The Naim New Classic range - Part 1

I’m curious about that too.

I’m sure they’ll sound great but the pre-amp in particular is, to me, pug ugly.
Sorry

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The main prpose of balanced connections is to allow longer runs of signal cable at less loss. It generally performes worse than unbalanced under 3 metres and better over. The implication being that power amps can be placed close to speakers with minimal speaker cable lengths like 1 metre. You tend to see this configuration often with non Naim gear. I’m wondering if this is the intent (and therefore different inductance requirements on the new 250 to cope with very short cable runs) or whether the move to balanced is more “bowing to convention”?

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So should I expect the NDX 2 performance to be inferior to the one of the NSC 222? Just wondering

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Does the fully analog input apply to the line input as well? e.g. for use with external phono?

Also, can the DIN power a Superline or Stageline? External phono is key for MC compatibility.

Thanks!

The speculation around where the 222 fits into the hierarchy is interesting. The comments from those who’ve demoed the amp indicate it’s further up the ladder than some would like to think. It’ll be interesting to confirm with a demo.

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I have no idea, we’ll simply have to wait and see…:man_shrugging:

Was it an engineering or a marketing outstanding feat to be able to introduce three completely different boxes carrying the exact identical price of $8999…?

Aesthetically, the very large volume knob on the (relatively) narrow front face of the 222 reminds me of a spare wheel in the back of an SUV. Why make it so big and then accentuate it in white?

Hope the stuff sounds good.

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Good question!

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Right off the NSC product page :
bitrates up to 32bits/284khz ???
Who is proof reading these things before publishing?
I would bet my life it should be 32 bits/384khz.

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Not sure but with the 282 and 252 pre amps going, it leaves the NDX2 as a streaming partner for the SN3 integrated amp. I could be completely wrong but was trying to clarify what the line up will look like.

Well Mike who knows - not place for future product speculation but doesn’t specifically say there will not be seperate preamps down the line

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Congratulations, Naim! Nice to see the modern updates and innovation trickle down.

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No worries, I get your point. It’s matter of time, somebody will surely compare the NDX 2 and the NSC 222 performance. Also I we need to wait and see if a substitute for the NAC 200 will come out.

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Active Focals, just a guess.

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I think they look great and I have seen them in the flesh this morning. Quite by chance I was in a certain shop in Nottingham when they were unpacking the new arrivals. Turned into something of a longer visit than planned!

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I wonder why they didn’t recess the knob, as they did on the muso’s, nova, etc.

Flush with the fascia would look a lot nicer.

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Maybe an issue with internal space for it. Personally, I’m not so sure I would like that same design on a front mounted control. I have yet to see in the flesh but what they did seems fine to me.

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A nice touch would be to make the Zigbee remote with a nice brushed matte finish. Both of my remotes (Atom and NDX2) look like hell now with scratches and mars. The glossy finish is a design fail, IMO.

The remote for my 252 looks fine still and I use it more often.

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I don’t think so and they are not directly comparable.
May be it’s the new 222/250 combination that works nicely, and I am guessing may be it’s driven very much by what seems to be an excellent 250DR replacement which would probably well rival the current 300DR? The 222 is interesting although I already sense a certain protection of the higher range to come. 222/250 seems like a good package for more difficult speakers, while for other scenarios I feel the NDX2/SN3 to still be as good or better? (External PSU would of course bring their extra performance…)

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