Just went ‘looking’ on Sunday. Yeah right. Ended up with a pair of Audio Physic Compact Classics, last years model, half price. Traded in my four year old Rega RX3’s and ended up with a $500 difference (plus $200 surcharge for stands ).
Sound incredible. Port-less design, which is a must, as the speakers need to be close to the wall. First pair of speakers I’ve had that 100% completely disappear. The sound just floats into the room, no need to close the eyes. Not the final word on bass detail, but it delivers when it needs to. Very resolved and detailed without sounding clinical or ‘hifi’ in the mid and uppers. Non-fatiguing, which is a must for this tinnitus sufferer. Really sweet sounding with my 110/Dac V1 and my highly optimized microRendu/Roon streaming source. Stands filled with sand and speakers Blu-Tak’d. Speakers about 10’ apart with 25’ of Chord Rumor 2.
Speakers had an ugly little black metal sticker with the logo tacked on the bottom. Much better without. Beautiful glass clad speakers, highly recommend with Naim. I’m sure the current 2’s are just that much better.
Problem is I work from home so hard to tear myself away from the living room. I don’t think they’d been played much (came with box, everything) so they keep sounding better as the week goes on. Terrible problems to have, I know…
That has been a huge decision for me, to stay within the Naim ecosystem
or to go outside. I finally decided to stray. I have to admit to an annoyance with Naim that doesn’t respond to logic. Mostly, I don’t like it’s rigid proprietary stance. Typified by its proprietary version of WAV which no one else can interpret. I don’t like that it lags behind the market in adopting internet radio, subscription music and most of all won’t upgrade my Naim Uniti Core. If I had decided
to stay I would have bought one of the streamers and resented that to get the best sound I would have to double my investment and buy an upgraded power supply for it. Just too expensive!
Have you read the reviews on the Berkeley Ref Series 3? Astonishingly good. I think I’m repeating myself but I bought a Berkeley Alpha USB from a guy who had used it only 9 days and no longer needed it because he had changed his mind on the DAC he needed it for. He told me he listened to the Three for about 30 seconds and knew he had to have it, it was that good and that much better. Wish I could afford the Three
A case of middling wine from Majestic tonight, and I finally got round to ditching the PMCs for a pair of SCM40s. I reckon that’s it. Going beyond a 272 + PS into a 300DR involves huge expense, a box count increase too far and an acknowledgment that listening to music is the most important thing in life, when it plainly isn’t.
It’s been an enjoyable 5 years going from Nait 5si to this, and the last year or so has been a hell of of a rollercoaster ride, professionally, personally and on the audio journey. I’m done with it for now.
I don’t like their server either, but (a) it’s just ONE product and (b) the WAV files are just fine, it’s the tagging that isn’t. Naim’s approach to their server does not infect their other products. One can use any of a number of servers with Naim streamers, and to my ears a $300 nas running a UPnP server sounds fine. And their streamers do sound quite nice in and of themselves.
My local dealer sells Berkeley, and I’ll try to hear the 3 sometime – definitely.
I hope that you don’t have to wait too long. Second hand Urika’s are sold quite often on a well known auction site. As a matter of interest, what cartridge are you using?
Yes, she’s back tomorrow I’m not sure how I’m going to hide them she’s in Africa doing charity work in months time for 2 weeks God knows what trouble I’ll get it to.
).
she’s in Africa doing charity work in months time for 2 weeks God knows what trouble I’ll get it to.