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Thread: What is it with Naim users?

  1. #11
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

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    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by walpurgis View Post
    . It can be impressive in the right context, but I've not heard anything I'd want to live with.
    I'd agree except for the original Nait amp which I quite like. Heard a full 'six pack' system and it was good but not as good as it should have been for the amount of money involved. It wasn't a 'relaxing' listen, either. But that's a matter of personal taste.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  2. #12
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

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    I'm Hugo.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    I'd agree except for the original Nait amp which I quite like. Heard a full 'six pack' system and it was good but not as good as it should have been for the amount of money involved. It wasn't a 'relaxing' listen, either. But that's a matter of personal taste.
    Yes, all of this hobby is a matter of personal taste. My SuperNait2 turned out to be a far sweeter and more 'organic' sounding thing than I'd expected, showing its overwhelmingly well-reviewed Hegel H160 predecessor in my system a clean set of heels in every respect. Someone else might hear my system and disagree profoundly with my description of its sound, but we are all different and that's OK.

    Going back to the original post, I'm amazed that anyone should be so obsessed about 'originality' that they could not see Naim's standard issue mains cable as what it is - a perfectly ordinary black OEM cable with moulded IEC and an MK 13A plug that anyone could put together for a fiver and nobody would know any different. I don't think that Naim claim anything special about this cable - they do after all sell two different mains upgrade cables. Second hand audio buyers can certainly be overly picky - I once sold a used but boxed Squeezebox for £60 at an Audio Jumble and the buyer complained that it had a small scratch on top.

  3. #13
    Join Date: Apr 2009

    Location: Near Saffron Walden, Essex

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    I'm Dave.

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    Blinded by the hype.

    Naim used to be good value equipment built and sold by enthusiasts. Now it is a marketing and selling machine with none of the original management remaining.

  4. #14
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Norwich

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    I'm Hugo.

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    Quote Originally Posted by hifi_dave View Post
    Blinded by the hype.

    Naim used to be good value equipment built and sold by enthusiasts. Now it is a marketing and selling machine with none of the original management remaining.
    I'd argue that Naim still offer good value equipment, but that aside they are clearly very successful in what they do, still design and manufacturing in the UK, and most importantly employ many people in the UK. I'm quite proud of that, even though I have no commercial connection with Naim. What exactly is wrong with being successful in the audio business?

  5. #15
    Join Date: Apr 2011

    Location: Surrey

    Posts: 4,162
    I'm Mike.

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    I have also had issues selling Naim, but the resale price is good so I philosophically go through a prospective buyer or two before finally selling
    TAD CD / DAC / Pre, Technics 1210, MCRU PSU, Mike New Bearing & Platter, Stillpoints LP1 weight, Speedy Steve Ebony armboard, Fidelity Research FR64FX arm, Ortofon SPU. Aurorasound VIDA Phono Pre Amp, TAD Power Amp, TAD E1 speakers. Coherent RTZ 3 Grounding box, Coherent grounding cables, Creaktiv racks. Coherent Mains Cables. SR Blue Fuse. Interconnects : Coherent and Yannis 223.5 Connect Litz. Coherent speaker cable. Audio Magic Transcendence Conditioner. Coherent mains socket. Mains Filters : , PS Audio Harvesters, Russ Andrews Purifiers, Tacima, Vertex. Black Ravioli and RDC supports. Electric Beach S1NX platforms for TAD CD and Technics. Ferrite chokes everywhere except the above. Ears, brain

    Mike

  6. #16
    Join Date: Jul 2011

    Location: Northamptonshire

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    I'm Peter.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ammonite Acoustics View Post
    Yes, all of this hobby is a matter of personal taste. My SuperNait2 turned out to be a far sweeter and more 'organic' sounding thing than I'd expected, showing its overwhelmingly well-reviewed Hegel H160 predecessor in my system a clean set of heels in every respect. Someone else might hear my system and disagree profoundly with my description of its sound, but we are all different and that's OK.

