High SPL seems analogous to drinking cask strength single malt undiluted. An intense and interesting experience - that oily texture! - but the numbing effect of the alcohol makes it limiting and unsatisfying.
Indeed a complex distilled spirit / fortified wine will have an amalgamation of subtle tastes that we can savour, whether it be whisky, whiskey, cognac etcā¦ however if we are inebriated we are unlikely to noticeā¦
High SPL distort and attenuate are hearing, and so we canāt hear nuance and subtle detail that a quality replay system can deliver.
Sure very high SPL and being inebriated can deliver a visceral and intense experienceā¦ not necessarily good for our health, but we donāt need high end hifi, and cheap corn alcohol will equally do once we are drunk.
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Very true, though I was thinking of the numbing effect of alcohol on the taste buds rather than outright inebriation 
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Itās horses for courses - sometimes the sheer visceral emotion of high SPL is the right therapy, other times you want a more nuanced experience.
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Donāt disagree, you just donāt need high end hifi for high SPL because our hearing becomes constrained and distorted anyway with suchā¦ you just need high sound pressure speakers and a high wattage power amp with good peak response.
But the OP was referring to transparency and punch as opposed to necessarily high SPL. Transparency and punch are synominous with each otherā¦ you canāt have transparency if there is no punch if in the recording, and as such for example when appropriately speaker and room matched the N50 achieves this.
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I didnāt audition the nait 50 so I really cannot compare it with something however I auditioned the nc250 and i didnāt perceived any lack in openness, transparency or other attributes usually used for low powered amp. On the contrary I think he can give you everything that your preamp is giving him. I do believe that matched with 332 is the best naim sound ever
Sure, itās about personal preference, I certainly had no issue with my 552DR / 250 setup ā¦ although in hindsight compared to non integrated approach I think my nod went to my 252DR/250 overall ā¦ it just felt just a wee bit more relaxed and at ease with itself across a larger gamut of production styles.
I would have thought open ness and transparency is as much to do with speakers, room as well as amp, and not really a power thing.
I suspect itās more about many using smaller amps for near field listening, as opposed to far field listening. With near field listening it tends to be a more intricate and intense experience, as the effect of distortions/reflections from the listening environment are minimised, almost like high end headphone listening.
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Sometimes we tend to think that warm is relaxed, to me warm is really amazing but is a lie, not real. Extended flat bandwidth and the fastest slew rate is what we need for the truth. Real sound coming from an acoustic instrument it doesnāt rely on condenser, it doesnāt have speed limitation. 250 is really fast amp, it is not relaxing it is realistic. I m curious about the new rega, tha actual Osiris is really good but definitely on the slow side.
Warm is a lie, and so is brightā¦ however mastered tracks are EQād sometimes to an average profileā¦ but warmth, which is often 100 Hz to 200 Hz , can be attenuated in production, as otherwise it can result in a muddled presentation in playback, if it becomes prominent compared to the associated higher frequenciesā¦
In other words commercial recordings are manipulated and eqād to sound appealing on domestic and personal replay equipmentā¦ it is indeed a lie. There is also anecdotally a āhifiā eq profile which is attenuated mid frequencies compared to bass and trebleā¦ this gives an exciting faux detailed presentation on replayā¦ you may find your favourite singer song writer tracks have this appliedā¦ with a bit of emphasis around the vocals that will be compressed.
The other aspect is that our hearing response is not flat with respect to pressure, and becomes the systems we deal with have non linearities then processing is required, and the Harman Curve is an example of thisā¦ with eq and of course multi band compression to stop maskingā¦
So yes our hifi systems when playing commercial recordings replay a lie to make the recording sound more real and larger than life, and most importantly, enjoyable.
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Interesting: I have always thought of āwarmthā as somewhat attenuated towards the upper end (which of course aurally is equivalent to proportionate boost towards the bottom end) - perhaps an even slope across the frequency range, perhaps rather like the target room response sometimes referenced, I think by REW amongst others.
I am referring to music production and mixing experiences and techniques. Attenuating the higher end uniformly tends to dull a recording rather than make it specifically warm. Yes EQ is about relative levels across the frequency range - which of course is of course logarithmic.
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Interesting views and food for thought.
Let me then ask ā¦ is it the attributes of the small amp design or could it be that most of the systems we use are just a bit, well, āoverpoweredā for the rooms they live in? Power is so much more available and comes cheaper these days, we are being sold more power as a benefit, headroom and all that?
Since starting this thread Iāve been swapping amps in my main and smaller rooms and while I get the idea of a small amp offering some more intimate engagement and near field-like experience in my office, I actually hear less difference between amps there? Ironically, what I cannot quite get is why a smaller amp would sound better in a larger (in my case 25m2 or more) room? More open, insightful, colourful and relaxed, and all that without shouting at you? Could it be that a small amp, when high quality/reference level, to put in non-tech hifi terms, gives the system and itself more of an opportunity to āsing its heart outā, while my tighter sprung and eager NC250 pushes the volume before having a chance to reveal the poet inside?
