Definitely get your dealer to check it out.
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If snowfall doesnāt incentivize too much stupidityā¦ or too much additional white stuff on the groundā¦ Iām going to make the trek to my AD on 2/13 to have them take a look at my SN3.
Whether a repair is affected, or an exchange, Iām in love with the SN3 sound and will 100% end up with one. The one I heard at my AD was absolutely stunning for the $$. Nothing else was even close for what is important to me.
I will advise.
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17 inches of snow later, (
) Iāll bring it to my dealer and SME next Saturday.
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Update: brought it to my dealer and their SME on Naim and the issue was verified. Compared A-B with their floor model SuperNait 3. They are going to have their resident EE look at it on their scope to possibly gain a better understanding of what is occurring.
They are a stellar AD and any of you would be lucky to have one like them (Gig Harbor Audio in Washington State).
The item will likely go back to Naim for inspection and repair. Not 100% certain which path it will take. Listening to their floor model of the SN3 reminded, yet again, just how damn good these things are.
I should highlight that, despite this minor setback, Iām still overwhelmingly relieved that a product such as the SN3 exists. Itās what I want. And Iām patient enough to wait for it. Itās worth it. 
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Iād be interested in how this pans out as my SN2 is still sounding poor and with channel imbalance. My dealer here in the UK supposedly checked it out and pronounced it OK but Iām still very dissatisfied with how its sounding (with HCDR and 250DR).
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Though Iām not the thread owner, Iāll gladly post my updates here.
Mine is more than a simple channel imbalance. Iāve written on this above. But Iāll report what I learn.
I half expect it to simply be repaired and returned to me without a ton of explanation. Which would be fully satisfactory for me, but would leave my āupdateā a bit sparse. Lol
Congratulations!
I took mine to my dealer for an A/B test as well; but unfortunately my dealer was not able to spot any difference between mine and the one he has. As we listened, I pointed out to him that the sound coming from the left speaker is different from the sound from right speaker, but he insisted that the imbalance in sound is due to the recording itself and my room layout.
I asked my dealer to send an email to the local Naim rep, and the reply from Naim basically ruled out any possibility that the amp could be defective.
While I am still suspecting whether it is the amp being defective or my ear not being used to the sound, at this stage I think I am going to wait a little bit before I talk to my dealer again. 
Do you guys have any suggestion on what I should do? I donāt know if my dealer would cooperate if he thinks the amp has no issue.
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@BX830 you should ask your dealer to swap his demo with yours, if thereās no difference then it should be no big deal.
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I would bring some mono recordings. Use those.
If that fails, as the other gent has said, I would propose a swap with their demo unit. If all is fine with your unit, this shouldnāt be an issue. 
Iām not bragging when I say that GHA is just a really classy place owned, run, and staffed by knowledgeable, honest guys. Iām fortunate to have found them.
My buddy there was able to hear an obvious discontinuity between channels. But theyāre also a stand up establishment so getting them to stand by anything they sell is just simply not an issue. I should think that this would be the case everywhere, but we all know itās not.
Wishing you some success with your situation. Keep us updated.
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You should have used mono recordings to verify. (Edit: cb01 was faster). And frankly it would have been the dealerās job to come up with that idea
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I agree with the above.
That said, I would not discount the possibly of a room layout effect. Donāt know what your room looks like, but Iāve seen enough systems where you had things such as one speaker much closer to boundaries than the other and that throws havoc with the sound.
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Asymmetrical placement in a room definitely has an influence but I understand that BX830 heard the same (?) difference in the dealerās room:
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Youāre right. I missed the part about that being at the dealerās.
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Agreed. I did all that troubleshooting at my place and my troubleshooting clearly identified the right amp channel being āweakerā. Swapped every single cable, swapped speakers L-R, etc.
Itās certainly best to have conducted this analysis prior to arriving at the dealer. Assuming that this isnāt a homogeneous issue (i.e. that your issue isnāt exactly the same as mine or occurring to the same degree), itās possible some dealers wonāt hear it. But itās a complex issue. Itās not simply amplitude.
It sounds like the right channel is a cheap $200 AVR and the left channel on mine is a SuperNait 3. The lack of fullness, imaging, impact, and holography of the right amp channel was just striking.
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I had exactly the same issue with my 15 years old nac282 after return from service. Its right channel was weaker then left - adjusting balance didnāt help, the right channel didnāt have the same energy as left channel. I sent it back to local AD to fix again. Luckily that they could sort it out. I understand that itās quite difficult to explain the issue. Itās fixed finally after the 282 had to stay at AD for 6 months due to pandemic.
My friend also just purchase a Supernait 3 and got the same unbalance issue. The AD exchanged a brand new one for him.
Wish yours have it solved sooner.
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Thank You for your reply!
I can not imagine going through six months during this pandemic without music, but I am glad that your 282 is eventually fixed.
Right now I am trying to keep my SN3 playing continuously for around a week and see if anything changes. I am also planning to conduct a more thorough test on the entire system to isolate the issue more precisely.
(@cb01 The idea of using mono recordings is indeed a great idea. I have not thought of it before. Thank You very much!)
After your 282 was fixed, I wonder if you had a chance to know what caused the issue.
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Using mono recording is a great idea! Thank You!
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I am new to Naim, but I have known this brand years ago. I really appreciate the heritage of this brand as well as the atmosphere among its fans and followers; not to mention the signature Naim sound which made me realize that this is the sound I have been looking for for years.
I know Naim products tend to last a long time and their quality control has always been brilliant. Therefore I found this issue to be very strange. My dealer measured the output between the two channels and both figures seemed fine, so I am pretty certain this issue is not output related.
From what I have read in this forum, it seems that this issue is very rare. I got a similar response from my local Naim Rep, who first consulted with Naim engineers and then told me that they had not encountered issues like this before.
As a part-time HiFi lover with limited knowledge, I love playing around with different equipments. Therefore I am very curious about the cause of this issue. Knowing there is an issue but not knowing the cause is a terrible feeling for me .
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I find your dealers attitude a bit off to be honest rather than just blaming your set up he should have offered to come to your house with another unit and found out first hand wether your room is causing the issue.
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The 282 issue brought me to olive gears. Iāve acquired 82 intended to use temporarily. Initially inspired by its aesthetic but I found that it sounds as good as the 282. Supercap and nap250 olive have followed the 82. The olive set still stay even I got the 282 back for a second system.
I was told some transistors were changed. FYI, the volume and balance of my 282 were changed before the issue happened.
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