Naim will continue in av?

Evidence might suggest that Naim are indeed not following the AV route at present, and in the absense of any new products being discussed [and the dropping of existing models in the AV line], it seems to me that Naim may have given up the idea of competing in the AV and Blu-ray areas for the while.

This is speculation at best, but the logic seems inescapable.

ATB from George

I think Naim have been very interested in this market.

But, the technologies require a multitude of licences, and the 'standards' move very quickly.

There seems to be little time for specialist companies to build in their added value before the technology is defunct.

Personally I am suspicious of the ausio quality that is possible via HDMI, digital scart. Hence the systems developed by Meridian and others.

I'm sure that Naim have made good use of their R&D for the AV2/DVD5/nVi, in there current streaming products; and these should have a much longer shelf life.

I would love Naim to produce a way of handling the HiDef content on BluRay.

I fear that we will have a quality signal embedded in a media carrier which prevents us handling it well; other than trying to rip it.

Frustrating.

M

Problem might also be that they would either need to make an all-in-one solution like the n-Vi, which will then risk having lots of bugs, or will have to produce an amazing audio-only av-preamp, which will be very difficult to get to perfection.



Naim have also probably had bad experiences with their AV range as far as bugs and complaints are concerned. The three current/former AV products are quite buggy still and were never up to a standard that would satisfy the normal, non-Naim-aholic user.

Too many problems, too many software bugs, too little features.



Frustrating for us who still prefer the amazing sound of Naim and are willing to live with all the little...and bigger...bugs...although we do like to complain every now and then

Its not just Naim that's staying away from this market most specialist Hi-Fi companies are not really entering the market now. My own personal view is the market is best left to the likes of Denon etc who can rattle out Av products fairly cheaply and quickly.

Like Alex I would love a good quality AV processor for HD, but not if it threatens Naim's viability.

I think that Neil is right, and it is best left to the Denon's/Onkyo's.

They do not support their products over the medium let alone long term, just go to the next version.

M

Right now I'm using a PS3, which is able to downmix to stereo and toslink to my uniti. It sounds good, but I am sure the bluray concert disc I have can sound much better. Too bad there is no naim solution to this, because I think the weakest link is the ps3.

But the PS3 is one flexible. updatable piece of hardware!

Almost bought one rather than the Oppo83.

M

I use a PS3 analogue stereo out to my Naim preamp! Works fine for movies, although I accept it could be better. Musically it's a nightmarish mess. I've also tried it with toslink into a Naim DAC and (unbelievably?) you can hear that it's a PS3 even then.

On the subject of Naim coming back into AV, I would be very surprised to see Naim do so before the standards settle down a bit.

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.