    Going back to the original post, I'm amazed that anyone should be so obsessed about 'originality' that they could not see Naim's standard issue mains cable as what it is - a perfectly ordinary black OEM cable with moulded IEC and an MK 13A plug that anyone could put together for a fiver and nobody would know any different. I don't think that Naim claim anything special about this cable - they do after all sell two different mains upgrade cables. Second hand audio buyers can certainly be overly picky - I once sold a used but boxed Squeezebox for £60 at an Audio Jumble and the buyer complained that it had a small scratch on top.
    Totaly agree with all this ... especially about the Supernait 2. In fact, most modern Naim kit sounds way better than the old 'shriek boxes' imo.

  7. #17
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

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    I'm Martin.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ammonite Acoustics View Post
    I'd argue that Naim still offer good value equipment, but that aside they are clearly very successful in what they do, still design and manufacturing in the UK, and most importantly employ many people in the UK. I'm quite proud of that, even though I have no commercial connection with Naim. What exactly is wrong with being successful in the audio business?
    Nothing, and I don't think anyone is saying otherwise. Yet. But blind adherence to a brand to the extent that you won't buy their power supply unless it has their mains cable included isn't good. It encourages manufacturers to move away from proper value engineering and towards nonsense and foo because that is where they think punters want to spend.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  8. #18
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: A Strangely Isolated Place in Suffolk with Far Away Trains Passing By...

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    I'm David.

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    The thing is where I came from - Ivor T could be quite candid if you got him informally over dinner for example and the bullshit over Linn often came from dealer imaginations I think. Naim is different. JV was quite able to spin the bull when he felt it would boost sales and this, coupled with some basic truth too, became folklore.

    The thing in my days with Naim, from 1976 up until 2004, was that 15A MK mains plugs were the thing (and possibly still make sense due to the contact area in the plugs and sockets), but because MK plugs were expensive, Naim switched to Crabtree, which I remember are basically well made bog-standard plugs. weave a little more bullshit about Crabtree being 'better sounding' (like fcuk) and there you are. I can also assure you lot that using a locking plug and not locking it with the ring provided does one thing only for the sound - you risk screaming noises if the plug is partly pulled out and blown tweeters as a result. Not fun if you happened to own Isobariks with two expensive tweeters per carcass!!! it happened to me at the time and the then chipboard cabinets and thick gasket sealant used to seal the tweeters in made for chipboard crumbling on their removal.

    As for this whole decoupling nonsense, I could never get the hang of it. There's a thing called 'gravity' which pulls wires downwards, so in the back of the ghastly Ovator speakers for example, having deliberately sloppy speaker terminals made absolutely NO difference at all, the speakers them selves having fundamental and significant design/sonic flaws that no amount spent on the driving system or levelling could fix ime.

    As for Naim customers. it's also like this with Linn. A lot of the buyers are so scared of doing or trying anything other than the lore as wrote from Salisbury, that only the official cables will do. Knowing JV as I did back then, I suspect he was picking it up as he went along too, but the one thing he did give us disciples was a proper way of setting up the LP12 in the early days, no two of which ever being the same back then...
    Tear down these walls; Cut the ties that held me
    Crying out at the top of my voice; Tell me now if you can hear me

  9. #19
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,846
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    I much prefer Crabtree 13A plugs to those made by MK. The cable clamp is more versatile and I prefer the screw connections to the pins. Unfortunately I don't think Crabtree are in business any more, and I think MK products are now made in China.

    As long as the contact surface area is 6 - 10x the cross section area of the pin, and the contact force is at least 10N/mm2, there is no real advantage of 15A round pin plugs over the rectangular pin 13A types.


    Agree about not locking the DIN plugs, but that doesn't explain why Naim recommend not locking the plugs.
    Barry

  10. #20
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

    Posts: 1,861
    I'm Dennis.

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    I use a Nait which was described by the Sound Organisation as one of the best amps they made, I use it for phones.

    I strongly disagree with the last post on surface area because only an infinitesimal angle error on the pins will reduce contact area to virtually zero, for that reason I use 5A round pin.

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