Naim only fit for rock?

It may be due to room location, but I have noticed a very strong preference in our house to listen to rock/pop on the Naim system, but usually prefer to listen to jazz (a lot) and classical (rarely) on the Sugden Masterclass system.
So I agree that Naim is best suited to rock.
malcolm
p.s. my teenagers and their horrible friends all prefer to crowd into my tiny office and listen to excreble noises downloaded from the internet through a smaller Sugden amp and nearfield monitors. Shouldn't complain as it keeps their grubby mits away from the CDS2 transport.

... This is a potentially interesting thread. I dunno about anyone else, but my system has evolved as a result of the music I listen to - funk, soul, jazz, and rock. I have always found that Naim amps (along with the LP12) have always handled this kind of music exceptionally well.

Although I can't claim to be an expert on classical music, I've always found Naim amps to be good at presenting this kind of music as well.

I know what Leeto means, I've encountered this ikind of impression myself, but I think it's a false one.

What does everyone else think?

As a newcomer to this forum, my impression is that the vast majority of members prefer rock (independent, non-major label). The list of favourite 3 recordings of this year certainly reinforces this hypothesis.

I´ve seen a few but very few erudite views posted on classical recordings or jazz, though, in my view, these also call for good PR&T. Have music listeners with any brand of equipment lost interest in those musical formats, or it there something in Naim equipment which just sounds good with rock n´roll?

Over and out.

...classical (50%), jazz (40%) and rock (10%).

I have been involed in HiFi for over 25 years and been using a variety of brands (including tubes...).

IMHO dynamics, rythm, and pace (not a "pretty" sound) is what makes classical music interesting and engaging. A good example is the baroque ensamble Giardino Armonico playing Vivaldi or Bach.

Naim equipment (particularly the 500/NBL combination) have given me the most realistic and engaging presentation of classical music.

Regards

Anders

My preference is for all types of "classical" music but can also enjoy other genres. What amuses/intrigues me is why it should be thought that a certain manufacturer's equipment suits one type of music rather than another type: surely if Naim has got it right, it will sound good whatever type of music is played?
I agree with the comment about chamber works & period instruments - I have just acquired the Christopher Hogwood + AAM performing Handel's "Messiah" (not a girl in the choir to spoil things!) absolute magic ... but then I find myself often saying "absolute magic" after a serious listen to whatever type of music emanating from my Naim!

Chaps

I find that Naim excels in the area of solo Piano.

This applies to all types but especially to Jazz.

The same applies to percussion.

Regards

Mick

I sat in on a loooong demonstration at a dealers while some new to hi-fi friends chose between a Nait5/CD5 system and a Sugden A21 integrated/CD player system. With Jacqui Dupre the Sugden was winning, with Miles (Kind of Blue), Pentangle and Shawn Colvin it was even. Then they put on some Led Zep. They bought the Naim.

malcolm

I never listen to rock music.

Current inventory includes: CDX/82/250, 32.5, CD3.5/Nait3, HiCap, 2 Flatcap

Says it all. Naim makes a wide range of music 'rock'.

Terry

but not surprising. Like I said, Naimees themselves know that Naim does all music well.

But the non-Naimees at my part of the world doesn't think so. They think that Naim is tuned to rock music and they fared worst with vocals. Also, I noticed that somehow that most audiophiles here like their music not too "intrusive"....you know like background music but slightly better. That could also probably explain why Bose and single ended tube rig are popular in Singapore as well. ;D

I listen to mostly classical. Naim makes good music, period. (presently listening to Lyle Lovett)

Quote:

'As one who listens mainly to classical I've always been baffled by the "Naim only does rock" stance.'

I got out of Naim, in large part, because my (modest) Naim system wouldn't do classical. I used to listen to complete symphonys and piano concertos all day long, but when I switched to Naim I couldn't do this anymore. I only had a CD3, but demo'ed the CDX several times and it didn't work for me either. The new kit interests me and might do it.

Quote:

"IMHO dynamics, rythm, and pace (not a "pretty" sound) is what makes classical music interesting and engaging."

The older Naim kit seemed to be a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. The slam and timing are great but at the expense of tonal color and texture. For classical, these attributes are essential to me. I'm not sure if the new kit has enough of it and my local dealers do not do home dems. Given this state of affairs and the higher prices of Naim kit here in the states, I may not get back into Naim for a long time.

- GregB

Insert Witty Signature Line Here

In my own humble opinion Naim HI-fi's play all kind of music well. Their not just for rock music although a Naim system will play rock extremely well. A Naim system will excel on all type of music, classical, Jazz, Blues etc you name it.

I play a whole range of music on my system and everything sounds good.

Regards

NB

The speed of Naim and much Linn gear, both speakers and amps, suits percussive music well. This may have something to do with the rocker reputation, however inaccurate.


Here's another possible source for the reputation:
The 80's flat-earth Linn speakers (especially 'Briks and Saras) were not the best for classical strings and brass. Great though these speakers are, the mid-range on these models (Saras especially) is fairly recessed, hard, and dry. Only the very late 'Briks substantially improved this situation (Kans were better but not hugely so.) To me, listening to a chamber quartet on Saras (for instance) is not the ideal form of reproduction. The relation to Naim's reputation here is that Linn speakers and Naim amps were practically sold together throughout the 80's. Audiophile Systems (the North American distributor for Linn in the 80's) pretty much stated outright in their literature that if you didn't have Naim amps, then you shouldn't buy Linn speakers. Remember that this was before Naim made speakers themselves. So perhaps the linkage of Naim with the fast but not-terribly-good-with-classical early Linn speakers was one source for the reputation

Naim is very good playing Rock
80% Ilisten rock and 20 % jazz

MY system : Naim Nait 5 amplifier,Naim CD 5,B&W 601 speakers,Naca5

Rock, spoken word, classical, world, new country and renaissance sacred music.
Naim gives me all these, I listen and I'm am happy.

