Nait 5 can drive NBLs - official
Posted by: JeremyB on 01 June 2003
Or so it would seem. Anyone seen the latest "Absolute Sound"?
Apart from it being Editors Choice, they say about Nait 5:
The Nait 5 is something special. It delivers such a large slice of what high-end audio is about, so much musical pleasure, that more than being just a component for review, the latest Nait is the kind of product I could easily live with over the long haul, enjoying disc after disc while other audiophiles chase after some-thing newer and better.
But there's more: Absolute Sounds Recommended System 7 is the CD5, Nait 5 and...Wilson Audio Sophia Speakers!
Apparently, since the Sophias have a sensitivity of 89dB they are an ideal match for the Nait 5 if you can get past the speakers costing $11,700 with the CD5 and amp less than $4000.
So...NBLs at 92dB and $12,350 should be more than ideal, right?
Jeremy
Apart from it being Editors Choice, they say about Nait 5:
The Nait 5 is something special. It delivers such a large slice of what high-end audio is about, so much musical pleasure, that more than being just a component for review, the latest Nait is the kind of product I could easily live with over the long haul, enjoying disc after disc while other audiophiles chase after some-thing newer and better.
But there's more: Absolute Sounds Recommended System 7 is the CD5, Nait 5 and...Wilson Audio Sophia Speakers!
Apparently, since the Sophias have a sensitivity of 89dB they are an ideal match for the Nait 5 if you can get past the speakers costing $11,700 with the CD5 and amp less than $4000.
So...NBLs at 92dB and $12,350 should be more than ideal, right?
Jeremy
A friend of mine, who is a true "round-earther" with his Musical Fidelity kit, raised his eyebrows when I told him I was buying a NAIT. "An integrated? 30 wpc? nah don't do it".
After he'd heard it, he went very quiet!
- Andrew
After he'd heard it, he went very quiet!
- Andrew
quote:
Originally posted by JeremyB:
Or so it would seem. Anyone seen the latest "Absolute Sound"?
Apart from it being Editors Choice, they say about Nait 5:
The Nait 5 is something special. It delivers such a large slice of what high-end audio is about, so much musical pleasure, that more than being just a component for review, the latest Nait is the kind of product I could easily live with over the long haul, enjoying disc after disc while other audiophiles chase after some-thing newer and better.
But there's more: Absolute Sounds Recommended System 7 is the CD5, Nait 5 and...Wilson Audio Sophia Speakers!
Apparently, since the Sophias have a sensitivity of 89dB they are an ideal match for the Nait 5 if you can get past the speakers costing $11,700 with the CD5 and amp less than $4000.
So...NBLs at 92dB and $12,350 should be more than ideal, right?
Jeremy
Dont be fooled.... the Sophia model needs a pair of 135s as the minimum requirement. I went this route with my NAP250 already.
quote:
Originally posted by mad max:
To all, especially tuan
All your reservations about the nait would be put to rest if you heard a nait5 drive quad 988's, then try to drive the same quads with mark levinsons mono amps. Just do the demo, then report back.
max
yeah... Max now I know you are really mad.
Humble Naits They're Not. 
Another interesting post, this is. I did toy with this seemingly bizzare idea of pairing a Nait 5 with say, SL2s, or the DBLs as possible amp-speaker configurations since the speakers' highish sensitivities permitted such a pairing, but in the end it bored down to system balance and whether the components would be optimally matched to play off each other, to which the answer was (sadly) obvious. Still I daresay you could have alot of fun with a Nait 5-SL2 configuration, so whatever makes you happy listening to the music...
From my auditions with the Nait 5 on a few occasions, it is something special. It had a fundamental rightness, a coherence to the sound which connected me straight to the music, and a very quick swap to a 112/150/FC surprisingly didn't seem on first listen to be as explicit an improvement as I'd expected. In my audition, my ears preferred the 5, but the mind quickly said "What hogwash!", so it remains a question of whether you trust your ears.
