CDX with Nait 1 a good idea?

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Tony and Alco can answer this question better, they live with CDX and Nait2.

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Assuming volume is not your main priority, and remember that you will 'Dev' your Kans before they go loud, then the Nait is fine. The CDX is definitely better than the CD5, and the Nait will tell you this remarkably clearly.

The interesting question is which next XPS or bigger amp than the Nait? My money is on the XPS! Go dem!

I have a Nait 1 as well as my 2, and it is a cracking amp, very capable of revealing a better source. Probably worth getting yours serviced and recapped if it has not been done - both mine need doing as well.

Tony.

I've got a CDX/XPS combo and have tried it into a Nait 1 running IBLs. CDX into Nait 1/IBLs is terrific; and adding the XPS makes a rather large musical improvement, as you would expect. If volume is not critical, I'd get CDX/XPS and maybe even CDS2/Nait 1. By way of example, CDX/XPS/Nait 1 plays music better (to me at least) than the CDX/72/Hicap/250 combo.

Best,

Bob

Hi Lawrence,

I have a CDX & Nait-2 and it's a terrific combo.
Ofcourse it has (mainly the Nait) it's limitations and the balance may seem very odd,but after buying,selling,switching,etc I finally settled for the CDX,Nait-2,Kan combo for the 2nd! time.
Earlier this year I sold my Nait-2 to a guy who was missing his Nait for many years,after he sold it. (his biggest mistake in HiFi,like he always said) So, I did make a friend pretty happy again.

Why I sold my Nait-2 ?
(now,here's were the limitation-part comes along)
The main reasons: I wanted other speakers and I thought that the limited power (15watt) would get in the way of making choices.
Also the channel-balance at low listening levels is very poor. (still frustrating sometimes, late at night)
the third and fourth reasons are:NO remote and the kinda ugly,DIY looks of the Nait-2. (compard to Cyrus, imho)

SO, I bought me a s/h mint Cyrus III. And I must confess, the Nait-2 is clearly better,no doubt, but I could live quite happily with a Cyrus III if I couldn't get my hands on a Nait-2.

But after some quick comparising between the old trusty Nait-2 and Cyrus III I made the choice to buy my dealers last Nait-2 he had on the shelf.

So, after many moves I'm finally back where I was about 4 months ago....nuff said ?

btw: Lawrence, about your doubt wether a Nait-1 would be good enough to justify a CDX....
I remember the last words of the original Nait-1 review in 'Flat-response' in 1983:
"How good is a Nait-1...? It's as good as the signal you put into it!"
(thanx to Rob Holt's wonderful site
www.flatresponse.net

well,that oughtta do it.

regards,
Alco

Thanks to all for the advice. I've had a CDX on loan since Saturday evening. This is the player I'm going to get - no question about it. I can't believe just how bloody good it sounds! The only downer is how to pay for it...

Tony - my amp has been recently recapped. An improvement...I think. It was away for over 5 weeks so its hard to remember how it sounded before!

Alco - I asked Naim to have a look at the pot on the amp when it went in. They said that this was a characteristic of these early Naits but that my pot was particularly bad; they replaced it and it is now much, much better. Listening at low levels is now actually enjoyable.

the Kan out of the Bag

Right Tazz,

that's an interesting, novel subject that can be dealt with in one or two succint sentences: the Wonderful World of Kan.

BTW, there is a search function in the right hand corner infra. Strap on your seat belts, type: 'Kan' and your PC will explode.

Herman

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Alco

What do linn kans sound like,I hear good things said about them on this forum,do they have much bottom end though?are they brighter than epos es11 ?

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Hi Tazz,

well, I can't say if Kan's are brighter then Epos 11. I never heard Epos 11's.
Kan's CAN sound horrible when they are not correctly set up. The dedicated Kan-II stands must be considered a must,and they have to be rocksteady,with spikes on top (definitely no Blu-tac) and about 2 or 3 inches from the back wall. If correctly setup and partnered with at least a Nait and a decent source they play music in a very addictive,foot tapping way.
They're bass is fast and tight though not very deep. (to many people's taste,I guess!)
They also don't portrait a 3D deep soundstage.
And yes, Kan's are bright but imho not agressive!
They are very open,fast and detailed.

So, in short he benefits of Kan's:
(at least on the end of my Nait-2) They sound exciting,open,detailed and soo musically satisfying.

The downsides:
Very revealing of source/recordings,hardly any 3D soundstaging,they look very cheap and dull(imho!)

If you can hunt down a pair on Ebay, it's worth a try. You can always sell 'em for probably the same price.

regards,
Alco

Sonny,

I found that the CDX is simply loads more musical than the CD5. It also sucks much, much more information off the CD and is a real joy to listen to. The CDX had me pulling out disks that I (thought!) I knew well and really gave them a new lease of life. Before I knew it, several hours had gone by! I hadn't had that since I first got my LP12, only this time with small silver things rather than big black ones...

The CD5 is a great player but just didn't quite do it to the same extent. Personally, I think that any system upgrade should be siginificant and really get you excited about music you know and get you listening to music that you didn't know you'd even enjoy, especially when parting with so much hard-earned.

Tazz, I love the Kans to bits - fast, tight and musical. Maybe I've just had them too long but I find many other speakers slow and flabby by comparison. I agree with Alco's comments that setup is critical - if you don't spend time getting them right then they sound sh*te. Dunno what the 11s are like for volume or bass but you won't get much of either from Kans - my systems gets pretty screechy when up loud as the little Nait starts struggling to deliver big current...need to keep saving for that 250...after I've thought of a way to buy that CDX!

Thanks,
Lawrence