Is it worth persisting with nVi?
Posted by: living in lancs yearning for yorks on 17 December 2012
Have had nVi (with full nSat, nCent and nSub system) for around 5.5 years now.
About 1 or 2 years in, Naim substantially rebuilt the nVi due to problems with it.
Then, about 2.5 years ago after a fire in the house it was sent off to Class A for cleaning / checking - and spent some time back at the factory again
A couple of weeks ago the picture on the TV froze while the sound continued - turn off and on and then worked fine so just thought a glitch - but at the weekend (first subsequent time of use) the picture was disastrous, so I need to decide what to do.
I did a search but could not find any evidence of other peoples' experience with nVi - but really don't want to keep using something that might be shaping up to need refurbishing by the factory every couple of years. Of course, I may just be unlucky so far and from now on it may be fine - but am not keen on the idea of a bottomless pit, just want to have something that continues to work
Have already emailed Darran at Class A to ask for his advice but does anyone have any thoughts here?
I've had my nVi for about 18 months now (with Focal 5.1 domes). It was ex-dem and had been serviced by Naim. My dealer said a more robust display had been fitted during the service. Initially it was problematic in that it would not work with the sub unless the signal was full dolby digital 3/2.1. Dealer sorted this with a firmware update.
Since then I've very pleased with the nVi. It can be a little slow to catch up when switching channels on Sky, and once a week or so it get confused and displays a fault, asking me to turn it off and back on. It's then fine. Picture quality has always been reliable and it takes a digital input from a Oppo Blu-ray player smoothly. Sound quality is wonderful and it has that effortless power that I associate with Naim amps. I know views are mixed on the nVi but I continue to be delighted with mine and the occasional re-set is a small price I'm more than willing to pay for the performance it gives me.
MDS
I sold my n-vi earlier this year. It was only getting used for DVD playback as most of its other functions had been replaced by my NDX. I was an early adopter of the n-vi (not the best idea with a Naim) placing an order when it first came out. Apart from some odd issues, freezing, no sound from an input needing cycling of inputs, I got used to it and it worked years until last year when it's display failed and it took a trip back to Salisbury. With a new display, some components replaced and the latest firmware on board it came back in rude health. The old issues had gone but some new ones appeared - it needed a power off once a week was one.
Issues aside, I did find it an utterly absorbing DVD player which is what sold it to me in the first place. Video and sound quality was superb. Unfortunately it was spoilt by buggy firmware and a design that Naim didn't seem to get right.
Oops - rather embarrassed to note that the problem was in using a US region DVD. Fine with uk / Europe one! Ahem! Clearly will bepersevering with it 
Oops - rather embarrassed to note that the problem was in using a US region DVD. Fine with uk / Europe one! Ahem! Clearly will bepersevering with it
Suspect we've all made this sort of mistake at one time or another. I know I have. Glad to hear you're giving the nVi another lease of life.
MDS
Get it down your scrap dealer while alluminium prices are good.
Been a huge fan of my n-Vi for years. Never found a better DVD player, and am utterly bowled over by the audio.
Sure, there have been issues, but it had a major overhaul 2 years ago and has been better than ever since then.
Auditioned a few BluRay players, but frequently found them very wanting in DVD playback, so never taken the plunge.
Know a couple of guys with Oppo/AV2/175 combos and have tried a couple of Oppos. Great players, but would have always had to find an AV2/175, and the budget for them to justify retiring the n-Vi.
Based on that, have always worked on the principle of adding a BluRay player that did an astonishing job of playing HD and downmixing HD audio to DTS on the fly, leaving the n-Vi to deal with the audio.
Having tried an Oppo 93 this way for a week last year I figured I'd found a worthy animal, so decided to start buying movies, where available, in BD triple-packs. I figured I could watch the DVDs now, but that once I'd got an arbitrary number of titles on BluRay, then I could justify purchase of a player.
The number I set myself was 30. Bearing in mind that I have around 1000 dvds, and that as good as the Oppo 93 was, I still would use the n-Vi to spin those discs as it was simply better at it.
The Oppo 93 was replaced by the 103, so I auditioned this too. Noticeably better, but still not good enough for DVD... But interestingly I was able to run the DVI of the n-Vi into the Oppo, through its scaler and up to my screen. Things got interesting!
