It is one of the things that won me over in my home audition. For sure the S1 Pre did loads of extra ‘HiFi’ things above the 552 like extra detail and resolution, space and depth…but it was the rock-solid sure-footed sense of ease with everything playing, no matter how complex and demanding - or not - it was just ‘there’.
The extra confident locking of things into their timing without micro-wandering with the beat of the larger musical envelope not only puts you at ease from not hearing anything that should not be there and hence not having to subliminally work to listen through to the music - but in that extra stability more musical details and insights appear all over the place throughout the music playing.
…I think this sort of thing you get more of as you move-up the Naim hierarchy. The 552 did this aspect quite well - but the S1 is better - at a price.
Unfortunately Filipe is also Santa Claus getting his credit card out. On the other hand Filipe is very pleased to have such a generous present, with which he is looking forward to taking photos. There is much to learn, but that is part of the fun.
I know exactly what you mean…when I changed from the 272/250dr to 552/500dr turning up the volume was amazing … everything hung together and the acoustic picture held together…especially in complex music… The S1 must lock that acoustic picture…and keep it totally stable no matter what…dynamically this is very important…and must be amazing to percieve at home. When I say lock I don’t mean restricted quite the reverse…perhaps I should have said stable and dynamically coherent.
Actually -if you mean the small item on the table, it is a candle holder for a night-light.
…I do have some gongs and bowls not in the room - as the can sing!
As to Tai Chi - I still do my practice to keep everything working.
Wow, Naim & celebrity live together in perfect harmony!
What a great thread this has been, well done all and congratulations to Peter.
Will you be appearing on breakfast tv, glossy magazines…your own chat show
Hi Dusty, can’t quite believe you found this, well I wouldn’t have not being an Instagrammer.
Indeed John from The Department of Music and fairly local to me popped in this morning to have a listen and thankfully rather liked it ( little did he notice me adding a bit of ecstasy to his coffee before hand ).
Honestly system has settled in well by now and I’m over the moon with it. I would like you also thank people here for entertaining this joyful and good spirited thread, which I’ve really enjoyed hosting, if that’s the word.
Merry Christmas to everyone and maybe the unprecedented circumstances will give us an opportunity to enjoy our music even more.
All the best Peter
Yes, I am that person. Just haven’t been on the forum for quite a while. I do indeed still have the S600s, well remembered!
Nothing has changed in my system for probably 3-4 years although an ND555 may be on the horizon next year. Would probably also remove the NDAC and plug the two optical inputs into the ND555 then allowing me to use both 555PSes on it.
I think I was the first Naim customer world wide to buy “just” the S1 pre rather than the pre/power combination. I like the active sound and three sets of S1 power amps would be at least an order of magnitude out of my price range!
ATB Peter
…??
ATB Peter