it also apply to Nap 200 DR and say Nap 100 ?

What about the new Uniti Nova range ? Super uniti ?

Which Naim products mandate the usage of Nac A5 type of cable and length min 3.5 meter ?

Yes, all those have Zobels, and output resistors.

The min length of 3.5m is now a sound quality recommendation. Easy to try!

It is really just vintage Naim amps that require NAC A5 and >3m cables for stability (instability will make amps get hot and not sound good due to very high frequency oscillation).

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I really cannot quantify it, as I thought the Atom HE was good with the 40 actives. I have no idea, how long burn in might take with the 222 and 300. No, not using headphones, but then I never did with the HE. As for the step up compared to 4 HEā€™s, well like most step ups, it is the law of diminishing returns. However, maybe the run in will make me say ā€œStunningā€ :grinning:

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Apologize to ask an obvious question but what range is a naim vintage amp ?

I am quite pleased as I have vertere speaker cable in my storage

Going to try this now !!! :grin: on my beloved 200DR

Thank you for the confirmation you made my day

In usage Iā€™m sure, I much prefer usage on my SU volume.

Pure sound performance however Iā€™m quite sure you wonā€™t get better than the analog preamps.

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Well the statement volume control is better than a 552 !

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Currently running NSC 222, NPX 300 and ATC SCM40A :grinning:

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