A newbie's upgrade experience
Posted by: rocketeer on 05 November 2002
Dear Forum Members
3 years ago, my hifi odyssey ended into naim (or maybe, it just began?). After several auditions of many different brands, it was this nice CD3.5/72/140 package that i took home. I noticed that "listening to music" was now really happening. By this time, i read a lot of the upgrade possibilities of naim equipment. Although i was very happy with my system, i wondered what an upgrade, like a hicap for the 72, could do to the sound. And, as you probably know, having these thoughts, suddenly you get overwhelmed with second hand offers. Finally, when a hicap fed my 72, the sound improvement surpassed all my expectations. What naim claimed to be a "substantial improvement" was far more than dramatic to me! By that moment i was infected with "upgraditis".
A few months later i expected the same effect, when a second hand 82 was my guest. But to my surprise, i was a bit disappointed. Improvement, of course, was there. But relating it to the price i had to pay for it, it was not enough. The hicap improvement/price-ratio was far better. So, the 82 left my house. I'm sure, many of you suggest that i was wrong. Probably, i was. After that, i asked my dealer for advice. He presumed that maybe the CD3.5/82 imbalance was somehow limiting the system performance. When he told me, how much of the regular price for a CDX he would cut off by bringing in the CD3.5, it was hard for me to resist. Auditioning the CDX (throught an 82!) finally convinced me to order it. The brand new CDX - out of the trunk of my dealer's car, icecold! - left me breathless when i hooked it up to my system. And after a few days, i could describe the sound improvement over the CD3.5 only as a "quantum leap"!
Today, i know that there's no other audio equipment than naim, which can satisfy my longing for musical spectacles. Although knowing that there are people out there with some CDSII/52/250 equipment, i do not feel embarassed at all to praise my CDX/72HC/140 setup. To me, it brings tons of musical pleasure, and still leaves enough space to cure possibly further upgraditis attacks (as soon as funds allow, i'll go for that 82, at least!). Still, i want to thank all of you people in this forum for your valuable comments and suggestions.
rocketeer
P.S. I forgot to tell you about my speakers: dynaudio contour 1.3. i'd love to hear from other people's experience with naim and dynaudio.
3 years ago, my hifi odyssey ended into naim (or maybe, it just began?). After several auditions of many different brands, it was this nice CD3.5/72/140 package that i took home. I noticed that "listening to music" was now really happening. By this time, i read a lot of the upgrade possibilities of naim equipment. Although i was very happy with my system, i wondered what an upgrade, like a hicap for the 72, could do to the sound. And, as you probably know, having these thoughts, suddenly you get overwhelmed with second hand offers. Finally, when a hicap fed my 72, the sound improvement surpassed all my expectations. What naim claimed to be a "substantial improvement" was far more than dramatic to me! By that moment i was infected with "upgraditis".
A few months later i expected the same effect, when a second hand 82 was my guest. But to my surprise, i was a bit disappointed. Improvement, of course, was there. But relating it to the price i had to pay for it, it was not enough. The hicap improvement/price-ratio was far better. So, the 82 left my house. I'm sure, many of you suggest that i was wrong. Probably, i was. After that, i asked my dealer for advice. He presumed that maybe the CD3.5/82 imbalance was somehow limiting the system performance. When he told me, how much of the regular price for a CDX he would cut off by bringing in the CD3.5, it was hard for me to resist. Auditioning the CDX (throught an 82!) finally convinced me to order it. The brand new CDX - out of the trunk of my dealer's car, icecold! - left me breathless when i hooked it up to my system. And after a few days, i could describe the sound improvement over the CD3.5 only as a "quantum leap"!
Today, i know that there's no other audio equipment than naim, which can satisfy my longing for musical spectacles. Although knowing that there are people out there with some CDSII/52/250 equipment, i do not feel embarassed at all to praise my CDX/72HC/140 setup. To me, it brings tons of musical pleasure, and still leaves enough space to cure possibly further upgraditis attacks (as soon as funds allow, i'll go for that 82, at least!). Still, i want to thank all of you people in this forum for your valuable comments and suggestions.
rocketeer
P.S. I forgot to tell you about my speakers: dynaudio contour 1.3. i'd love to hear from other people's experience with naim and dynaudio.
Wait until you try that XPS!!
Regards
NB
Regards
NB