You pay only a fraction of the cost of Naim's references, for "the baby integrated", but performance wise, it certainly delivers the goods, and sounds distinctly musical, and certainly not wanting in any respect, provided the volume's kept within 11 o-clock, maybe 12, but that would be stretching it, I think. Absolute power aside, the Nait 5 definitely takes on more expensive competitors at 2, 3, even 4 times the cost as a package, in terms of its sheer musicality and ability to connect to the music, cent for cent.
I once sat down with one of the ex-directors of Absolute Sound for an audition many years ago, a simple audition I remember to this day. What he did was to swap to a Nait 2 from the formidable 52/135s, with a CDS fronting the passive SBL based system for the comparitive demo. I was sitting there expecting a huge downward shift in the musical quality, and he just walked right back to his seat beside me, and casually asked, with a slightly raised eyebrow, "Tell me you find the Nait wanting in any way. Any difference?" Well, of course there were differences, BUT it was only after some time. His point was that even with a "humble Nait" (and humble it's certainly isn't!), you could enjoy the sheer emotion of the music without making any significant compromises to the listening experience, or your wallet, and that, for him, to him, was what mattered most at the end of the day. To be brutally honest, the moment he did that swap, my ears couldn't tell a marked, significant difference (and we'd been listening for some time prior this comparative demo), so the jaw did drop a little in amazement,with the mind refusing to register what the ears were conveying. It's not surprising, because we had a repeat of this comparision only this year, with a Nait 5 in tow this time, against the still formidable 52/SC/135s... and it WASN'T a foregone conclusion either.
I still want that 552/500, but a Nait 5 would do just as fine.
Good listening all, the music's groovin' frightfully more.
Rgds
Philip
naimniac for life
[This message was edited by Philip Pang on MONDAY 02 June 2003 at 12:09.]
Another interesting post, this is. I did toy with this seemingly bizzare idea of pairing a Nait 5 with say, SL2s, or the DBLs as possible amp-speaker configurations since the speakers' highish sensitivities permitted such a pairing, but in the end it bored down to system balance and whether the components would be optimally matched to play off each other, to which the answer was (sadly) obvious. Still I daresay you could have alot of fun with a Nait 5-SL2 configuration, so whatever makes you happy listening to the music...
From my auditions with the Nait 5 on a few occasions, it is something special. It had a fundamental rightness, a coherence to the sound which connected me straight to the music, and a very quick swap to a 112/150/FC surprisingly didn't seem on first listen to be as explicit an improvement as I'd expected. In my audition, my ears preferred the 5, but the mind quickly said "What hogwash!", so it remains a question of whether you trust your ears.
You pay only a fraction of the cost of Naim's references, for "the baby integrated", but performance wise, it certainly delivers the goods, and sounds distinctly musical, and certainly not wanting in any respect, provided the volume's kept within 11 o-clock, maybe 12, but that would be stretching it, I think. Absolute power aside, the Nait 5 definitely takes on more expensive competitors at 2, 3, even 4 times the cost as a package, in terms of its sheer musicality and ability to connect to the music, cent for cent.
I once sat down with one of the ex-directors of Absolute Sound for an audition many years ago, a simple audition I remember to this day. What he did was to swap to a Nait 2 from the formidable 52/135s, with a CDS fronting the passive SBL based system for the comparitive demo. I was sitting there expecting a huge downward shift in the musical quality, and he just walked right back to his seat beside me, and casually asked, with a slightly raised eyebrow, "Tell me you find the Nait wanting in any way. Any difference?" Well, of course there were differences, BUT it was only after some time. His point was that even with a "humble Nait" (and humble it's certainly isn't!
), you could enjoy the sheer emotion of the music without making any significant compromises to the listening experience, or your wallet, and that, for him, to him, was what mattered most at the end of the day. To be brutally honest, the moment he did that swap, my ears couldn't tell a marked, significant difference (and we'd been listening for some time prior this comparative demo), so the jaw did drop a little in amazement,with the mind refusing to register what the ears were conveying. It's not surprising, because we had a repeat of this comparision only this year, with a Nait 5 in tow this time, against the still formidable 52/SC/135s... and it WASN'T a foregone conclusion either. I still want that 552/500, but a Nait 5 would do just as fine.
Good listening all, the music's groovin' frightfully more.
