My first Naim system

I can't see one on Sound Organisation's website, but some dealers will sell you an alternative to a UnitiServe.  Many now are offering Vortexbox based systems which do essentially the same as the UnitiServe but at a lower cost.  Alternatively you can purchase such systems elsewhere such as Innuous Zen Music server (or you can build one yourself from commodity PC hardware and open source software) all depends how confident you are.  Ideally you would add onto the server Minimserver which is a very flexible UPnP server.

What you may miss out on with this is the detail of automatic tagging and need to do more manual work.

As for playing CDs, unless you have a need to sell off your Cyrus player immediately, this could be connected to the 272 via digital to get a fairly impressive CD player.

Lanesra posted:

Just before Christmas I was fortunate enough to receive a sum of money from a legacy, which has finally enabled me to afford my first Naim system. Yesterday, my wife and I visited the Sound Organisation in York to listen to a demo of a pretty high up the food chain Linn/ Naim system: Linn LP12/Ekos, NAC-N272 pre-amp/ XP5 XS power supply, NAP250 power amp, SuperLine phono stage/ HI-CAP power supply and CD5 XS CD player/ HI-CAP power supply driving Spendor A6R's and Neat Motive SX2's.

This not surprisingly sounded fantastic. However, there are a few issues:

1. Even though I can afford the system and am keen to purchase it, my wife doesn't like the idea of me spending so much money on a hi-fi system. Is she right on this,  .

Acceptability/appropriareness of the cost is too personal a decision to advise.  

My own view, in case it helps rationalise, given that it is a legacy you are spending, would be that if it will give you (or the bereaved person/people if not you) a long and lasting pleasurable reminder of someone now gone, then money becomes irrelevant - but my focus would be on things with longevity and, in the hifi context, perhaps components you will be most aware of if not a complete system. So either the best system you think you'll ever own, or the best particular components that you dont expect ever to want to upgrade, so every time you listen and derive great pleasure from so doing, you also have a reminder of the reason why it is possible, whether that is a memory of a loved one, or gratefulness to a benefactor.

Following mention here of Mac Mini, you could use that with Audirvana as your streaming source, direct into a DAC - there have been several recent threads discussing this, particularly combined with Chord Hugo DAC, which might be worth your reviewing before committing.

Flights are a pain for auditioning as they do preclude taking own gear - and the Ben with a bouncy sea isn't great (esp if cancelled like today!)...

Lanesra posted:

If I went for Stageline, top of line Mac Mini (£799), N272/NAP250, plus my rack, even without discounts, my speaker budget goes up to over £8000.

At £8k you're into decent speaker territory with quite a choice - allow yourself adequate auditioning time as the speakers have the greatest single effect on the overall character of the sound. 

For most certain results (if extensive auditioning is not an option) I'd go for Naim's own Ovators.

For smaller / medium rooms - S400s. For larger ones - S600 perhaps.

And by the way - skip that MacMini solution. Get a decent NAS instead.

I actually run both UntitiServeSSD and a NAS - the network is being administred by my UnitiServe.

Adam Zielinski posted:

And by the way - skip that MacMini solution. Get a decent NAS instead.

.

I found Mac Mini to work very well indeed as a server (using the free Serviio uPnP software), far better than my former NAS (admittedly that had been a budget-based choice), and with SSDs is virtually silent, needing my ear almost up to it to hear its extremely quiet fan. The only NAS that I'm aware would beat it on quietness is the QNap silent range.

As a replacement for NAS plus renderer, running Audirvana into Hugo,it has been reported as better sounding than NDS, and i certainly found the combination (with usb-spdif isolator/convertor) better than ND5XS+XP5XS.

The reason I was suggesting a NAS drive is that it's a neat and relatively inexpensive solution (compared to MacMini). I run QNAP HS-251 Silent NAS with a dual-bay 6TB drives. Relatively easy to manage from any laptop.

I really don't see why you would get a Mac mini to use as a nas along with a 272. Using it as a source into a good dac, yes, it is brilliant when used in this way with, say Audirvana, but you really don't need one if your mind is made up on a 272.  Save your money and buy a good quality proper nas 

dayjay posted:

I really don't see why you would get a Mac mini to use as a nas along with a 272. Using it as a source into a good dac, yes, it is brilliant when used in this way with, say Audirvana, but you really don't need one if your mind is made up on a 272.  Save your money and buy a good quality proper nas 

Exactly!!!

Chrissu,

I do have a  pc with a disc burner on it. It's just a faff to rip the CD's, then find the artwork and track listings. I just thought it might be easier to do this on a Mac Mini.

