The Naim New Classic Range - Part 2

Hi-Fi Corner
2001

If Naim were to make a remote control matching the quality of their equipment available as an upgrade I’d be all over that.

There are some really good and really bad designs out there to learn from - Hegel offer a nice weighty aluminium remote (but the buttons are tiny and the text invisible). Vinnie Rossie included a very solid high quality remote control with his LIO and L2 ranges. Devialet have a great take on a desktop remote for their Expert range. These are just some examples I’m familiar with.

2002

Did you buy that as a separate item?

2003

Tom Graham from Focal Naim America brought the New Classic 300 series to a local hi fi shop today.

The sound definitely was opening up as the units were played . . . they had been shipped in today.

My general review is that the music was extremely engaging and I could listen for hours . . . and I’d rather hear some different speakers but I had no control over that :). To be fair, I did find that the midrange on those Focals was far from annoying, the overall balance was excellent as was the sound stage.

Naim 300 Series
Naim 300 Series1920×2560 426 KB

Tom confirmed that as far as he’s heard there are ZERO plans for a new 500 series. And that the output of the new 300 monoblocks are in the same league as the Classic NAP 500DR.

17 Likes
2004

Awesome, thanks for sharing Bart. That’s one nice looking stack for sure. (I won’t comment on stacking as most of us know dealerships sometimes have to do this). How was the new streamer?

2005

Hi, need your opinion having heard the 300s.

Would you prefer the sound of NSS333+NPX300 more than NDX2+555PS DR? Or did your dealer say anything about that comparison.

I’m having an NDX2 (plain, no PS) to 552 and NAP500 now, and considering whether adding 555PS DR to the NDX2, or just replace it with the NC300 streamer+PS.

Appreciate anybody’s input on this :pray:

2006

Interesting comparison against 500DR.

Spoke to someone who’d heard the 350 monos this week - their opinion is they are fabulous and an absolute steal even at the £12k UK retail price.

Combined with the 332/300 (which is better than 252/SCDR) the 4 box pre/power are apparently a stunning combination and a great long term goal for us if we decide to move on up.

Of course we’d need new speakers which does make it a bit of a larger purchase :frowning_face:

Interesting times ahead - our current system doesn’t really “need” any upgrades, so do we spend 25k on amps and 20k on speakers for small gains….suspect a high end pair of speakers does make sense first.

3 Likes
2007

It came from another Forum member who didn’t need it, but they can be bought separately for about £800 I believe.

2008

Presumably this was without any NPX 300s?

2009

That’s good to hear :+1:

2010

And I would add-
“And will make your blood pressure soar with excitement and audiophile nirvana”
and in reference to the thread-
Maybe the new preamplifier is not such a big news?!
(compared to the 252/552/52)…

1 Like
2011

Why should it not be big news?
Of course I hope it makes my 252 sound like a 552 the opposite of sounding broken when compared.
Claus

2012

Correct. As you see the bits.

1 Like
2013

Sorry no info . . .

If it were me and in the budget I’d go for the New Classic.

2 Likes
2014

Thanks, I guess I better get to the demo :+1:

2015

That’s very promising. I wonder how Naim achieved such great sound without DR regulators in the streamer and pre-amp.

2016

I guess it’s easy to forget that Naim were making a great sound long before they came up with the DR tech.

11 Likes
2017

And it’s a sound that many prefer to the later stuff too.

4 Likes
2018

The DR was certainly an improvement over the older classic boxes but the NC is just in a different league now. Even at the higher prices they’re a great value proposition.

2019

I am still using and enjoying my old Flash remote. It must be long in the tooth now but still works perfectly.

2020

NAC 202/Hi-CAP DR, NAC 282/Hi- CAP DR, NAC 252/SC DR, NAP 250 DR and NAP 300 DR are bettered by the superior New Classic NSC 222, NPX 300 and New Classic NAP 250 :+1:

1 Like