Naim at the Bristol Show

The Harbeth Super HL5 40th driven by Hegel 360 sounded fabulous - could have stayed there all day. Source was just a laptop/portable DAC.... :-) 

I also enjoyed it yesterday. I was at the first Naim dem which focused on the Nova - ideal for me as I am intending to swap my Superuniti for one when they become available (I was told July). Unfortunately I was not over impressed with some aspects of the sound, particularly the fairly boomy muddy bass. Maybe it was better later after it had warmed up more. Sitting in the front row I noticed the speaker cones flapping like very flappy things, I actually looked at other speakers in the show to see if they all did that (I keep my grilles on at home) but nothing else flapped like a Focal. It was a mega mullet as the speakers were £10k Focal broken wheelie bin jobs so I'll reserve judgement but it's a shame they couldn't use something more suitable. My friend has their normal looking stand mounts (Arias, I believe) and they sound very nice indeed.

Naim amps were sounding very good in other rooms, particularly Kudos and Dynaudio. Dynaudio had an Atom (how did they get hold of one? and a Core on top of their rack; - I was gobsmacked at how wonderful it sounded until I was informed they were actually using NDS/252/300s!

PMC sounded as good as ever and I was quite impressed with some of the more budget level rooms, particularly Cyrus, Rega, and Creek/Epos. There were more computer based boxes around than you could shake a stick at and CD players were rather scarce although the Musical Fidelity Nu Vista CD based system sounded very nice in a "round earth" kind of way. As ever I was amazed at how uninspiring some of the mega expensive systems sounded. Every year Wilson Benesch have a huge presence and every year I am underwhelmed in spite of them playing music I  enjoy (unlike most rooms - didn't hear any Grateful Dead anywhere).

As usual I got home and was delighted at how good my system sounded compared to most of what I heard.

Yes, it sounds very odd to be using the large Sopra 2 with an all in one. If Naim really must use Focal speakers you'd think it would be more sensible to use something a prospective Nova owner is likely to actually buy - something around £2,000 perhaps. Mullets seem to be all the rage these days for some reason. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Yes, it sounds very odd to be using the large Sopra 2 with an all in one. If Naim really must use Focal speakers you'd think it would be more sensible to use something a prospective Nova owner is likely to actually buy - something around £2,000 perhaps. Mullets seem to be all the rage these days for some reason. 

My wife and I were one row from the front on the first Naim demo yesterday and noticed the same as PEV about the excess bass boom and speaker cone movement. The quite large room was filled with an impressive volume of sound but if we didn't already know about Naim, we'd have been asking as few questions!

Very impressed by the Quadraspire demo, showing off their new Bronze spike upgrade. 

I use their SVT with the bronze spikes and it's very good indeed. The bamboo looks very pretty, and always far nicer in real life than in pictures. It's good to hear that someone is impressed by a show demo. Perhaps they didn't use speakers with floppy cones. 

Flappy speakers=amps that are struggling to control them

I find it unbelievable that Naim overspeakered an all in one product, some tidy little stand mounts would have been the right thing surely. Save the big 'uns for the real hifi 

Hungryhalibut posted:

Yes, it sounds very odd to be using the large Sopra 2 with an all in one. If Naim really must use Focal speakers you'd think it would be more sensible to use something a prospective Nova owner is likely to actually buy - something around £2,000 perhaps. Mullets seem to be all the rage these days for some reason. 

I suspect there's several reasons. 

First of course they are committed to using Focal speakers - may be different in other countries with different distribution arrangements.   Second the  Sopras are the only Focals voiced to work with Naim.  Third when I heard the SN2 with the Sopra 2 both companies were keen to explain that both products were relatively efficient such as to make it a viable pairing. Finally,  I imagine they probably have a pretty big space at Bristol so they would need a large speaker    

Regards,

Lindsay

Finkfan posted:

Very impressed by the Quadraspire demo, showing off their new Bronze spike upgrade. 

Been using Quadraspire for a number of years always been impressed with the quality and finish.

It was interesting to speak to Alester  who explained how different materials and shapes can influence the sound of the rack a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Re the large Sopras - Jason did say that they needed large speakers to fill the space but it didn't seem all that big a room to me. I noticed that the Nova volume was set at about 60. I sometimes get my SU to that level driving N-Sats in my little 5.5x4.5m room in my cottage. The Nova didn't sound awful by any means - very dynamic and with lots of inner detail but they've had that room before and should have it sorted by now. They use the left half for the seated dem and the other half where the boxes are laid out on tables and people mill about peering and poking at them for the last 5 minutes - useful if you want to ask something one to one with any of the very friendly and helpful Naim staff on hand.

