The most soft sounding naim? does it exist?

Iconoclast posted:

Between the Nait 5si, SN2 and XS2 the one that's closest to ''soft'' would be the XS2. It just doesn't have the nailgun transients and bass of the other two.

Nailgun transients on a Nait 5si? I somehow missed those. Maybe I should give one another listen?

As far as the SN2, yeah, it's got surgical transients to an anal degree. Soft it's not, revealing as Lady Godiva it is.

Hi. From reading around, the first gen Nait XS might be what you're looking for. The Supernait 1 is NOT it imo, nor the XS2 - which is rather harsh to my ears (much prefer the 5si tbh). The SN2 is not soft, but is also not harsh, it's just pretty open sounding.

Atef,

in the last 30 years I have, in various times and with variable density or frequency, owned the following Naim amps (the cyphers in commas show the number of samples I owned):

Nait, Nait 3, Nait 5 (2), Nait5i, Nait XS (2), Supernait (3), SuperUniti, Nap90, Nap140 (2), Nap150, Nap150x, Nap160, Nap175, Nap200 (3), Nap250. I have excluded preamps not to make things too complicated.

The SN (classic) is NOT a soft amp. Nor it has a treble rolloff: it sounds big, yes, a bit bodily perhaps, but also very sharp – it ALL depends on the recording.

The only Naim amp that I have owned that suggested me some unnatural smoothness is the SuperUniti. That is a soft amp, and you will see that almost every owner has ended up pairing it with lively speakers. Mine lasted one week, but had decided to sell it a couple of hours after having taken it home.

Best

Max

I have Opera Prima speakers, but I still am early in the process of making up my system. I have tried an Onkyo integrated amplifier, but I never enjoyed listening to it. Then I listened to a short demo of Supernait which is a big step up from the Onkyo and thought "Now I hear music". I am thinking, now that I have Opera speakers with silk dome tweeters, I do not have to be concerned about the excessive highs that I noticed in the audition. I just do not want to miss something before I buy it. It truly is a hard equation, rolled off highs without missing the details, getting it in the right amount for a comfortable listening.

What I really love is that Naim is so neutral and uncolored in a very musical way. Cheers.

h II Max_B posted:

Atef,

in the last 30 years I have, in various times and with variable density or frequency, owned the following Naim amps (the cyphers in commas show the number of samples I owned):

Nait, Nait 3, Nait 5 (2), Nait5i, Nait XS (2), Supernait (3), SuperUniti, Nap90, Nap140 (2), Nap150, Nap150x, Nap160, Nap175, Nap200 (3), Nap250. I have excluded preamps not to make things too complicated.

The SN (classic) is NOT a soft amp. Nor it has a treble rolloff: it sounds big, yes, a bit bodily perhaps, but also very sharp – it ALL depends on the recording.

The only Naim amp that I have owned that suggested me some unnatural smoothness is the SuperUniti. That is a soft amp, and you will see that almost every owner has ended up pairing it with lively speakers. Mine lasted one week, but had decided to sell it a couple of hours after having taken it home.

Best

Max

First, I wanna thank you all for sharing your opinions. Then, Max, I saw that you had Supernait 3 times, does that mean that you prefer it the most? I do not know if you know the sound character of the Opera speakers, but let me ask, how do you feel the pairing will be like with the Supernait?

Atef

I would not hesitate a second to buy a SN1 or SN2 in case I was going to use it in my Living room (about 50 sqm, a lot of furniture / shelves / sofas / piano etc). I had my SN1 in my Study which is smaller and there it was too much when there was limited decoration.

Ergo ...

If you plan to use it in a normally decorated living room, I would not be afraid for too much aggresion / sharpness in the music.

Also, a proper DAC makes music much more enjoyable even on louder levels.

Ardbeg10y posted:

I would not hesitate a second to buy a SN1 or SN2 in case I was going to use it in my Living room (about 50 sqm, a lot of furniture / shelves / sofas / piano etc). I had my SN1 in my Study which is smaller and there it was too much when there was limited decoration.

Ergo ...

If you plan to use it in a normally decorated living room, I would not be afraid for too much aggresion / sharpness in the music.

Also, a proper DAC makes music much more enjoyable even on louder levels.

you can't have too much power or control?