Warmth? Well my smaller amps may be sound slightly warmer which could well in fact be a perception of what I describe above (open and colourful - but not coloured).
And the Nait 50 is not a slow amp, not at all and thatās much of what I like about it and why I could let my Nait 2 go.
And, to be clear, to my ears the Nait 50 is not a match for the NC250ās āpunchā, lower end depth, control and impact, in both rooms.
And the NC250 and 222 look and work overall so good together.
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I think you make a good point re the use of large power in small rooms. If I look at the comments on here, including my own we all seem to use no more than 9/10 oāclock on the dial. If I was designing an amp Iād expect the sweet spot for normal listening to be somewhere in the middle. I have never tested my theory though as 12 oāclock would just be too loud in any of my systems. 
i think this is maybe more a limitation of the alps volume pot. i have a 222/350 and play classical mostly at about 48% room c50 sq m
In my view where that is the case with average speaker efficiencies it is bad amp design, no re-evaluation of amp gain following introduction of digital and external head amps. A great facility one amp I had, a long time ago now, was separate user- adjustable gainā¦
Brilliantly chosen examples and eloquently put Max. I agree completely. In most domestic rooms, ānaturalā bass sounds as they might be experienced in a real venue arenāt replicable, so when it comes to home listening itās often best to sacrifice absolute deep bass for a bass that retains coherence and (most importantly) supports the upper frequencies in a way that allows them to sound realistic.
At the recent Bristol HiFi show I heard so many dreadful systems that attempted to do the impossible and failed miserably. On the other hand, Russell K Red 120SEās on the end of a powerful Accuphase integrated produced bass that gave enough, remained coherent and blended with the other frequencies so sweetly. It never put a foot wrong and was always convincing. The star of the show for me.
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Personally I think using the Alps blue was a bit of own goal and the Nait 50 is good enough to have benefited from something with a bit higher up the tree performance wise. No doubt the bean counters saw the benefit of synergy across products with the blue alps but itās certainly not pushing the boat out or chasing audio performance itās about the minimum level pot you would expect in a budget audiophile product. A Ā£500 amp yes not a expensive limited edition. Certainly itās something I might investigate swapping out in the future for a TDK or Audio Note alternative unfortunately there doesnāt look to be enough room for a Gold Point or Khozmo attenuator.
Thanks! And I add another 2 cents: well recorded double bass sounded wonderful on my nSats (any of the 7 pairs 
), without any sub.
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On the other hand some music carries emotion in the deep bass - quite common with prog rock - and simply sounds better with it.
The subject of sound level is an interesting one - I tend to err towards what I feel are realistic levels, akin to a good position (in my view) in a live performance, where live may or may not mean amplified. However for the sake of my ears I donāt play heavy rock like that for long periods. Yes playing loud temporarily dulls hearing, but for heavy rock it is unrealistic and less enjoyable quiet, by which I mean still enjoyable but differently and not as intensely. Of course we donāt all need intensity at all times. With some music, dramatic classical orchestral in particular, dynamic range is of great significance, when music can be ppp one moment and fff another. One interesting recording I have is the 24 bit release of Telarcās 1812, where with many systems it is necessary to play the main orchestral parts unrealistically quietly in order not to risk speaker damage with the canons. It is delightful, and brings the overture into its own, with a system where the orchestra is at a realistic level, and the cannons have the impact of cannons firing, undistorted/uncompressed by the speakers.
On the thread subject of punch and transparency, a huge amount depends on the speakers (and as Simon said that inevitably includes the elephant that is the room. I have since very early in my hifi career been drawn to āmonitorā speakers, which excel in clarity, which is how I interpret transparency. And they can also excel in punch, at least, significantly, as you go up the scale (forget focus on āsource firstā). The amp simply needs to be adequate for driving the speakers, however if the speaker is a difficult load (not uncommon with good monitor speakers), then the amp needs to be able to provide adequate drive, and that is where power comes in - not in ordinary consideration of RMS power at rated impedance, nor even peak power capability for te loudest peaks, but whether the power amp unflinchingly provides power doubling as impedance halves - people often express this as amps (current not abbreviation of amplifier). If the amp is inadequate the music suffers, and all toocommon advice is to get less demanding speakers, whereas really what is needed is a more capable amplifier!
I suspect most quality amps can drive significantly varying impedances well (so called difficult loads ) these days. Itās not about power but gain consistency ā¦ otherwise certain parts of the frequency range could fade or be high lightedā¦ and you can get shouty, dull or otherwise non engaging presentations etcā¦
However speaker impedance responses I believe have improved too as design simulation tools have improved ā¦ also helped by improved cross over designsā¦ which can otherwise soak up a fair amount of real power and create heat. With passive inefficient speakers or passive highish power they can lead to not insignificant cross over component warming and small voice coil warmingā¦ and as they heat the cross over response changes, and cause distortionsā¦ often with passive speakers itās best to keep power reasonably low. If you need high power itās often best to go active.
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