As great as the Cevo scaling engine on my screen is, letting the Oppo take on the scaling duties was better. In fact, using Marvels Avengers Assemble on both formats, the Oppo scaling the n-Vi's picture was almost indistinguishable from putting the BD in the Oppo to play.
So... Another quandary.... Why buy an Oppo player just to use it as a scaler? No point. In buying BD discs if they were to look and sound barely any better than the DVD's it was sharing the n-Vi's workload on.
Hmmm
So, here I sit, watching some episodes of HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" on dvd, spinning in the n-Vi, running through the scaler on an Oppo 105......
Wow!!!!!
And when I put in a bluray, it looks substantially better than any BluRay player I've ever tried.
It also extracts audio from the screen's HDMI ARC, feeds it SPDIF down to the n-Vi, and sounds noticeably better than the screen's optical feed straight to the n-Vi.
Very interesting indeed.
And more... Over its two HDMI inputs, a USB asynchrobous audio in, a coax in and an optical in, the Oppo can apply DTS NEO:6 surround processing (which I've always preferred over Dolby PrologicII) to any stereo feed.
It has an 8 channel, volume controlled, analogue output board like the 103, but the higher quality 2ch board can be configured to run front L&R hand in hand with the other channels, and it natively spins DVDs to within a percent or two of the n-Vi/Oppo playback and scaling option.
So... I have 4 more BluRays to meet my 30... It won't be long before I purchase an Oppo 105... But what is to become of the n-Vi?
Simply put, it will stay for the time being and work alongside the Oppo... But when I can justify the necessary extra channels of amplification (a NAP-V145 and a NAP155X for the rears) then maybe the n-Vi can be retired to a smaller Sub/Sat AV system in a 2nd room, safe in the knowledge that the main system will lose nothing of any consequence by way of its removal.
I honestly am surprising myself by typing the above... For all of its foibles, I genuinely never expected that a replacement would be an easy step... Sure, not in one box... But if I could dig out a NAP-V175 then a 2 box c(or 3 box with a NAP155XS if you're not mating the n-Vi to a 2ch system like I do) combo of that and the Oppo105 would be a worthy successor to anyone out their with an n-Vi.
Oops... Put the wrong their there!
Been a huge fan of my n-Vi for years. Never found a better DVD player, and am utterly bowled over by the audio.
Sure, there have been issues, but it had a major overhaul 2 years ago and has been better than ever since then.
Auditioned a few BluRay players, but frequently found them very wanting in DVD playback, so never taken the plunge.
Know a couple of guys with Oppo/AV2/175 combos and have tried a couple of Oppos. Great players, but would have always had to find an AV2/175, and the budget for them to justify retiring the n-Vi.
Based on that, have always worked on the principle of adding a BluRay player that did an astonishing job of playing HD and downmixing HD audio to DTS on the fly, leaving the n-Vi to deal with the audio.
Having tried an Oppo 93 this way for a week last year I figured I'd found a worthy animal, so decided to start buying movies, where available, in BD triple-packs. I figured I could watch the DVDs now, but that once I'd got an arbitrary number of titles on BluRay, then I could justify purchase of a player.
The number I set myself was 30. Bearing in mind that I have around 1000 dvds, and that as good as the Oppo 93 was, I still would use the n-Vi to spin those discs as it was simply better at it.
The Oppo 93 was replaced by the 103, so I auditioned this too. Noticeably better, but still not good enough for DVD... But interestingly I was able to run the DVI of the n-Vi into the Oppo, through its scaler and up to my screen. Things got interesting!
As great as the Cevo scaling engine on my screen is, letting the Oppo take on the scaling duties was better. In fact, using Marvels Avengers Assemble on both formats, the Oppo scaling the n-Vi's picture was almost indistinguishable from putting the BD in the Oppo to play.
So... Another quandary.... Why buy an Oppo player just to use it as a scaler? No point. In buying BD discs if they were to look and sound barely any better than the DVD's it was sharing the n-Vi's workload on.
Hmmm
So, here I sit, watching some episodes of HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" on dvd, spinning in the n-Vi, running through the scaler on an Oppo 105......
Wow!!!!!
