When Your Dealer Says There is no Need to Upgrade!

@Bjm We have a family Qobuz account and Apple Music. The Apple Music is part of our service bundle. My husband still uses Apple Music on his devices. When it comes time to renew I may switch to individual b/c he never uses Qobuz.

I don’t understand Roon and can’t figure out what if would do for me/us.

Just stop actively buying things.

Any upgrades that I do now are based on serendipity. If something of interest appears, pre-loved, with a dealer I trust.

So far… (in reverse order) Linn Kore, Linn Lingo, Naim 523 E boards, Kudos X3’s. None were really expensive… :astonished:

Yes, that would be a good idea. Do you have a Qobuz sublime account? I ask because I recently upgraded to this so that I could get a good discount on some of the albums that I wished to purchase as a download - we do not know how long individual albums will be available to stream.

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A feeling of contentment, which is priceless.

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You’ve either got a good guy or your wallet is empty. :zipper_mouth_face: :rofl:

@HungryHalibut For years I chased after audio perfection as a compensation. My goals have changed. Now it whether the system communicates the essence of the music. Chasing after audio perfection can get expensive and illusionary. I find simplicity in audio is often better.

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Exactly. If it doesn’t communicate, it’s worthless.

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@Skeptikal I could afford to upgrade but choose to follow my dealer.

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Good on him for respecting your wishes.
I also think audio perfection is a personal illusion.
I too am happy to engage and know where to stop. :+1:t2:

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@Skeptikal in fairness it was the dealer who took the initiative in suggesting no need to upgrade after i raised the idea.

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Also visually impaired.

My first reaction to reading your system list was that it’s beautifully balanced. You could doubtless insert additional individual components in there and hear a change and maybe even a change for the better but you will almost certainly unbalance what you have and find yourself chasing extras to balance it up across the board when the solution would be to revert to your original system.

Had a similar conversation in writing with a dealer recently who was very clear in their advice that a Nait 50 was a sideways move.

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@mikehughescq i rejected the Nait 50 when first meeting with my dealer to choose our first Naim system. I wanted a balance knob that the Nait 50 did not offer. I was also concerned about running out of inputs, should I add later. I never listened to the 50.

I just noticed your a happy Supernait 3 uses like me. :+1:t2:

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@Skeptikal Yes. I also like the fact it has a headphone amp built in. I should be getting my Utopia soon. I thought about the Atom HE. But there were too many issues of integrating my sources in conjunction with the SN3. I am sure the pairing of the SN3 with the Utopia is not as good but for me it will be good enough.

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Given the general atmosphere of the reactions above, I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to in fact do point to something in your indeed wonderful system?

Not so much about upgrading which as your dealer said is not really necessary (although I could slip in my enthusiasm about adding the nDac and DC1 to the ND5 XS2), but about maintenance of the oldest item in the chain.

The Rega P9 is a lovely deck and like all machines needs maintenance. Its PSU may be over 10 years old and could use a recap. Also the bearing is known to benefit from a thorough flush-out and new oil. Retightening of everything to recommended torque-specs may be in order. Felt mats do degrade and are easily replaced. And finally, Rega now has like three different belts available. They will all sound different and you may (or may not) find the latest and greatest belts an upgrade.

I guess what I’m saying is that you need not fear, after the upgrade train there’s always the maintenance and tweaking train, or, the horror, you could indeed just listen to music :slight_smile:

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Maybe an Ndac? Not expensive.

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I’m aiming for only 1 or 2 inputs and 1 box so on paper it was a good match. In reality the dealer didn’t even want to offer a demo.

Seconded, no hesitation in highly recommending it with the ND5XS2

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@daddycool i plan to upgrade the P9 when I need a new cartridge. Since I have the ND5XS2 streamer, I don’t think adding a dac or power supply is possible. Am I correct?

have about 200 hours on my Exact. With previous cartridges it was not only about the hours, but about the environment that affects cartridge suspension. We live on the approach to the Brooklyn Bridge, which while giving a great view, does have some pollution which can effect the suspension.

Nice sized collection of vinyl and CD.