My interest is due to searching for an analogue only integrated amplifier (maybe with limited digital) made in a local country - like U.K. Class A/B. I have a NN50 and it’s great. The options are OK and REGA is the strongest option. I’ve observed Naim since 1983 and wonder where is their ‘DNA’ heartland?
Naim are famed for their amplifier expertise but there is a massive lack of presence in their introductory separates to the hifi journey, I’m not a fan of Class D all-in-one boxes. Revival of physical media supports my question, where is Naims heartland?
It’s an interesting question and I should ask what lies behind it?
I might start the ball rolling by saying I have an original Nait, the reason being that having heard one in 1984 I was hooked and saved up to buy one. It is so musically engaging.
To me giving that connection is where the naim DNA should be but my sense is that the different kit iterations over the years (from CB through Olive and Classic) have interpreted that differently and that in itself is also subject to individual perspectives. However, dynamic (forward compared to some) and transparent reproduction of music is still how I see it.
If you listen to 12/160 released in early 70s, and comparing to a latest N50 you will surprisingly find Naim could be the only HiFi company that is stay true to their root. The well-optimised, minimal circuits still let the most music information to flow in and out to communicate the best musicality.
I once had the bolt-down, CBs, Olive and Classic gears in one room, with several sources and speakers in the same room for comparison. From my humble observation there are things changed over the years (of course) but mostly only due to change of source format.
For example the more direct and raw sound of chrome bumpers is indeed a good balance with the partner then, a suspended TT LP12 that tend to have a softer sound. Then the Olive, with the time-aligned circuit it’s the same amp but more open to different formats and brands of sources. Then the classic great for most sources.
You may try to observe that ‘heartland’ yourself by pouring in music that feed by different formats and sources.
I might be wrong, but there needed to be a change to comply with EU regulations, with the standby mode, I am maybe thinking there could be a return with the Nait 5, XS and Supernait, slightly upgraded… but it does take time… For now comparing my Nait 50 with my 202/200DR, I find them both the have the Naim sound, I do love the form factor of the Nait 50 and and fact that it doesn’t weigh as much as a 200DR or a 250DR…
If have had to start from scratch though, maybe it would be the QB and Muso and just stop there?
I didn’t get moved by Naim boxes before around 1989, when my first listening was a Nait 2, in many ways much better than what I had, a very surprising experience but deciding for my audio future.
Not exactly sure what “heartland” mean ?
Naim had sort of 5 “periods” Bolt Down (BD), Chrome Bumper (CB), Olive, Classic and New Classic (NC)
Do you mean one of these or the ground breaking box ?
To me Naim’s heartland is Class AB amplification engineered to capture the dynamics, speed, drama and emotion of live instruments and voices. From a source perspective they also built some of the finest tuners, CD players and streamers ever made. Personally, I found the (Naim) loudspeakers a mixed bag - brilliant at certain things (transparency, speed, clarity, articulation) less good at being full bandwidth speakers capable of conveying the entire band. Having said that I still think the DBL remains one of the finest speakers I have ever heard - right up there with the very best of ATC or PMC today and perhaps with the greatest sense of scale of anything.
My feeling is that Naim need to develop a line like the old NAC62/NAP90 and original Nait that offer people of limited means a more affordable entry level range that has all the purist qualities of those original designs of its golden age. Basically I think they need to build a system that costs maybe £1000-£1500 per box that is the first hi-fi system a young professional might buy to go with their first job and flat. That will bring people into the brand ecosystem who will later (like so many of us) upgrade. It worked in the past so why can’t it work again?
The design needs to be purist and recognisably Naim and it needs to sound raw and visceral and exciting just like the original stuff did so it isn’t just another budget amp.
But why would a young professional buy a stack of retro throwbacks when they can have an Atom? Some of us old folks may think it’s great but would the market? Nait 50s didn’t exactly fly off the shelves.
