Size matters? (Fun is the one thing that money can buy?)

Posted by: Massimo Bertola on 08 October 2016

I more and more read the word fun used by members in describing their experience with some older, smaller Naim integrated such as the Nait and the Nait2. These units seem to go on the 2nd hand market for sum widely exceeding their objective technological status and commercial age.

Ivor Tiefenbrun (if I remember correctly) once said that if a system made you tap your feet (or foot, one usually just taps one, while the other keeps the balance) then it was a good system ( – or was it Julian Vereker, MBE?). Well, I have sometimes experienced foot-tapping while listening to music, but I can't remember what the gear was. Was it related to the gear or to the music, the moment, the frame of mind?  Is fun just letting barriers fall?

A guy I knew in my former life, who owned an audio shop, once said to me If you love the Naim sound, then you love the Nait, because it is quintessentially Naim sounding. He didn't himself by the way, but seemed to recognise and acknowledge that something which sometimes escapes me:

What is fun? What is it in music reproduction in the home? Is it a repeatable experience? Has it more to do with the equipment or with the person? Is it related to power? Is the audio myth according to which smaller, less powerful amps frequently sound better than bigger, more powerful ones, true? Then, if that is the case, what shall we do with the objective fact that a bigger amp controls better everything in the music reproduction – the woofers, dynamics, space, detail? As I have wondered lately as a consequence of my wonderful experience with the NAP300DR, that has changed a pair of SHL5s into lively, engaging sound machines, what has Naim worked on, and for, over the last 35 years if the Nait was all we could wish?

And, last, is there antagonism, or incompatibility, between realism and fun? Is fun a function of nostalgia and personal freedom too, since these discussions on the Nait always come up when new, more costly, more up-to-date, more technological and powerful models are introduced?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Max 

Posted on: 12 October 2016 by Loki

Good as all this is, aren't we in the wrong forum?

 

I wonder whether the so called 'fun' element is really what we all experience with listening to something for the first time: that first hit is the best, and the repeats are good but the highs are more difficult to reach. 

Life: I love the life I live, I live the life I love, and music underscores it all.

Posted on: 12 October 2016 by Massimo Bertola

Perhaps, yes, we left the right path. If Richard thinks best to move it to the Padded Cell, nothing against it personally. I only replied to a post, and as usual I was carried away a little.

M

Posted on: 12 October 2016 by Mulberry

This is a good thread, which means it is right here in the Naim Forum

Posted on: 12 October 2016 by Ardbeg10y

M - and other philosophers,

I think I do know that feeling. It was about a year ago when my mind was drifting away from an endlessly boring meeting at one of the big multinationals and it understood that 'ignorance' is a positive thing which is not given to too many people on this planet. I mean, whilst aging still enjoy something even given a very well educated and experienced background. Still think it is new even after many times. Not ignorance in the way it is used normally, but this will to understand things, normally only seen with young and eager kids. I'm not a great expert on Latin, but I think that in the Latin word 'ignorantia' the not-knowing is implying the will for knowledge / experience. But, I'm not an expert here. Just a personal feeling.

Regarding listening to music, I did study 'Kirchenmusik' and had a great focus on music theory. This took many, many times away the ability to enjoy music since a lot of music is simply not good from a musik theoretical point of view. Always having the engine in myselve on to reduce music to a certain chord scheme (with friends in a pub who are able to enjoy their beers), always listening to tempi, always getting angry when there is a parallel fifth in the music. It's quite a burden now and then.

However, I start to see also the beauty of certain music. I greatly enjoy (either on paper or actually listening to music - there is not so much difference anymore) a simple Bach harmonization. Since the voice leading is so beautiful, even a bad recording can't take the 'fun' away. Or the counterpoint in Brahms ... do I need to say more? You probably know them all.

The inner beauty of this musik was so good that I only had to discover Naim when I was 37.

Naim is giving me a different perspective on musik since I can now listen to Symphonies in my living room in a proper way. Finally, I like Tchaikovsky in a non-concerthall setting and can lonely analyze it and get a small glimpse of how Russia was in the late 19th century. Finally, I don't need to read a whole book of Dostojevski for that.

Well, that's Naim for me.

Naim and the purpose of live.

Posted on: 12 October 2016 by TOBYJUG

Can recommend finding a genre of music that has never appealed (within reason) and try to get together a nice collection and spend time listening. You might end up liking it, if you still don't it will be fun to try.