Naim at the Bristol Show

i thought it sounded good for the brief snippets I heard in between hotel power failures on friday

this compact new range is a similar idea that most manufactures are producing now . I would expect they would more likely be feeding relatively small speakers in the home situation .

the new style is far better than the age of the black box.  the range will sell by the boat load ,although how many would need to rip their cds iam not sure . I would hate to re rip my 4000 cds.

    I have a muso qb in the lounge ,everyone comments on the style .   guess the next thing will be wireless speakers as the norm.

wenger2015 posted:

Just been in Naim demo, very very impressive 

Looks really impressive indeed. Love the rack. Fraim.2?

Chag -

I am interested to hear of more impressions of the Nova. When I heard it, albeit a prototype model, at the Naim Towers demo room  a couple of months back I was very impressed and with  clear differentiation from the Star and even more so the Atom.

I was sat in front row. I am not a fan of Focal speakers, but this new range is the best of what they do IMHO. I really liked it, had the "sound" of naim all over it. I also liked the use of naca5

jon honeyball posted:

I was sat in front row. I am not a fan of Focal speakers, but this new range is the best of what they do IMHO. I really liked it, had the "sound" of naim all over it. I also liked the use of naca5

Jon,

I recall us drawing a similar conclusion together at the Audiobarn some 18(?) months ago.  In the interim period I've had the Sopra 1s at home for a dem and after a longer listening session I was very clear that despite their considerable virtues - principally transparency - they were not for me.

Regards,

Lindsay

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

I am interested to hear of more impressions of the Nova. When I heard it, albeit a prototype model, at the Naim Towers demo room  a couple of months back I was very impressed and with  clear differentiation from the Star and even more so the Atom.

Indeed Simon.  I was pleasantly surprised at just how well the prototype Nova drove the Focal Sopra 1.  Taken at face value, the system looked like a mullet.  However, the Nova didn't sound like a small amp trying to drive a revealing pair of high quality speakers, the combination just seemed to play music.  FT

I was in the front row of the first dem of the show and played close attention as I  am very seriously considering trading in my SU for a Nova; primarily for the much improved and more capable digital platform but hopefully also for better sound quality. Jason mentioned that the parts carried over from SU to Nova amounted to 3 screws! They do look very nice with some cute touches such as the wireless antenna built in to the heatsink and a proximity sensitive colour screen.

To me the sound was rather a curate's egg (good in parts). They certainly seemed to have enough power to drive the speakers and the dynamics were very impressive. I heard no sign of harshness or strain and they were very musical, for want of a better term. You could hear right into the mix and the micro dynamics were well controlled - definitely the Naim bloodline runs strong in them.

In my earlier Show report I complained of muddled boomy bass and flappy speaker cones. This did not come across as the amp struggling to cope, more as a poor choice of speakers and very likely the system not being warmed up so early in the day - waiting outside the room before the dem, I couldn't hear them being played; why not? I do like to listen loud and am very familiar with amps running out of steam; in my experience this manifests as a harshness in the mid/high frequencies rather than bass boom.

In short, they were very impressive overall and subject to a proper dem in July (hopefully!) I am still very keen. 

Nice to read some positive impressions of the new Uniti range from the people that went to the show. I got to hear the unit Atom last year at the Hi-Fi show in Hammersmith, and it sounded very good to my ears. I ordered one before Christmas, but like many others, I'm still waiting on mine. My hi-fi dealer managed to get me a SuperUniti loaner while I wait, so it's not so bad. However, I'm really enjoying the SU and am very tempted to get it instead. Would love to get the Nova or Star, but financially, they're just a bit out of my reach.

I am very interested in the Star and wonder will it have the same grip and control as the Nova to drive slightly more difficult speakers such as  eg ATCSCM40 (M2)?  I suppose we will not know until they come out in July/August?