A friend of mine who's a classical musician is not keen on the 'forward' presentation common on many Naim systems including mine, but prefers a more laid-back sound and uses Audiolab kit.
From my experience his system is smooth but less dynamic and far less revealing of badly recorded material too, where the Naim would show it up straight away.
I wonder if this is where the problem lies, perhaps classical purists in general prefer a more relaxed presentation.

David

"Opinions are like belly-buttons, everybody's got one"

All--

I think the critical thing here is that Naim gear, in my experience, gets the musical essence of a recording correct in a very fundamentally correct way, and that this is true regardless of the type of music being played. I think what has happened is that people, notably in the US, have gotten used to equipment that does not communicate the musical threads nearly as well but which offers a much larger sonic tapestry, with more emphasis on air, soundstaging, imaging, tonality, etc. All of which are, I think, more important in classical music, but only if you can identify what is being played and why.

I think the criticisms of earlier Naim gear lacking some color and texture are at least partially justified-there was and is equipment that presents music with more color and texture. However, I've not heard a system that combines the ability of a Naim system to present the musical structure and the ability of other systems to present a greater sense of image, soundstage, etc.

A very personal decision, I think--some people might choose to go for a system that does the more "round earth" type things, while others prefer a presentation focussed on presenting the "what" and the "why" of the music.

Best,

Bob

Naim Kit is capable of playing any type of music and it does so in a way that keeps you listening.

A lot of other hi-fi I have heard fails to communicate and keep your attention.

I've always found that Naim equipment does very well with classical and jazz (my preferences). Although a piece of music may not seem to have obvious timing cues (such as classical), it is usually just as dependent on timing as any other piece of music.

In fact, I would argue that since the timing signature with some genres is less obvious you need a system which times really well to make sure all the piece is held together correctly. In my experience Naim electronics is one of the few brands capable of doing this at all and it does it very well.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

quote:

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Originally posted by ejl:
The speed of Naim and much Linn gear, both speakers and amps, suits percussive music well. This may have something to do with the rocker reputation, however inaccurate.

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This precisely mirrors my (limited) experience. I listen to alot of hip hop, reggae, and funk, and my setup captures alot of the energy of a live gig.

I would guess that to some degree this sort of stereotype comes as a byproduct of two not necessarily related things. One, as noted in an earlier post, earlier Naim systems, particularly those based on Linn speakers from the 80's, were not known for being tonally accurate. If the stereotype is that the classical listener would benifit the most from accurate tonality, and might be in a better position to make those distinctions (when compared to rock fans), I would guess that many listeners who have not heard modern Naim systems would be pleasantly suprised by Naim's current equipment. But in the context of an Isobarik or Sara based system, listeners in that era who were primarily motivated by tonal balance would have been more likely to choose B&W 801's or the many variants of LS 3/5 a's, and perhaps other styles of electronics as well. Thus, one issue is really a generational matter. This would have been most true when using an LP 12 with an Ittok, which also were tuned for other areas such as pacing and bounce over the last measure of neutrality. As long term listeners can attest, many of the systems that were noted for their neutrality were far better on slow moving music, and had a hard time keeping up with music in faster tempos.

The other issue is that many slow, warm systems just can't rock at all. This is still somewhat true, especially for very lush sounding tube based systems, which are often at their most appealing on small scale music with only a few performers in the mix. Add to that the fact that some systems favored by the classical fan can't play loud, and since Naim amps can drive speakers in real use to very high levels, although they are not by American High End standards high powered designs, I think you end up with a combination of attributes that might have created or perpetuated this myth.

Certainly as a music lover with very eclectic tastes in music myself, I don't think I could live with a system that couldn't play a wide variety of musics, but each system does have its strengths and weaknesses...

David, I think you are right in what you say, however I think the problem lies more to do with perceived bandwidth limitations in nain amps.

Stuart

Funny how perception may change with where you're from.

Here in Canada some people say that Naim can't play rock!

My 2 cents (for what it's worth): Naim being very faithful to music's rythm and timbre, it can play any material very well and most people find that what it does better is play the kind of music they like best.

My listening is Jazz (50%), classical (25%), rock, folk, adult contempory, etc... (25%).

Guess what? I find that what my 3.5/flatcap/102/140 does best is playing jazz...

I think this is gonna be the quote of the month....at least to me.

quote:

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Originally posted by ClaudeP:
Funny how perception may change with where you're from.
Here in Canada some people say that Naim can't play rock!

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This misconception might have as much to do with the perceived nature of classical music than the strengths and weaknesses of naim hi-fi. For many people, ‘classical’ music appears to equate to the aural equivalent of a hot bath or mug of cocoa, witness the proliferation of ‘100 best ever chill-out adagios’. The contributor suggesting, in another thread, that too much PRaT was detrimental in choral music seemed to be thinking along the same lines. I have to strongly disagree!

My other half, who sings in some of the London orchestral choirs, tells me that Conductor and Chorus masters often spend a considerable amount of rehearsal time trying to get everyone to start (and stop) at the same time. A reproduction of this music with any claims to fidelity shouldn’t smooth over this. Classical music should be exciting, it should have energy and should ‘rock’. I was struck, yet again, at a recent concert of Beethoven 9th how much this music relies on shock and surprise. The writing is littered with accents. A decent performance with some pretension to playing what is written, which this was (Charles Macerras, Philharmonia Choir and Orchestra), still has the ability to force you sit up and listen. Of all the equipment I have heard, naim amplification allows recordings to sound closest to the overall sense I get from this music when I hear it live. That some of the finer points occasionally get lost seems unimportant in comparison.

duncan