Hello, Bevo, I can only speak for the Ortofon ST-7. There’s no noise, hiss or hum - you really wouldn’t know that it’s there.
I don’t know how it works, it’s a tiny black box with no mains onput.
(And it’s small enough that you could hide it, if you choose.)
Mine is on top of my NAIT 50, and just gets on with the business of amplifying the signal.
I had one around 40 years ago when I had my LP12 but still had an A&R Cambridge amp which only had a MM phono input. I used it with an Audio Technica M/C - can’t remember which one. The sound was incredibly dynamic compared to my A&R P77 MM but also unbearably bright. Due to the cartridge no doubt rather than the transformer.
It was banished to the audio bits and pieces box before long and I returned to the P77. The years passed and like so many other bits and pieces it somehow vanished down a black hole. The captive leads with low quality plugs always worried me.
Thanks Graham I must have a chat to my dealer
Did Peter S give you any feedback on them at all ?
Hi, Bevo. Peter seemed happy with the Ortofon ‘box’. I know that he follows this site, so I’m sure that he’ll post his own thoughts, if I’ve misrepresented him at all.
Ortofon did something that looked very similar. To my eyes, it looked like an oversized battery with flying leads coming out of each end.
I tried to find exactly that, which led to my finding the little ST-7 ‘box’.
Knowing the attention to detail that Naim apply when developing their products I would question the suitability of MC cartridges with the Nait 50. Whatever their reason for not fitting a MC stage the amp has obviously been developed and voiced using MM cartridges. These have an overall different sound compared to MCs in general. I wonder if therefore the voicing is optimised for the general character of MM cartridges. Just a thought.
I can only report that, whatever Naim’s intention, my NAIT 50 sounds wonderful with a newly refurbished (by David Giffin at Goldring) Linn Troika.
Given the variety of cartridges available, whether MC or MM, it would be impossible for any amplifier manufacturer to voice their product for either in particular. The Nait 50 only has an MM input simply for the reason that the sensitivity of MC inputs is too great to work in an integrated amp. I am using an MC cartridge into the Aux line input of my Nait and it sounds extremely good. I am using the other line input for my CD555. The capability of this Nait should not be underestimated!
Naim have previously advised is my understanding is that fitting the MC module into an integrated amp degrades the overall sound
Very difficult to have both MM and MC
That’s what I’m currently doing Clive - aux for superline
Sounds excellent to me
That was the Ortofon STM-72. You could buy it as a stand-alone unit or packaged together with the MC-10 cartridge. I have an example of the latter, although still all boxed up and stashed away somewhere. IIRC the STM-72 was the weak link. I much preferred the AT630 or Ortofon’s neat little T5s.
Yes I’m aware that the much lower output of MC cartridges means that it is very difficult to ensure that a MC stage is adequately protected from noise in the environment of an integrated amp.
My thought was more that the amp has been voiced using MM cartridges (well presumably). Obviously cartridges all sound different whether MM or MC but there is a fundamental difference here. Otherwise why bother with MCs at all - MMs are more convenient with their user-replaceable styli and much higher outputs.
Probably I’m barking up the wrong tree but if I owned a Nait 50 I would want confirmation before going down the MC route. But that’s just me.
Thanks for that confirmation, Richard. I think that I had, long ago, an Ortofon MC20, encased in a blue plastic bodyshell. (I’m not entirely sure of this, as I may have misremembered the model number.)
That sounds right - IIRC the MC10 was red and the MC20 was blue.
Not sure… I have listened to certain MC cartridges via a mc phono stage into the Nait50 and they sound sooooperb… really went well together with how the NAIT 50 is voiced.
If anything I found several MM cartridges via the NAIT 50 phono stage ok… but not my cup of tea. heard a Orion 2M Blue on RP6… it was ok and had quite a tight bass but it’s upper mids were disappointing… I tried several MM cartridges and all showed similar characteristics to greater or lesser degrees… the Nait50 is so revealing it can show these up. Now there are some exotic MM cartridges but for similar or less funds a MC gives me the sound I like on a Nait50 albeit via a phono stage. Yes there are some MC to MM transformers out there and there and some very good ones for serious money… nearly as much as the NAIT 50 itself…but to my sensibilities that doesn’t seem a good use of funds.
Hi. A new review of Nait 50 has been published in the best Polish AUDIO magazine. Laboratory: 2x30W, a lot of distortion and extremely high noise.
Sound: calm, balanced, universal. No heating and no brightening.
Where is this extremely high noise? Not sure I have heard any noise yet… very quiet indeed… but I’ll keep my ears peeled for it if and when it materialises. I would say the presentation is forward of neutral so some careful matching required.
Next month, AUDIO magazine will make its NAIT 50 review available online for free. I’ll give you a link to the review in a month. They have a very good and accurate laboratory. The measurements don’t lie, the noise in the NAIT 50 is at a record high.
Maybe that’s why it sounds so good when playing music
Sounds like AUDIO magazine may need to spend a little bit of money calibrating their instruments.