Nait 5 vs Nait 1--report

Hi all--

Spent part of the day taking a break from law school and visiting a friend. He has a Nait 5, Arcam Alpha 8 CD and AE Aegis 3 speakers; electronics are on a Quadraspire rack. I took my Nait 1 and Creek CD60 over and off we went to compare. Obviously the Nait 1 and CD60 were not fully warmed up--on the other hand, it didn't matter.

First was just listening to his system as is. Sounds very good--a bit laid back in the midrange, but communicative. It timed better than I expected given the Arcam; having owned an 8 for a while.

First substitution was the Nait 1 for the 5. The 1 sounded very good--great swing, tune and timing--but it was all over the instant we replaced the the 1 with the 5--the 5 is a great deal better. It keeps the swing, tune and timing of the 1 and adds a large dose of refinement and extends the frequency extremes. The 5 is much clearer and purer sounding. The 5 sounded better regardless of which player we used, although the 5 was happier with the Arcam than with the Creek.

Perhaps the surprise was that of the four combinations we tried, the Nait 1/Creek CD60 came in 2nd, behind the Nait 5/Arcam combo. There seems to be real synergy between the Nait 1 and Creek, and at least some between the Nait 5 and the Arcam. The worst pairing was the Nait 1 and the Arcam.

General conclusions: The Nait 5 is the best sounding and most musical Nait yet--it has terrific drive, timing, dynamics and rhythm allied to a very clear and refined sound. The Nait 1 is an absolute bargain, capable of great performance and shouldn't be overlooked by anyone wanting a great system on a very tight budget. Interesting to me was that the much newer kit--the Nait 5 and Arcam 8--preferred each other and the older Nait 1 and CD60 preferred each other. Mixing and matching across timeframes did not seem to be a good idea, which makes me wonder exactly how effective it is to pair, say, a CDI with a 112.

Another thought--if someone is looking for speakers that are easy to drive, have extended and reasonably well controlled bass, and can play a tune the AE Aegis 3s are worth a listen. In the US they are about $800 new retail; while they are not Kans/IBLs/SBLs etc they seem quite good.

Finally--if anyone has a Nait 5 with reasonable speakers--upgrade your source! The Nait 5 is so good that even a top notch LP12/CDS2 would not be wasted.

And Steve--thanks!

Cheers,

Bob