The new NAIT 50 Limited Edition

So my NAIT 50 has moved from where I was burning in, to replace my Atom in my main listening room. I was concerned it may not push the LS50 METAs enough but, frankly, if I go any further than 10 o’clock on the volume dial it might blow the bloody doors off.
Fed from my heavily modded Pro-Ject Debut, or from the Innuos Zen Mini MK3, this little amp performs wonders. The phono stage in particular is phenomenal, offering way more pace and drive than any of the offboards I was using. It puts me in mind of the early Graham Slee stages with it’s sustained control and power delivery.
Fed with HD material from the Zen Mini via the Zen’s internal DAC it’s all about the detail. Tracks like Billie Eilish’s “Xanny” or Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well” go from being cute pop songs to real works of art and the producer’s skill. It can show up muddled production though, specifically in elements of The National’s “First Two Pages of Frankenstein” there are a couple of areas that perhaps suggest the band could have edited a little better in the final mix.
Small, powerful, great looking and utterly essential. This amp is definitely above the Atom for sheer musicality.
Now I have to work out which system the Atom will go to, and what happens to the amp that it then usurps…

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In my opinion, there’s a long time ago, I didn’t read such spontaneous, eloquent and “dithyrambique” comments about a Naim box.
Are still enough Nait50 on the market? :thinking:
Because I want to order one to :grinning:

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Would also be interesting to compare to a 42.5/110 as that seems closer in terms of grunt.

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Interesting comment as I first thought “I wonder if it would replace my 62/140”

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The headphone amp is very Naim Classic in sound . It is better than my old but class A serviced Headline powered by a NAPSC . It drives my AKG 701 headphones but the volume needs to be turned up further , nowhere near 11 though .
Great headphone amp ,clarity definition and texture .

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Had mine a week so it’s time for a review

Listening has been with the LP12 Akurate & Hana SH cartridge as source, speakers are ATC SCM11. It’s had a week of playing the Denon tuner to itself during the day with vinyl spinning on the evenings.

First impressions:
The build finish is lovely, nicely weighted volume control and the source buttons give a retro clunk when pressed. Speaking of retro, if you bring it out of standby without the volume being at zero, you do get a significant pop through the speakers.

Yes, that LED is bright. In my photo the unit is in standby and that is sufficient brightness in my opinion.

Onto the sound then. Fresh out the box it sounded a bit confused, vocals were gorgeous but the higher frequencies were lacking and the bassline of some tracks seemed like it was falling out of the speakers rather than being pushed. A week later and it’s a totally different animal. Let’s get the obvious out the way first, this is not an updated Nait (1) but a modern amplifier in a box that happens to look similar. Comparisons between a 40 year old design and the new design I don’t think would be fair. The original Nait is a cracking amp when paired with a similar age LP12 and some Kans (which I have) but in the context of my modern source and speakers there is more rewards with the new Nait.

What do I like about the Nait 50? Everything! The music has snapped into place now, it sounds a lot more open, the bass is taught (kick drums can be felt on your chest) and it’s filling the room nicely with a soundstage when fed with well-recorded material. ATC speakers are unforgiving of imperfections but the Nait does try to add a little smoothing of the waves in those situations too.

My previous setup was a SN3 with Hicap DR and I’ve done some comparisons but to be honest they are not even plugged in now. Don’t forget this is a comparison of vinyl performance using the onboard phono stages of each amp, the Nait against a bare SN3 is certainly a very close call. With the Hicap connected things are a bit more complicated, the SN3 then has more punch but for my ears the midrange falls back a notch. It’s like having a bigger picture but it’s too much to take in. Switching back to the Nait is enjoyable and surprisingly, the phono stage of the Nait is digging out little details from tracks that I know are in there but the SN3 doesn’t make so prominent.

Yesterday I gave the CD3.5 a quick spin which was pleasant enough and then for a giggle I hooked the Hicap DR up to it. Wowzer… Definitely more listening required on that combination.

One last observation, the Nait gains more bass weight when plugged directly to a wall socket instead of the (DIY) MK socket block so that needs a bit of further investigation, or perhaps I need to scratch that Powerline itch ?

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I like the little Lego deck “Custom build “. :+1:t2:
IMG_7266

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Here’s a closeup. Fluted plinth and I like to think the arm is an Ittok hybrid with black arm tube

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Cracking little deck
I want one. :wink: :+1:t2:

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Does anyone sell LPs small enough to play on it?

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Perfect will build one today. Very nice!

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The more I read reviews here, the more I am thinking about new speakers for nait 50. too bad, but the atc11 are a bit too high for my current positioning…
Maybe I will sometimes start a thread for speaker pairing :slight_smile:

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It goes up to eleven , our work here is done close the thread !

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List of named parts required.
This might kick off like the “ Nipper “ ornaments. :rofl:

I can do so… :slight_smile: I will use round plate without knobs as platter :slight_smile:

Good morning.
It’s my first post on this forum.
Excuse me for my Englisch communications skills.
I don’t know which amplifier to choose: Nait 50 or Nait XS3.
My room is small (12m square). I listen electronic music and rock. My speakers are ATC scm 7.
Down below is specification of my speakers

Sensitivity: about 80dB @ 1W @ 1metre
Max SPL: 103dB
Recommended Power Amplifier: 75 to 300 Watts
I listened my speakers with Nait xs3. I think they need more detail, more point bass and more resolution. Do you think that Nait 50 will upgrade bass, detail and resolution with my speakers.
I live in Poland and I can’t borrow it (Nait 50). I can only buy it. Without trying it.
Can you help me to choose one of them?
Thank you in advance.

Can’t say on the Nait 50, not heard one, sorry. Have you heard an SN3 vs the XS3? I had XS2 then SN3 - the latter had more ‘grip’ and was a good upgrade.

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I cannot say, my N50 is on order and I haven’t heard it yet .

Many of the forum members have been Naim customers for more years than we would like to remember , as a result we have accumulated quite a few chords with Din connectors , very few manufacturers use DIN now .

You may have to factor in additional costs for the two non RCA sockets

My view is that if you are new to Naim a Nait 50 may be restrictive in comparison to the other Naim integrated amps

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Thoroughly enjoying the NAIT 50 which has been running in for more than a week now. Room filling, sparkling sound as others have described above. I’ve now put it into standby mode to test how that works. It does indeed go into standby without a signal but the manual says that ‘music sensing’ will waken it up when it receives a signal again in this mode. This isn’t happening, it stays silent until I press the mains button on the front. Would other owners give this a try when they can and report back, please?

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