Rgds
Philip
naimniac for life
[This message was edited by Philip Pang on MONDAY 02 June 2003 at 12:09.]
quote:
It's not surprising, because we had a repeat of this comparision only this year, with a Nait 5 in tow this time, against the still formidable 52/SC/135s... and it WASN'T a foregone conclusion either.
I still want that 552/500, but a Nait 5 would do just as fine.
Thanks Philip, as a new owner of CD5, FC2, Nait5 plus Ruark Prelude 2's your post has really cheered me up, I may even be able to fight off 'upgraditis'
Seth
Is Naim the only way forward?
Ahh, Ahh! I'm burning!!
quote:
Originally posted by Maxi Me:quote:
It's not surprising, because we had a repeat of this comparision only this year, with a Nait 5 in tow this time, against the still formidable 52/SC/135s... and it WASN'T a foregone conclusion either.
I still want that 552/500, but a Nait 5 would do just as fine.
Thanks Philip, as a new owner of CD5, FC2, Nait5 plus Ruark Prelude 2's your post has really cheered me up, I may even be able to fight off 'upgraditis'
Seth
_Is Naim the only way forward?
Ahh, Ahh! I'm burning!!_
You've only just got it - enjoy it!
quote:
You've only just got it - enjoy it!
Ooh, I am, I am!
Seth
Is Naim the only way forward?
Ahh, Ahh! I'm burning!!
>> So, yeah, if it is purely music that you are truly interested in, then perhaps a well chosen modest kit is all you need.
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Hi Hockman, been some time, glad to see you're still posting off and on. Trust your relationship with the 500/DBLs to be going exceptionally well. We pays our dues for wanting a 552/500 over a Nait 5, cos it's human nature to want the grander (and finer) scheme of things in life.
I guess from the audition I had that late afternoon many years ago, I learnt one could be equally content with a Nait from a musical standpoint since it was cut from the same cloth as the 52/135s. A Nait still makes music make sense, emotionally, and this 5th iteration of Naim's only classic integrated really shifts the goal posts again, and by some margin. The thing is to be happy with either the Nait or reference amplifiers if that's your choice, and to get back to enjoying the music at the end of the day: they both represent tremendous "value" in the context of what they offer at the different price points relative to the rest of the competition.
Seth, glad you're lapping it all up. You know you will "graduate" towards a 552/500 one day, if you like the Nait 5 for what it does as Naim's "baby" amplifier. The promise/premise of getting something better in the near future makes our hobby tick. So get ready to rob the bank eventually. And I'll gladly join you. But then again, there's always a reluctant capitalist lurking somewhere in our midst who might just so good-naturedly help us with the funding when the time comes. You never know...
Good listening all; the music's groovin' frightfully more.
Philip
naimniac for life
[This message was edited by Philip Pang on TUESDAY 03 June 2003 at 09:25.]
Couldn't have said it better myself.
Hi Hockman, been some time, glad to see you're still posting off and on. Trust your relationship with the 500/DBLs to be going exceptionally well.
We pays our dues for wanting a 552/500 over a Nait 5, cos it's human nature to want the grander (and finer) scheme of things in life. I guess from the audition I had that late afternoon many years ago, I learnt one could be equally content with a Nait from a musical standpoint since it was cut from the same cloth as the 52/135s. A Nait still makes music make sense, emotionally, and this 5th iteration of Naim's only classic integrated really shifts the goal posts again, and by some margin. The thing is to be happy with either the Nait or reference amplifiers if that's your choice, and to get back to enjoying the music at the end of the day: they both represent tremendous "value" in the context of what they offer at the different price points relative to the rest of the competition.
Seth, glad you're lapping it all up. You know you will "graduate" towards a 552/500 one day, if you like the Nait 5 for what it does as Naim's "baby" amplifier. The promise/premise of getting something better in the near future makes our hobby tick. So get ready to rob the bank eventually. And I'll gladly join you.
But then again, there's always a reluctant capitalist lurking somewhere in our midst who might just so good-naturedly help us with the funding when the time comes. You never know... Good listening all; the music's groovin' frightfully more.
Philip
naimniac for life
[This message was edited by Philip Pang on TUESDAY 03 June 2003 at 09:25.]