A boring new day.
Posted by: Massimo Bertola on 21 October 2017
Yesterday I visited my dealer, and they were demoing the Nova. I've heard it with Neat Motive SX2 and SX3. Nothing sounded like Naim. The Nova is just the opposite of its dad, the SuperUniti: limpid, pleasing, detailed and full of 3D imaging. Gentle and jolly in character, mildly exuberant, devoid of all possible true-to-reality-ness, the one that made Naim so opinion-dividing and interesting.
The Neats are just a pair of boxes with an expensive tweeter, and sound like if they were a call operator reading Shakespeare. They are expensive too. In a way I am glad that the great Naim era is over: now I can give myself to reminiscing, which – in spite of my therapist's opinion – is my preferred sport.
Well I heard the Nova with Neat Iota Alphas and your experience is exactly counter opposite to mine.
hi Max,
you mean dynamically restrained?
Perhaps that dealer had a bad installation or other issues
Worth searching out before putting bad mood (GOM) into a new thread
Rather unsymphatic if this is the case
Max, hope they offered you a cuppa with some nice biscuits during the session!
LUCKY YOU ,usually this begins at around fifty.
And a choice of biscuit is very important too
I know it has yet to be scientifically proven in that from my experience different biscuit varieties can have a profound influence on what we perceive to be pleasant sounding equipment
I have no wish to derail a valid thread but from my experience the hobnob variety of biscuits can have a very deleterious effect, while the more traditional custard creams are the way to go in my opinion.
I have also had quite a good results with bourbon creams.
Of course some of you out there may have different experiences with other varieties, always interesting to hear
.sjb
Well, based on the posts above it would seem that “opinion dividing”-ness still reigns supreme even with the nova (“new”) product(s)
I suspect the Nova you heard wasn't run in yet.
But having said that, I do think the Superuniti is a bit unfairly under-rated. To me it has an effortless character which makes me forget I am listening to HiFi. Mind you this is in a small room where I am supposed to be thinking about work, so it fills the room with sound with one hand in its pocket, so to speak.
Regarding the ideal biscuit for listening I would put in the suggestion of dark chocolate coated digestive. But no more than two for each cup of tea or coffee....
best
David
We’ve seen this before
is this the same dealer who uses only nordost speaker cable ??
if so, why the disappointment?
naim era over?
dont think it is Max
On the basis of what I've read so far on this thread I'll be going round to David's house to listen to music.
As long as he meant McVities, of course!
Apparently in a blind tasting Waitrose plane digestives tasted the same as McVities......
Sloop John B posted:And a choice of biscuit is very important too...
At the risk of derailing the thread further... I’ve always found Jaffa Cakes put me in a good frame of mind for listening...
I'm partial to Golden Oreos dunked in tea and are an essential part whilst at the dealers listening to new kit.
Crumbs, you lot do like eating crap. I’ve been dieting to get into my suit for going to the opera next week in Milan, and evil biscuits have been expelled from the house. Hopefully we are lunching with Massimo on Monday - I hope we can find pasta with tartufo rather than pasta alla oreo.
I have some sympathy with Max's view on this I did hear an Atom demo with Neat Iota speakers and compared to the UnitiQute 2 I owned it was a lot less fun to listen to. I paid £1350 for that UQ2 in 2015 (the only bit of Naim I have ever purchased new) the Atom 2 years later is £1999.
New competition to anyone who can come up with a thread that HH cannot manage to link back to the fact he is going to the opera in Milan next 1st prize some calorie bursting gorgeous Chocolate Hobnobs!
I have heard a Nova with Dynaudio speakers and it sounded really good, and certainly ‘like Naim’. I’ve also heard an Atom with Focals, and though the speakers were far too bright for my taste, there were still a distinct Naimyness. The new boxes are certainly proving popular, with any being ordered now not due for delivery until the new year. As Bob points out though, the £1,999 entry price is an awful lot more than the price of a Qute, which sounds like a real bargain.
Bob the Builder posted:New competition to anyone who can come up with a thread that HH cannot manage to link back to the fact he is going to the opera in Milan next 1st prize some calorie bursting gorgeous Chocolate Hobnobs!
Sorry, I’m becoming boring I know. I’m just really looking forward to it. I promise not to mention it again. I don’t get out much! I’ve always found Hobnobs a bit sickly - my favourite has to be plain chocolate digestives. Thinking about it, as I’m doing the 5/2 diet I can stuff my face with whatever I like on the five non fasting days and I did see digestives on offer at the Co op this morning...
........ I did see digestives on offer at the Co op this morning...
Hmm, you don't read observations like that too often round here. Mmm, with you on plain choc digestives, especially dunked in tea, though this can go badly wrong and be quite messy if you're a clumsy as me.
Hi,
The Nova I listened at the Munich Hi-Fi Show (with Focals) sounded Naimish to me, more than the bigger Naim system in the other room.
The Neats being just a box with a good tweeter, well my Petites SX are nothing like that,
A Naim-Neat system should be musical and not crap. Did the dealer think it was sounding good?
Regards
Rui
On first reading of the OP, I read it in the opposite way, that Max was saying that the Nova was, unlike the SU, limpid, pleasing, etc. etc. Maybe I have misread it, but I was seeing it in the context of Massimo's previous posts on the SU, one of which reads 'the SuperUniti is something I once owned, sold in a week and wouldn't want for free if I needed something to amplify my TV.' Surely the Nova can't be even worse than that?!
Following the ‘limpid and pleasing’ was ‘devoid of all possible true-to-reality-ness’, which doesn’t sound wholly positive.
I demoed the Nova with Russel K120 and 150 , Kudos Super 20 and PMC 25.26 with Naim naca5. I thought it sounded great for the price and what it is able to do. But each to their own Max should either try with other speakers or just keep what he currently has.
Max has in the past said his dealer doesn't encourage NACA5 and only will sell Naim with Nordost cables.
On that basis, what does one expect?
analogmusic posted:Max has in the past said his dealer doesn't encourage NACA5 and only will sell Naim with Nordost cables.
On that basis, what does one expect?
It would be interesting to know what cables were used.