Yes it’s the ‘out of the box’ presentation from n-Sats that really strike me here, plus their cheeky confidence, they’re almost surreal even. On certain program they have me transfixed for sure. All i can say is they match my SN3 extremely well, much better than i could’ve ever imagined.
Also if a really good clean pair of S400s show themselves up in all of the usual places, well then i think it will take some doing for me to hold back on them.
Thanks Roberto
P.S. listening now to Witney Houston’s ‘I Will Always Love You’ on Radio 2 - almost a tear in my eye. Really!
I Will Always Love You’ on Radio 2 - almost a tear in my eye. Really!
That track brings a tear to my eyes for the opposite reasons what with Whitney’s amateur dramatics.
Even my mighty Kudos C20s would give me a proper dirty look if I ever asked them to replay that.
I agree with you roda, not my style neither, but no one will ever match her at singing that song in my view, and my system fully displayed that today. Absolutely Wonderful!
Not going to happen. It doesn’t have a ’stream’ button or a headphone stage. Plus it will entail another Fraim level, oh and another mains socket or two
I must say i’m tempted to get an n-SUB but i feel it will spoil things here. I’m not exactly yearning for more bass anyway, let’s put it that way. NDX 2/XPS DR/HCDR/SN3 doing an admiral job so far. I removed my Motive SX2s because of their lumpy bass presentation in the first place. Too much for me. Neighbours were complaining. One of my neighbours described things as being in a “chinese torture chamber”. Not anymore thank god.
I find many speakers today have way too much compromised bass. Even at HiFi shows the bass is too much. There’s nothing worse, especially in a lot of average modern UK living rooms…with chipboard flooring, ‘I’ beams and flimsy stud work.
The reasons why and nothing to do with the nsub itself as it’s a wonderful piece of equipment I must say if you can find one you won’t be disappointed
The first nsats and nsub were cherry and I really wanted the nsats in the glorious piano finish which my naim dealer finally got hold of a pair for me in sensational condition
Couldn’t locate the piano black nsub any where, maybe none came into Australia
I now live in 2 locations and the nsats suit the place at weekends and probably don’t need the nsub anyway - but if the elusive black one pops up you never know
I’m like you - the nsats are wonderful - it’s the openness , drive and absolute boogie factor that make them great , bargain of any century if you ask me, always a smile on my dial when I get them going
I’m a fan of small stand mount speakers anyway, hate to say it but it’s the PRAT
I owned nSats after using IBL’s for 17 years. The reason for the change is a long story which I won’t go into here. In absolute terms the nSats were not as good as the IBL’s but they clearly had the same DNA - the same ability to make music great fun to listen to. They certainly sounded sweeter and kinder than the IBL’s on much material. Remember that the IBL’s were very much a product of the analogue age and really designed to sing on the end of a vinyl based system. The nSats on the other hand were designed very much with digital sources in mind. Overall I would go for nSats with a modern digital source system.
I never tried the nSub but my experiences of sub/sat combinations have never been good. To my ears such combinations never achieve what the reviews promise, ie. the illusion of listening to large speakers. Listening to large floor standing speakers is a completely different ball game. To my ears small stand mounts with a sub sound exactly like what they are - a pair of small speakers with bass tacked onto them.
Generally agree with your comments about small stand mounts and subs, I never ever contemplated that combo - until !!!
There is something quite different with the nsats and nsub - they do gel together as one - at least they did for me
Re IBL’s yes did listen to them quite a bit but never did it for me , I found them a bit bland if you will
Sometimes I wish Naim was still manufacturing speakers as I had quite a number of them over the years . (In fact my brother now has my Allaes damn him ). But I get the reason why they don’t anymore
I run n-Sats with a Velodyne sub and am very happy with them. There is something magical about them but when my sub had to go away for repair I really missed it.
I know that many people here liked the nSub so maybe as you say there was something special about the nSat/nSub combination. I’m surprised that you found the IBL’s a bit bland. Bland isn’t a word I would associate with them at all! Dynamic, fast, tuneful, etc. etc. - but bland, no! I had them to start with on the end of a budget Naim system and then on the end of CDS3/252/olive 250. They sounded great on the budget set up but a whole lot better on the more up-market one - as you would expect of course. The point is that even on the cheaper set-up they sounded wonderful. The one thing is that although the bass is very fast, tuneful and surprisingly extended it is somewhat lightweight and lacks fullness. The more expensive system helped a lot here, but perhaps it’s the lack of bass fullness that leads to your description of them as bland?
You could well be right there Pete, bland was probably a bit too harsher word
It’s just that I like the nsats better
I’m currently running the nsats with the CB 32.5/hicap/250 and LP12 Ekos 2 , but also with the Naim Core and a DAC Australian made , which is quite excellent and only made in small numbers by a perfectionist specialist
I think the early CB stuff was great. I had a 42.5/HiCap/110 driving Linn Kans and fronted by LP12/Ittok/Asaka. For sheer entertainment value probably the best set-up I’ve ever owned.
Thanks Bevo. Yes I have the glorious piano black versions too, with their black grilles. I absolutely love them. Mmm…n-SUB in piano black? I know where there is one, but it’s a lot of money for it.
