Naim good or overrated

[James the Albarry lover]

I haven't heard any Naim hifi myself but have saw alot of good reviews about them but I don't always trust magazine reviews as I suspect there's money going under the table for exposure, so is Naim any good?

[Beobloke]

I suspect there's money going under the table for exposure, so is Naim any good?

Why do you suspect that? Is it not possible that they're actually quite good?

[James the Albarry lover]

Why do you suspect that? Is it not possible that they're actually quite good?

Ive bought hifi on reviews alone before and have been very disappointed with some and happy with others, it was more of a throw away comment and not suppose to be aimed at any particular magazine. Giving the large following Naim has I'm pretty sure alot of people love them and some people might tell me otherwise

[Primalsea]

I think Naim hifi is very well engineered and there is nothing wrong with it per se, it’s just whether you like how it sounds. Last time I heard any Naim gear it was probably around 9 years ago. I wasn’t a fan at that time but it can be hard to tell for sure unless you listen to the music you know and like. I don’t like the plinky plonk audiophile music some dealers play and it affects my judgement on a system.

[prestonchipfryer]

I'm very happy with my Supernait 2.

[Haselsh1]

Way way back when I had a Naim pre/power combo with separate PSU and I didn't keep it very long. I found that it just didn't match up to the hype which back then was enormous. I replaced it at the time with a huge output Jap thing made by Trio that was much better suited to my ears. I also ended up with some cash in pocket.

Maybe I should add though that it was extremely well made and the MC phono boards were fantastic. The sound just wasn't for me.

[Jazid]

Wow, a couple of years back this would have been an incendiary thread on the 'Wam! Now two hours in and no abuse, fantastic
To the OP I actually hated the old' olive' era Naim sound, never could get what was good about it, it made music sound small, shouty, and congested to me, and the upgrade paths had a strong whiff of marketeering about them. Now I read that their new products are far more neutrally voiced and rather engaging, possibly even to my tastes? I haven't heard them though so best taken for what it is, hearsay. Definitely well made stuff though.

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[James the Albarry lover]

Wow, a couple of years back this would have been an incendiary thread on the 'Wam! Now two hours in and no abuse, fantastic
To the OP I actually hated the old' olive' era Naim sound, never could get what was good about it, it made music sound small, shouty, and congested to me, and the upgrade paths had a strong whiff of marketeering about them. Now I read that their new products are far more neutrally voiced and rather engaging, possibly even to my tastes? I haven't heard them though so best taken for what it is, hearsay. Definitely well made stuff though.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

Yeah I was expecting some angry comments, how dare you speak ill of Naim! Stuff like that lol they look the part in a no nonsense kind of way, I was planning on going for an active Naim pre amp for my Albarrys

[narabdela]

Wow, a couple of years back this would have been an incendiary thread on the 'Wam! Now two hours in and no abuse, fantastic
To the OP I actually hated the old' olive' era Naim sound, never could get what was good about it, it made music sound small, shouty, and congested to me, and the upgrade paths had a strong whiff of marketeering about them. Now I read that their new products are far more neutrally voiced and rather engaging, possibly even to my tastes? I haven't heard them though so best taken for what it is, hearsay. Definitely well made stuff though.

Sent from my GT-I9195 using Tapatalk

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. It's a long time since I've gone out of my way to listen to Naim stuff as I thought it sounded awful back in the day when it was touted as being the bee's knees.

I've heard that it's much easier on the ears these days, but the odd dip into the Naim forums does make me wonder if I've wandered into a parallel universe.

[Barry]

They are well built, reliable, but definitely have a 'house sound' which you may or may not like. I wouldn't describe them as neutral.