that’s a good looking speaker. other colours?
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About half a dozen , a couple very vibrant
Thanks for the acknowledgement - I had ‘hidden’ the original postings descrbing the test work on the ‘Dearth of Naim’ thread.
I agree with your suggestion about keeping this thread clean on XS series EoL discussions. Perhaps the ‘C 102 Absolute Sound review’ thread started by @frenchrooster is probably the best thread to continue discussions re CI-102?
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Dammit, now I’m looking as well 
Whether they are as good as my little PMCs I don’t know, but they are certainly pretty. The ‘personality’ switch seems a bit silly though.
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That made me chuckle as well. I’d be hard pushed to replace the PMC DB1i’s on my desk, I hear what you’re saying here 
There’s a very obvious omission in their colour palette though 
Very nice to read that you are happy with the upgrade!
The issue with balance and listening at low levels - I had the exact same issue with Supernait 3. It never “went away”. If I remember correctly one dealer said that it is the construction of the volume control as such that has this down-side. If that’s true or not, I don’t know.
But alla in all, it did not ruin the impression off the Supernait 3 and I don’t think it will for the XS3 either. (Ruin is a strong word, but I think you know what i mean…)
My Nait 5si has the same problem, but less than the XS3. It is pretty annoying. I can only use the XS3 now at lower volumes if I use ‘volume mode = variable’ on the ND5XS2 and set it to approx. 80%. I can than turn up the volume on the XS3 enough to not have that balance issue. I live in an apartment surrounded by neighbors, so I can’t turn up the volume. Not sure what I am going to do yet.
I has an XS3 and suffered from this too. There is no balance control either on XS3. I tried DSP in Roon to equalise digitally but always felt it leaned to the right a bit (could have been psychological). When I upgraded to NC given the new volume control architecture it’s no longer an issue but it did bug me. Hope you get it sorted.
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Ever since the CB days it has mostly been luck to find an ALPS pot with perfect balance. The one time I didn’t the pot was replaced by a new-old-stock one from Naim HQ during service.
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I prefer ‘bad luck’ if you got a dodgy one but I do know what you mean. The pot on my Nait XS was also replaced. Pot on my NAC152XS is excellent.
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Yes that’s what I meant
There’s perfect, slightly off or dodgy and it can be any of these but they’re mostly fine.
In any case it’s either fine, good enough or correctable and that’s good to know.
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It’s a known characterisic of the Alps Blue potentiometer (volume control behind the knob), they often exhibt slight channel imbalance and drop off at lower volume, the 200 and 300 Series use Reed Relay volume stepped control and don’t have that “feature”.
The Alps Blue is popular, it sounds good, despite those quirks.
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I first re-installed my Nait 5si and listened to it again with volume mode fixed (on ND5XS2). It has a balance issue at very low volumes.
I than installed the Nait XS3, set volume mode variable and set the max to 90% (on ND5XS2). I listened to it at very low volumes and higher volumes. The balance issue does not occur and I can’t tell the difference between fixed and variable at 90%. The XS3 still sounds better with these settings than the 5si.
So, I will stick with that workaround for now.
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Yes exactly what I did last year - got a streaming pre and mono blocks for cost of a Uniti Star. Yes this is not for all or those who want a one box solution but if sound quality is your aim there are great alternatives out there. The market is even more competitive at this lower price point. I’m not sure Naim’s separates/UK manufactured model works here now. Still really like my Naim gear but it is a premium product in market.
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Hi there! I’m experiencing the same issue on my XS3. I’m also listening to music at low volumes and have noticed that the right channel plays a bit louder than the left channel. I’m glad to know that I’m not the only one who’s hearing this 
You’ve found a good solution: set the volume level on the streamer to 80-90%, and then increase the volume level on the amplifier to compensate for the imbalance.
Personally, I keep my music volume at no more than 60-65dB. With my Harbeth LS3/5A speakers, I have to adjust the volume knob on my XS3 to around 9 o’clock
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It apparently is a known issue, but pretty annoying. Using variable volume mode may affect SQ on the ND5XS2, so I would rather not use it. But with my current settings, I can’t really hear the difference between fixed and variable at 90%. The Nait XS3 still is a good sounding amplifier. But this is something that I will pay attention to if I ever decide to change amplifier again.
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I’m not so sure about that - Exposure, Cyrus and Leema Acoustics all sell UK produced equipment at XS and Supernait price levels. Indeed, Leema offer a UK manufactured Preamp/Dac and 150WPC stereo power amplifier for £1,500 each or £2,800 if bought together.
Regarding the power amplifier, the Gravitron, it could be a real alternative to secondhand NAP 200/250s (if one doesn’t need the pre-amp supply). It is powerful and stable into low impedance loads - see the quote from Paul Miller’s lab test below:
“For starters, Leema is quite cautious in rating the amplifier for very low impedance loads, citing a ‘minimum 4ohm impedance’. This does the Graviton an injustice for while its rated 150W/8ohm and 260W/4ohm is matched on the bench at 2x165W and 2x285W, respectively, there’s plenty of headroom in that huge PSU to support 198W, 371W and 660W into 8, 4 and 2ohm loads under dynamic conditions followed by a full 1kW (31.7A) into the lowest 1ohm loads”
FYI is has a 600VA transformer and is a dual mono design.
My point is that I’m sure that Naim could continue to offer UK manufactured separates at XS/Supernait price points and be successful if they wish to.
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I have an XS3 that puts the vocal slightly to the right on most tracks at VERY low volume settings but it only requires a turn past 7/7:30 on the volume dial for the vocal to centre. Interestingly, I’ve had Arcam FMJ amplifiers with electronic volume controls (supposed to be channel accurate to +/- 0.5 db) which exhibited the same trait. This with different sources through both amps. Before I sorted the room acoustics (first reflection points) it appeared to be more of an issue.