The general view in Naim world is that Naim power amps should be used in conjunction with Naim preamps. Naim power amps may be unstable with high energy ultrasonoc frequencies, and I understand their preamps have a filter to prevent - I believe the TT does as well, though it needs to be selected. There has been talk about impedance matching, but I think with its drive capability it is likely to be adequately matched. That leaves the sound signature, possibly losing some of the ‘Naim sound’ for something tbst might be more neutral, but that is a matter of taste. Also you’d lose the capability to include the preamp in system automation, and volume control would have to be with the TT remote.
Quite a few people have used the original Hugo to upgrade the NDX, into a Naim preamp. You could always get a TT on home trial, and try it both ways: into the SN’s preamp, and bypassing that to go direct to the power a,p, and see which you prefer, and whether that is a good boost to performance.
When I first had a Hugo on an ND5XS I used it direct to a power amp, despite Hugo not even having a remote - to me it was good, but it wasn’t a Naim power amp. Later, with different source, I trislled TT(1), still with no preamp, which gave advantage of remote control as well as other improvements, but went one higher and bought Dave - and have remained free from a preamp for normal music play.
