I’m disappointed. I was hoping the new NAC would be priced higher to hinder my curiosity.
First time I’ve posted the Recommended Retail prices on here. This info comes from Naim this morning. I can’t vouch for any pricing quoted by others.
The Nds , even if it was the top Naim streamer till 2018, was not a 500 series one. The why I wrote it was a 300 series….but Richard said it wasn’t really.
The Ndx2 is still under the Nds for local streaming. But the new 333 should be logically above the Ndx2.
As @110dB pointed:
“ There’s 3x streaming/digital/DSP/DAC PCBs stacked up on top of each other in the 333.
Anyway, the logical upgrade for me should be Nd555. But we never know. In recent threads someone wrote that the new 222 is at 252 level and new 250 near 500 dr level.
There are only 2 on top of each other in the NDX”
So the question if now the 333 is better or not, for LOCAL streaming, vs the Nds, raised in my head. The 333 is new, but doesn’t have suspended subchassis.
I am not seeing anything in the design of the 333 to make me think it will be better than the NDX2 to be honest. It feels more of a parallel line to match the new boxes. As far as I know the NDX2 is continuing as well.
Glad to see the continued simplification of the line and improved SQ versus box count. And the US prices don’t seem too bad, well done, Naim. Looking forward to the listener impressions.
The yellow 47uF caps do sound good. They have a large physical volume for the ‘CV’ (capacitance x voltage).
The 333 costs near 2k more. It would be weird for Naim to launch a new streamer, 5 years later, more expensive, but not better vs the Ndx2.
But I don’t know of course, just my feelings.
I think someone perhaps assumed the monoblocs were £12,000 each, but @Richard.Dane has confirmed it’s for a pair. So… £28k for a 4-box set up, not £40k. All looks good to me…
Wow - Congratulations naim!
Looks very good and the 350 Mono Blocks are very promising.
“PSU inside” is a bit unusual for naim, but if it works it will be perfect and less fraim consuming
Reading this for the first time, I was a bit afraid… because I bought an ND555 2 weeks ago.
But really doing not think that the new streamer will catch the “older” naim streamer for triple price.
If there is a new 500 series to come … WOW! Love the design by the way
It’s always going to be “better” if you can comfortably afford it to invest in the latest products, that and actually having the time to use it assuming you aren’t working a 100hr week to pay for it all .
Certainly in my own experiences spending short amounts of time with 200 Series products I’d struggle to find anything not to like factoring for the criteria above (time/funds), of which I lack both so have to be thankful to just be able to talk about it all here and occasionally hear it in person.
What is reassuring in the long term is the simpler upgrade path and more sensible range architecture, like a NAC that can power itself for one, it’ll certainly make the trade up steps more palatable for many in the coming years.
My intention is to sit it out and wait for the dealer ex demo stock to start surfacing a year after initial release and leverage the residual value on bits I can enjoy in the meantime.
Will there be any additional new product launches this year?
My experience with naim is you don’t get anywhere near their maximum performance without external power hooked up. That raise the total significantly.
At least all the new boxes work off their own supplies in the mean time, that has to be a + surely.
There’s also more products/ranging to come for those able and willing to go further, they’ve not touched the 500 Series yet as one obvious example.
The manual shows no connection inputs for a psu on the 350.
There isn’t one. It’s not upgradable, like all Naim power amps.
…and how did it sound?
Given the pricing, anyone wishing they’d held fire on their 200 series purchase I wonder?
G
Sharing via my close friend who’s in the music publishing industry and at the show in Munich. He said it sounded pretty awesome, not sure if he was listening to the Encanto Soundtrack when he formulated that judgement
I was wondering that.
It strikes me that the new streamer, pre and 250 will make a cracking 3 box system with potential to upgrade.
The biggest surprise to me is that the pre amp has a power supply.