I just thought I’d provide an update… my Nait 50 has been more or less continuously since last Saturday… and yes I have noticeably heard it settling over that time… both up and down in performance… I do find that fascinating…
Anyway on Thursday evening, and even more so Friday evening I have been enjoying it immensely driving my ATC SCM 19 driven by DAVE with DNM interconnects… I have missed that Naim sound… but I am fairly sure I am hearing things and balances in familiar recordings I have not noticed before… and my previous Naim was a 552/250…
Yes perhaps there is not as much air as my previous Naim amps… I do notice that say on the Johnny Cash at San Quentin album… but the tonal balance is attractively full… with the upper mids appealingly rendered. Pianos sound wonderful, and so do strings… and percussive punches really punch… think Pink Floyd The Wall. Sure dull recordings however stay dull with no apparent artificial brightness added.
I also notice busy, very dynamically compressed/wall of sound type productions (think Oasis Wonderwall) stay in control and focussed rather than sounding a glaring mess…
Any surprises so far? Well I guess a little surprised by Hiline between DAVE and the Nait 50 just didn’t gel with my ATCs… made upper mid too prominent with some apparent glare and balance not to my liking… the copper based DNM HFTN interconnects appear perfect giving even tonal balance and a natural organic feel that I enjoy.
You are welcome… that is with ATCs which have an open slightly forward upper mid which gives them that lovely insightful feel for me … if you had Dynaudio Evokes for example which are more laid back and recessed in that area , the Hiline might be the perfect tonic.
Some say the LED is too bright? May be a little when in a very dark room but I thought this helps?And looks ok too? (the smallest size eartip from your spares pack). Apologies if already “invented” and posted somewhere above.
Thanks @garcon for sharing this. I always follow your posts with great interest. You now have both combinations, which I am also very interested in: Atom HE with power amp and Nait 50. Nait 50 has a lot of positive reviews with its new sound signature. It is a pure analogue amp and is often used for vinyl (I don’t have vinyl myself). How would you rate it for streaming? The Atom HE, on the other hand, is designed for streaming, without a phono stage. And the Atom HE is much easier to operate than the purist Nait 50, which has no remote control. Here, the volume can only be adjusted directly on the device, which I see as a major limitation in everyday use. In the end, however, it’s the sound that counts. If you have any impressions of the comparison between the Atom HE (+Nytech) and the Nait 50, I would be very interested to hear them.
It’s somewhat difficult to compare the HE and the Nait 50 as, outside headphones, the HE does not have a sound on its own so to say, but always forms and completes its sound signature depending on the power amp section. So if used together with the Nait 50, the HE obviously combines with the 50 preamp and then uses it as a power amp. I have used the SN3/SCDR with the HE in the same way before and liked it a lot. In this case, with Nait 50, the preamps are very similar and that has to be a good start. Used together, you no longer miss a remote control for the 50 when streaming, and you can use a TT in fully analogue mode (here you need to do the volume manually but hey, you need to get up and change those records anyway?: )
But indeed as you say, the sound is the most interesting and wish I had a more definitive answer at this point but my Nait 50 is still not quite fully settled yet so I would like to give it a bit longer. To this point it’s been excellent, be it for vinyl or for streaming with the HE, but the Nytech is so far just pushing a sound that’s a bit larger and deeper and without loosing on definition, although the 50 seems to emerge with some edge on attack and on timing? It’s most fun to switch between the two of them, I can tell you this much!
I am very excited to see how it evolves and more than happy to share!
Hi.
I have a question. Does the Naim system (NSC 222 + NAP250NC) retain the character of the Nait 50 sound but add a little more dynamics and attack? I really like how the little Naim shows space and how it doesn’t compress the reverberations, but I miss its sound a bit more verve, claw and a stronger punch in the bass, sometimes it’s too correct, too structured, too polite. Is the NSC222/NAP250NC system a good direction after NAIT 50? I’ll add right away that I don’t like the sound of the SN3 I had. Thank you.
Thank you very much for your answer. I am aware of the limits of comparability. Nevertheless, I am always interested in your impressions. I’m travelling to Germany on the first weekend in December for family reasons. I’ll then try to get a demo at a big Naim dealer there, e.g. NDX2+Nait 50 versus Atom HE+Nap 250. If that works out, I’ll be happy to report back here.
Oh, nice - you have top toys to play with there, good stuff!
Would they have your speakers there by any chance? Considering how capable and, I believe, flexible they are it could be extremely interesting and even surprising, especially in your optimised setup?
Right, demoing Dynaudio Evoke 20s with the Nait 50… instead of the ATCs… and you know I am really enjoying them… early days… like the bass kick… and the upper mids are nicely controlled with poor recordings nicely presented… and they sound fun… and appear to time well… I’ll post back in a few days… but pleasantly surprised … and I suspect they match the slight forwardness of the Nait 50 well.
With the 20 the high end is probably equal with the ATC (percussion and air), but the upper mids seem to be more forgiving and indeed less obvious than the ATC, but curiously appear as if not more detailed. Very forward sounding productions aren’t presented right in your face.
EDIT… yes they, Evoke 20, are defo more detailed in the mids with the Nait50 but have a more pleasing balance… I have listened to some of my own recording masters… I sense another hifi change coming…
In Naim folklore J.V. had the habit of providing all his wives/girlfriends with a hifi system and had “quipped” that he needed a cheaper amplifier or risk penury.