I go into many different homes each year, from small one beds upto multiple million pound homes. The one thing you hardly ever see is a stack of black boxes for music.
Why do you think naim has got riden of so many boxes, they just don’t sell these days.
As for naims heartland, then that’s easy it’s amplifiers, you could potentially add cd players to it as well I guess, but obviously not these days.
Though Naim gear has never been exactly cheap, the current range of products is way too far away from the more grassroots heartland of the past.
This has been mentioned on countless occasions on the forum and Naim don’t seem to want to listen. Their target group now is rather higher up the food chain. I’m not quite sure this was what JV envisioned.
The Naim that most of us came to love will be gone in the next 10 years.
But why would a young professional buy a stack of retro throwbacks when they can have an Atom? Some of us old folks may think it’s great but would the market? Nait 50s didn’t exactly fly off the shelves.
You raise an interesting argument HungryHalibut and to be honest without going out and asking a bunch of young professionals I’m not sure there’s a reliable way of knowing. I’m not sure what market research naim or their dealers do or what it is that’s catching the zeitgeist of the moment.
One trend that is interesting I think is the sheer number of young beautiful women developing Instagram channels where they basically play records usually on vinyl in very tasteful rooms usually wearing the kind of dress you remember your wife wearing before you married her and haven’t seen since ;-)…..
These channels are clearly getting a lot of views - many tens of thousands per post and even I’m unclear what this is telling us in analysing the hi-fi market. What these women all have in common is that they seem to be into vinyl in a big way, but most are using rather basic usually Audio Technica DJ style turntables and usually basic Japanese amps. One in particular has those beautiful Bang and Olufsen CD players that slide their perspex panels open for you to change the disc.
Now are people watching this stuff and wanting to buy hi-fi or do they already have hi-fi. Is it pandering to male fantasies or is it pandering to people wanting to get into vinyl again?
The channel I like best and have a lot of respect for is the one by the young woman whose Father passed away and she posts about playing his old records as a way of feeling close to him. I find that enormously touching and her channel is called Soundwavesofwax and she’s well worth following.
How many of us here bought our first HiFi with the money we earnt with a Saturday Job? I did and I had a reasonable system. The first Naim amplifiers were very affordable I believe.
Prices have become absurd. I have been arguing on the streamer forum, with those that tell me I need a €2800 Ethernet cable ( yes a stupid bit of wire with two connectors) running into my DAC, to have maximum sound quality, when a €30 cable will do the same job. The Hi Fi mags are full of hype for hyper expensive items. Somebody thinking about buying a decent system will run a mile when the Hi Fi press and Forum members tell them that to get a decent sounding system they need to spend tens of thousands.
I believe there’s something right in this statement.
Looking at Naim’s Nait 5Si & XS3 - the latest entry level amps - they were way too expensive for what you got. Many other Brands delivered similar amps at half price. Rega is one of these examples, even made in UK. Even trusty sheeps have seen the light.
If Naim decide to get back in this market niche they need to come up with something below €2k, not that I expect this will happen, but their next entry level amp might be China made class D - to keep cost low and profit high.
While we are at it, the next Supernait could be NC and priced like a NC-222.
It all sounds worryingly pervy. My wife, after 40 years marriage is more lovely than ever and I’ve no wish to watch alluring young women under the guise of music. Perhaps you need a cold bath!
I bought my son an Atom and he loves it. He is not a hi fi purist even though he grew up with my ‘big’ system. He just gets on with listening to his music or plugging in his game thing!
The question should surely be ‘where would Naim make profit in the HiFi world?’
To me this is really tricky. The profusion of lower cost kit from new brands reduces opportunities where big volumes are needed due to low margins. The real high end is desperately niche, but margins are higher. Is it enough to be in that sphere alone? The middle-ground seems most obvious but as has been said, do that many people under 30 now aspire to develop a ‘proper’ (and therefore moderately expensive) HiFi system?
I think plotting a course through that must give Naim/Focal a serious headache.
