Audiolab to Naim

For a man of your obvious discernment I cannot believe you only allow yourself to enjoy so-called "Classical" music George. Why not take pleasure, as I do, from the huge range of alternatives? My father-in-law from a previous Mrs tonym played violin in a well-known orchestra and constantly surprised me with the sheer diversity of the music he  enjoyed, often just a track or two from something like a Rolling Stones album to Yes to Coltrane. He showed me how to appreciate the music within, and I'll always be grateful to him for sitting me down and making me listen, on his antiquated old record player, to Bach, Beethoven, and other classical composers. It didn't diminish my enjoyment of  the stuff, usually progressive rock music, I'd always liked but expanded my musical enjoyment enormously.

I will admit that there is one “pop” song that captured my interest in the last few years.

Daft Punk: Get lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5EofwRzit0

A piece that has an exposition, a counterpoint, and a synthesis.

Without these three elements then music descends into the calm pointless comfort of your average Victorian Hymn tune!

No interest in music that does not challenge at least on two levels, and most “pop” does not even challenge on one level, let alone two or three.

Simple rubbish that I cannot waste time on. Life is too short ...

Best wishes from George

George Fredrik Fiske posted:

I will admit that there is one “pop” song that captured my interest in the last few years.

Daft Punk: Get lucky.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5EofwRzit0

A piece that has an exposition, a counterpoint, and a synthesis.

Without these three elements then music descends into the calm pointless comfort of your average Victorian Hymn tune!

No interest in music that does not challenge at least on two levels, and most “pop” does not even challenge on one level, let alone two or three.

Simple rubbish that I cannot waste time on. Life is too short ...

Best wishes from George

 

 

I think there's a vast array of non-classical music that you won'r have heard, George! and there is much that has complex structure, certainly with exposition, counterpoint and synthesis. Perhaps because of my own upbringing being with classical music, I was drawn to the style known as progressive rock, sometimes called symphonic rock, and that led me into othe rock styles. But the vast majority of the stuff that gets played incessantly on mainstream 'pop' radio stations, the stuff that I dub 'pop' I eschew, and always have, though of course there have been exceptions when occasionally good music has made it through.

Possible, but nothing like JS Bach for all that, or else it would be common knowledge ...

I'm not convinced that everything in the music world becomes common knowledge across every sphere - quite simply the world of music is so vast that narrow specialist areas of interest/knowledge abound, all the more so if people close their minds to the possibility of other things being of interest.

In classical music, for example, I label all modern - say post WW1 - classical music as cacophonic, and don't deign to listen. That view of course arises from my perception of music I have heard, and indeed I don't doubt that there will be some things I like, but There is so much other music that I see no point spending time. The same goes for jazz: whilst there are a small handful of things that I have heard and liked, in general I find nothing to like, so I label it as not liking jazz and ignore the genre. dItto soul, country & western, etc etc.  

it was once the same for me with opera, however, because I liked the music, though without the voices, I was prepared to give it a try, and did find an opera genre I like, indeed now love very much indeed a the problem for me is that the singing has to be in context, and what I had heard before were isolated arias etc, divorced of context, and unintelligible language.

It's fine by me for folk to dislike particular styles and types of music, it'd be a strange world indeed if we all liked the same things. I take great pleasure in discovering different artists of all genres, but I completely understand why others are content with their own listening preferences. What I cannot stomach, though, is people who happen to dislike something to then label it as "rubbish", which is arrogance of the worst sort in my book. Apart from Rap. Now that is rubbish.

tonym posted:

Apart from Rap. Now that is rubbish.

Even Rap you look you can (in my opinion) find examples where the talents of the performer comes though and can be impressive.  I don't listen to it and mostly find it superficial and without merit, but occasionally I've found rap to impress.

There is not a genre of music that i would dismiss and each has its place, it's what makes the world go round. I could go from Eminem to Opera in the same sitting without a second thought. 

Back on to subject...

I've owned an Audiolab 8000A, replaced it with an Audiolab 8000S and replaced that with a Nait XS 2 (in each case driving Spendor SP2s).  There are no significant circuit changes between the 8000 and 8200 series, the adjustments made were done to reduce the production costs. So I am in a position to comment.

The change from the 'A' to the 'S' brought the same preamp circuit as the 'Q' preamp you use (replacing the TL082 with an OPA1234PA + a few other detail changes) which brought much better resolution to the sound quality.  The Nait XS 2 wins hands down against the 8000S.

The next part is the poweramp.  The 'A', the 'S' and the 'P' use the same poweramp circuit, with most of the same characteristics.  The P can drive slightly more troublesome loads as it has higher voltage rails and a larger power supply.  These supply better transient output currents.  However for my speakers the XS 2 also drives my speakers better than the Audiolabs ever could.  Naim amps are specifically designed to preserve transient detail (which is one of the reasons why they sound so good), and do so better than the Audiolab amps.

In short I don't think you'll loose out in any way when moving to a Nait XS 2 from any Audiolab setup, and you'll benefit from the lower transient dynamic compression of Naim amplification and a much more 'musically involving' presentation.

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Apart from Rap. Now that is rubbish.

Even Rap you look you can (in my opinion) find examples where the talents of the performer comes though and can be impressive.  I don't listen to it and mostly find it superficial and without merit, but occasionally I've found rap to impress.

Sorry Elaine, I should perhaps have inserted a smiley for my Rap remark. I'm sure you're right and maybe some Rap will come along that I can relate to.

tonym posted:

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Apart from Rap. Now that is rubbish.

Even Rap you look you can (in my opinion) find examples where the talents of the performer comes though and can be impressive.  I don't listen to it and mostly find it superficial and without merit, but occasionally I've found rap to impress.

Sorry Elaine, I should perhaps have inserted a smiley for my Rap remark. I'm sure you're right and maybe some Rap will come along that I can relate to.

Elaine?  Thats not my name ... thats not my ... NAIM!

Time for the ... ... perhaps?

What's his face kenny west is quite good .

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Apart from Rap. Now that is rubbish.

Even Rap you look you can (in my opinion) find examples where the talents of the performer comes though and can be impressive.  I don't listen to it and mostly find it superficial and without merit, but occasionally I've found rap to impress.

Sorry Elaine, I should perhaps have inserted a smiley for my Rap remark. I'm sure you're right and maybe some Rap will come along that I can relate to.

Elaine?  Thats not my name ... thats not my ... NAIM!

Time for the ... ... perhaps?

Oh damn, I'm so sorry Eloise! Put it down to senility. Elaine was my secretary for many years & her name's got indelibly imprinted on my brain.

tonym posted:

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Eloise posted:

tonym posted:

Apart from Rap. Now that is rubbish.

Even Rap you look you can (in my opinion) find examples where the talents of the performer comes though and can be impressive.  I don't listen to it and mostly find it superficial and without merit, but occasionally I've found rap to impress.

Sorry Elaine, I should perhaps have inserted a smiley for my Rap remark. I'm sure you're right and maybe some Rap will come along that I can relate to.

Elaine?  Thats not my name ... thats not my ... NAIM!

Time for the ... ... perhaps?

Oh damn, I'm so sorry Eloise! 

Not a problem.  I'm usually "Oi you!"