And when I put in a bluray, it looks substantially better than any BluRay player I've ever tried.
It also extracts audio from the screen's HDMI ARC, feeds it SPDIF down to the n-Vi, and sounds noticeably better than the screen's optical feed straight to the n-Vi.
Very interesting indeed.
And more... Over its two HDMI inputs, a USB asynchrobous audio in, a coax in and an optical in, the Oppo can apply DTS NEO:6 surround processing (which I've always preferred over Dolby PrologicII) to any stereo feed.
It has an 8 channel, volume controlled, analogue output board like the 103, but the higher quality 2ch board can be configured to run front L&R hand in hand with the other channels, and it natively spins DVDs to within a percent or two of the n-Vi/Oppo playback and scaling option.
So... I have 4 more BluRays to meet my 30... It won't be long before I purchase an Oppo 105... But what is to become of the n-Vi?
Simply put, it will stay for the time being and work alongside the Oppo... But when I can justify the necessary extra channels of amplification (a NAP-V145 and a NAP155X for the rears) then maybe the n-Vi can be retired to a smaller Sub/Sat AV system in a 2nd room, safe in the knowledge that the main system will lose nothing of any consequence by way of its removal.
I honestly am surprising myself by typing the above... For all of its foibles, I genuinely never expected that a replacement would be an easy step... Sure, not in one box... But if I could dig out a NAP-V175 then a 2 box c(or 3 box with a NAP155XS if you're not mating the n-Vi to a 2ch system like I do) combo of that and the Oppo105 would be a worthy successor to anyone out their with an n-Vi.
So to summarise.......You reckon the Oppo 105 is better than the N-Vi for both picture and sound on Standard DVDs and in addition it plays Blu-Ray DVDs which are even better still.
Or have I misunderstood ?
Cheers
Don
Not quite.
In tandem with an n-Vi, doing the scaling for the n-Vi, the dvd picture is unbeatable.
But flying solo and playing dvds itself, it's close enough to live with, even by my harsh standards.
However, for an n-Vi owner who is looking to move on, using the Oppo105 hand in hand with the n-Vi as a stepping stone to getting 5 channels of power amplification renders it an easy stepping stone process to allow the pensioning off of the n-Vi once all the amps are in place.
It still is a bit finnicky... But if you don't run multiple available sources, or can run less important sources straight to the screen and use ARC to feed their audio out to the Oppo105, then it's not a huge issue.
hmmmm......
Looks like an Oppo 105 with a pair of the new NAP100s (leaving one channel unused) would be a good way to replace the n-Vi for folk like me who pair it to a 2 channel Naim setup.....
Interesting!
Maybe even use the spare channel to big-amp the centre? (Well, not on my Focals, but maybe for the PMC or B&W user)
hmmmm......
Looks like an Oppo 105 with a pair of the new NAP100s (leaving one channel unused) would be a good way to replace the n-Vi for folk like me who pair it to a 2 channel Naim setup.....
Interesting!
Maybe even use the spare channel to big-amp the centre? (Well, not on my Focals, but maybe for the PMC or B&W user)
I was thinking along similar lines, but incorporating their 3xChanel amp for rears and center
Cheers
Don
The n-Vi I had was the only Naim piece I have ever owned that I felt I did not like. I tried using it with a pair of Totem Mani-2's and they smacked it around all over the living room. Couldn't get any decent volume at all without it cutting out on its circuit breaker.
Finally gave up, and got rid of the n-Vi and the Totems...and took a small bath in the process.
Not suggesting that I'm bored of my n-Vi though.... I love what it does, and am impressed that it's taken 7 years for someone to bring out something worthy to succeed it.... But having seen what the Oppo105 did to any picture I put through it, and now the NAP100 taking the risk out of finding and then servicing a 175, I reckon the key is in the ignition waiting to be turned. My research indicates that a late 175 (or an early one followed by a service) will be close to the cost of two 100s at £650 each.
The 2 x NAP100 presents one other opportunity..... My room can, by way of layout, support 7.1..... But the n-Vi is 5.1. Using a NAP100 temporarily to drive the centre, I can then later switch to a NAP-V145 to more closely match my 250 on the front soundstage, and invest in a 2nd set of rears to let, me go 7.1.
Win win!