Adjustments are made during the lifetime of a product, according to availability.
The first one with the yellow bits is definitely an r&d unit as it has an 88 serial number; so not a production unit.
Itās smaller too.
Yes. I heard the yellow capacitors are crucial to Naim sound, but Iām unsure if it is true. I can see the original sites were designed for the yellow ones.
I think thatās something that has been said before about Naimās use of Tants (the little yellow bead-like caps), but really no single component can define what makes Naim kit sound the way it does.
Could @110dB please give a short introduction on what design changes have been made to adjust the sound?
Coughā¦err scaling of photo?
Is it relevant? This is a pre production unfinished model listened to by Gary and the collective decision was to change capacitors; for a reason that could be sound quality or cost or availability or long term dependability, or something else, and a combination of those attributes. And probably many other changes, after all, this is an iterative process of making it, listening to it, adjusting it, until itās deemed finished and ready for production.
What you can buy from your Naim dealer is what has been signed off by Gary.
Those particular caps, and their contribution to SQ, were called out though
Just curiousā¦
Who is Gary? Your mate?
Gary Crocker - for many years one of the great R&D ānamesā behind Naim kit
You can clearly see that the cable dressing in the bottom unit is vastly tidied up and thought out wheras the top pic is merely āwired upā.
Iād not read too much into the changes at all. If youāre interested in how it sounds in practice, ask for a demonstration. I rarely if ever open up any gear to pass judgement on the parts unless I have to for some repair.
I sometimes open up a box so I can see the music moving along the wires, that big black burger, little metal bugs and those green biscuits.
To check that the Fairy Dust is still thereā¦ 
Iād be pretty p*ssed of if Iād purchased based on being misled that it contains the same components that are used in the Statement.
Do we know where that second photo came from? might not be real and to be fair to Naim the production one might sound better
Good point. An AI generated fake photo. 
do you know what made me think this? the holes in the boards would have to be in a different place for those caps, so in a way a different board. thats quite a bit of effort surely
Although the PCB might have been designed to take either axial or radial capacitors.