No easier on a mac mini, and they do not have a CD ripper so in fact more complicated. If you use dB Poweramp on a PC it finds the artwork and sorts out the meta tags for you anyway. It really is a case of put the cd in hit a button in the program and leave it to rip

Joe9407,

Thanks for the complete curve-ball advice! Unfortunately, the new hi-fi has to fit in a 1m wide alcove and my wife has said no to wall shelves. I'm perfectly happy with my "souped-up" Mantra and I only have several hundred LP's, not thousands. So I can't really justify purchasing an LP12 as a second record player. I now also realise there's no point going for the SuperLine.

I really liked the N272/NAP250 in the demo and I've wanted a NAP250 for about 30 years, since I first heard an early version during the demo where I bought my Mantra. So that is the definite part of the system. It's just the means of still being able to access the music on my CD collection and getting the best possible speakers.

Hi Lanesra,

just been reading the thread.

Are you any closer to making a decision on the way forward or are you now totally confused?

Possibly your dealer needs to bring a trailer with him on that boat, with so many options being considered?

Best of luck....

Tallan,

The convenience was why I considered purchasing the UnitiServe. I don't think I'll be getting one now, though.

HungryHalibut/ Crish,

What's a DB Poweramp?

Eloise,

I don't need to sell any of my existing system to be able to afford the new rig.

I was originally planning on having just Naim equipment, but keeping my Cyrus CD6 is a good idea and it will fit in my proposed half-width rack. It could be used at least until all my CD's have been ripped onto a NAS drive.

Whilst you can rip on a MM, clearly for CDs that is only with a CD drive attached., (and for LPs a good ADC).

The reason for my use of MM as server in place of a NAS was because it was only marginally more than Qnap (though i did buy MM secondhand), and opened the door to trying Audirvana, which if it did indeed beat (or at least  match) the ND5XS I had would enable substantial saving. (I already had a Hugo). Total cost of my MM through to and including Hugo is less than cost of ND5XS + Qnap, let alone the cost including XP5XS.

Innocent Bystander,

Thanks for your comments. Yes, I would have especially liked to have taken my own turntable to the demo. I'm now thoroughly confused as to the best means of being able to access the music on my CD collection!

I don't need a separate DAC as the N272 will be good enough for this purpose.

Dayjay,

Thanks for the advice.

Your options for playing CDs is a CD player, or 'ripping' to a hard disk an 'streaming' from there. I thing the streaming approach is the future, and general opinion seems to be that it is capable of better quality because the CD playing process (not to be confused with the 'ripping' process is potentially compromised by its real-time demands.

but the whole ripping and streaming procass presents quite a learning curve. My suggestion would be to focus on amp and speakers at this stage, and only seek ball-park budget for the streaming approach, then go and audition and buy the amp and speakers, and enjoy the system with your existing CD and LPfront ends. Then spend some time at leisure learning enough about it to fully understand ripping and streaming, and start the ripping process, only goingbthe next step and buying the gear when you've ripped a good part, or all, of your collection.

That doesnt preclude buying a better DAC for your CD player, that you later use for streaming (Chord Dave?), but neither is there pressing need.

Hi, Wenger2015,

My mind's made up on N272/NAP250 and keeping my Mantra.

I'm totally confused about everything else!

I guess that's part of the problem with having a decent sum of money to spend on an excellent system.

Lanesra posted:

HungryHalibut,

My wife doesn't like the fact that I'm spending approx £20000 (including racks) on a new hi-fi system (she wanted me to spend no more than £10000). 

she may well be right

innocent Bystander,

I will be going for the StageLine/Hi-Cap/N272/NAP250. I like the fact that this reduces the box count somewhat. I really liked Tidal during the demo (partly for convenience), so the N272 may well become my main source. Plus the internet radio and optional DAB/FM radio card, means it's a very versatile and excellent sounding system.

I'm minded to keep my existing CD player, at least until all my CD's have been ripped onto a NAS drive.

Speakers and whether to go for the XPS2 seem to be the main issue.

Lanesra posted:

Chrissu,

I do have a  pc with a disc burner on it. It's just a faff to rip the CD's, then find the artwork and track listings. I just thought it might be easier to do this on a Mac Mini.

If convenience is what you want, I don't think a Mac Mini is the answer just for ripping. 

If, when my wife buys a CD, I told her to fire up the computer, open db poweramp or whatever, her eye would glaze over, and she'd lose interest. With the Unitiserve, she's quite happy to shove the disc into the slot, wait 3 or 4 munutes until it ejects it, then open the app and play it. So I'm happy to keep my US. Weather or not that convenience is worth the extra cost, you'll have to decide for yourself. The only other device I'm aware of that might offer that sort of convenience at less cost would be a Vortexbox, but I don't know how they compare on sound quality. 

Lanesra posted:

I'm minded to keep my existing CD player, at least until all my CD's have been ripped onto a NAS drive.

Getting rid of the CD player might be the incentive you need to rip your collection to a hard drive :-)