New Addition To Naim Digital Line-Up

May not need NAP 200–I'll be curious to see where the built-in amp section competes as regards sound-quality.

I have posted previously on the impact that the 555PS made on my nDac compared with the XPS2, further enhanced by the Chord Sarum. It was the single biggest upgrade in my long audio history and led me to selling my CDS3 as could not see that I would ever use it again - the 555PS had to stay on the nDac

This was confirmed at the show, to which I took my 15 year old son, who never listens to music. We sat through the demo and left just after the addition of the 55PS. Out of interest I asked if he had heard the differences that were made by the various box changes at the demo, he replied " not really apart from the last one that was a lot better". Bear in mind that to my ears each change brought some improvement.

Must say that I was reasonably impressed with the Ovators, and they were close-ish to thwe back wall. Will give them an audition when the active version is available.

Gerry 

Harry, yes hard to describe, I always struggle to put my impression of sound into words. It sounds as though we may be alike in as much as usually, I have to add a component for a while and then remove it to hear/decide if I like it or not.

With the 555PS the soundstage just widened several feet and the bass was grabbed and tightened or better controlled, as you say, not subtle. That’s not to say that the XPS didn’t sound good because it did, it showed what was possible though.

As for the SuperUnity, well my wife had to point it out to me if I am honest, it’s not that I was not interested but I had so much to ask about or information was being imparted, that for the full 5hrs we spent at the event, apart from listening to the demo, I was in discussion with one or other of the folk from Naim. We have several options that I had not thought of so the day was invaluable to us.

I could not say whether or not the SuperUnity was actually demoed, I didn’t see or hear it if it was, but from the info posted by David and Manu it should be another exceptional product; hope it does very well.

Peter   

Gerry. I’m not sure where Sacrum sits in the Chord hierarchy. Is it above Indigo Plus? If so, would you care to share your impressions of Sacrum? I can get audition samples from my dealer.

Yes. This sounds familiar. I was and I suppose under the skin still am, a source first acolyte. But I am being more open minded about this with advancing age, particularly when it comes to pre amps. Also, my standard audition method used to be how a newly added component hit me off the bat. I now prefer to spend a few days with something and pay particular attention to how things change in its absence. Or maybe I'm in less of a hurry to spend money than I used to be. Which is no bad thing.

Even if there is nothing likely to woo us, we do like to attend the Naim Summer shows. You never know what you might pick up or who you might bump into. The two venues that I could realistically get to this year are both date clashes with work. A shame but so it goes. I'm grateful for the reports of any who attended.

Hi Harry,

It sits well above the Indigo Plus, both on sound and price. Around £1600 for the digital Co-ax. I was (un?)fortunate enough to be able to compare the Sarum with the Indigo Plus and Signature Plus at home, and the Sarum was clearly better, as was the analogue Din to Din which I also bought.

Gerry  

Many thanks Gerry.

I will look into this.

I'm sure the new bit of kit is great and will fit the bill for many. However, I am disappointed that there is still no sign of a "basic" Naim streamer (i.e a Naim version of the Sonos.) I do not need the dac in the NDX as I have the ndac already.

Looks like if I want to improve over the Sonos with a Naim product I will have to buy something for about £3k that  I won't fully utilise. Plus, I like the Sonos interface and have read about glitches with NDX and Nstream etc

I would have thought there would be others like me that would be interested in a Naim streamer for a sensible price.

Just get your Sonus Wired 4 Sound

... alternative is use a Naim UQ. 

if you want a box with no DAC, a sort of Ethernet to S/PDIF convertor with rendering capability then Cyrus makes one

I wanted a cassette deck, but nobody ever listens to me 

I wanted a cassette deck, but nobody ever listens to me 

The merger Q&A states that Naim is launching two significant new products before Christmas, so there's still hope for a Naim Utapia.

I had my hopes up for Naim launching one, a pure streamer and ideal partner for the nDAC. I'll be sticking with my Sonos ZP90 for now. Who knows maybe Sonos will beat Naim to it and release an upgrade to the ZP90, one that also does hires. It still seems to have the better UI too, for now...

So the retail price is £3250.  If I start to add up the prices of an XS and an nDAC I'm already above that right?  Plus I need to add in a digital player (uQute? uServe?).

The obvious redundancies aside, how do they get that all in there for 3250??  Compromises?? My retailer is skeptical.

Bart…….It’s a new model positioned at the top of the Unity range, it appears to include several new implementations that are surely just the result of continued R&D work. If you already have an amp, nDAC etc, then perhaps this is not the obvious product for you. For many I can imagine it will be ideal, if I hadn’t already bought a Qute I would definitely want to consider it for a second room system.

I don’t understand you dealer scepticism, would he be happier if Naim charged him an extra grand perhaps? I’m sure they would be delighted to give him a special deal.

Peter

Hi Peter. I don't have any system right now, so yes it could be ideal if it sounds great! If this hadn't been announced, I likely would have bought this week an XS, nDAC and UnitiServ SSD.

Honestly, I think that the initial reaction of my retailer WOULD have been more positive if it was a grand more expensive!  That's just illustrative of the reaction -- deserved or not.  The proof will be in the listening; I won't buy the SU without hearing it but surely will be the first customer to hear it when it arrives here

Hello Bart

Ah, no system at the moment does that mean this will be your first foray into Naim, or are you just changing kit? Either way I wish you well, it’s given us great pleasure over the years and trust it will do the same for you.

I agree that you should always listen (at home if possible) before buying anything, although having said that I must admit to ordering a Qute several months before it was released, but the circumstances that led to this were a little unusual. Luckily, it has turned out to be an excellent little box. We are using it to stream into nDAC at the moment but intend to move it to another room soon. The more I think about the new box the more I think I like it.

Whichever way to choose to go with the equipment, just enjoy your music.

Regards

Peter 

I totally agree with the above comments. I wish Naim good luck with this new product and wish all future users a lot of joy.

However, I must also agree with this comment. Naim seems to ignore the success of its nDAC. It's been one of its best selling products, and when I look at the profiles of forum members, I notice, for most members, nDAC is the only Naim product in their system (maybe in addition to amplification). I suppose Naim will soon launch a new product which would be the suitable partner to the nDAC.

+1