I think they'd be better off with a dedicated smaller room for dems and a separate room for poking about and chat. They also have a area of the bar which they used for Muso and Focal headphones which isn't very satisfactory for either purpose. I reckon the room PMC use is at least as big and they can make stand mounts sound good in there. There is plenty of choice of room size and plenty of unused rooms compared to a few years ago.

To me, the demo yesterday, was as much about leaving a visual impression of the lifestyle desirability of Naim's new all-in-one players. One minimalist black box of electronics was sat on Fraim glass and balls, atop a large white display box, with the modernist/futuristic white Sopra 2s either side. No hifi stands, no hanging cables; speaker cables mostly hidden behind the display. I'm not being critical of that. As we know, Naim have to create and appeal to a new and younger market of hifi buyers to follow after us lot. I can easily see how visually appealing and cool it would look to those aspiring to that.

However, the sound. To me it was hard/harsh (at volume levels of high 50s/low 60s) and lacking in 'musicality'. The one classical excerpt, from Handel's Harp concerto, sounded brash, like a rock track coming out of a giant PA. I realise that one can point to limitations of the environment, but even so, I thought the sound should have been better from what was a £14k system.

I recall attending an evening demo put on by Naim at a another executive suite in the Marriot, in January 2014 (to a similar number of attendees - maybe more) to show off streamers/Supernait 2/Aria 926 and the impression I still hold from that was of a much better (and very good) sound than the one at the demo yesterday.

All IMHO of course, but nonetheless, this and all the other feedback on this thread may be useful.

Just been in Naim demo, very very impressive 

Salmon Dave posted:

The Harbeth Super HL5 40th driven by Hegel 360 sounded fabulous - could have stayed there all day. Source was just a laptop/portable DAC.... :-) 

Agreed. I did in fact spend 30 minutes there listening to one of the best sounds at the show (after the Chord cables demo that is!).  

Hungryhalibut posted:

Clive B posted:

Dave J posted:

Also, the comparison between "old" Chord Super Sarum and the new Sarum T.  Wow!! And, as ever, available as an upgrade to existing Sarum users apparently  (damn it!! An absolutely necessary expense I hadn't anticipated).

Wow! indeed. As I tried to imply above, the Sarum T Super Aray is one hell of a good cable loom and probably an absolutely necessary expense as you say. Damn it! I only upgraded my LP12 to Sarum Super Aray at the end of last year. 

That Chord seem to change their cables more often than a student changes their pants seems to be a good reason to avoid them. If they can improve something so soon one wonders why they didn't bother to get them right in the first place. Surely it's not simply a ploy to generate more revenue....

The fact they are all upgradable surely puts paid to that suggestion. Like Naim and Linn, this is an extremely attractive additional reason for chosing them, in my view. I think it's great that here we have a company that continues to strive for the best and then make the improvements available lower down the range. 

....and glad I didn't have to share student digs with you ��

Pcd posted:

Finkfan posted:

Very impressed by the Quadraspire demo, showing off their new Bronze spike upgrade. 

I've been using Quad 4 Evo for years and think it makes a great basic rack. If I was going to upgrade though, I'd go for the new Quad (the black one pictured above) with the new bronze spike isolation shelves... much prefer the look of this rack to a fraim and seems to be based on the same concept from an isolation perspective.

Romi posted:

This was my first HiFi show; very interesting and enjoyable experience.  Among other brands I visited the Naim Uniti and also noticed Naim equipment used for Dynaudio, Kudos and Proac.  In relation to Naim I enjoyed the Proac room most because I felt the entry level Naim amp and Cd blended so well with Proac DB3 speakers.  Another speaker which maybe be worth listening to is the Scansonic M-6 (same people who make Raidho speakers ) a slim Compact 2.5 way floorstander speaker (£1200)  . Serious bass & treble. I wonder how a Naim/Scansonic combination would sound?

Naim and Scansonic are a great combo. I have the SS 2.5 and considering the move to MB5. A little bird has told me Lars used Naim himself until Aavik was introduced. 

Those sopra 2's in white look like storm troopers from starwars��

wenger2015 posted:

Just been in Naim demo, very very impressive 

Sopra 2 ?

Regards

Roberto

rsch posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Just been in Naim demo, very very impressive 

Sopra 2 ?

Regards

Roberto

Yes, Sopra2's,  

lovely carpet, not sure about the rack.....

I like that white rack

fathings cat posted:

Those sopra 2's in white look like storm troopers from starwars��

Once they were good.

I went to the naim demo, although good, it would of been nice to hear the Nova in a smaller room with different (make) speakers.

Enjoyed the show and the demo although did not get a chance to listen to the headphones. Impressed with how well the Sopras seemed to be driven. Am off to buy myself a proper router post discussion with the team on merits of linking up the Core to a streamer through a switch and just the BT hub.

Keen to hear more about the Nova - seems v quiet on here re impressions. Any info, opinions gratefully received.