Congratulations on finding a system that meets your needs and find more satisfying than your Naim. And thank you very much for your service, too!
Leaving the Naim game . . .
As you all might guess from my screen name, I've owned Naim for a long time - since 1983, when the first Nait came out. I've been up and down the range, topping out with the CDS2/52/2x250/SBL active (along with a maxed out LP12). Lots of boxes! And it all sounded pretty good - when it was "on," it was was mighty hard to beat. Life intervened, and I wound up moving back down to much more modest systems, finally selling everything off when I was deployed to Iraq and then Afghanistan.
When I got back from Afghanistan, I got back to hifi with a fairly basic Linn system, which I enjoyed until this past summer, when I swapped out the Linn gear for a modest Naim setup - the entry level separates. Over the course of a couple of months, I rapidly ran up the range and wound up with a 202/Hicap/NAPSC/200.
But.
I wasn't pleased. It didn't make me want to play CD after CD the way the older Naim gear had. And the journey had become a chore, rather than the fun it used to be. I tried different speakers, different sources, etc., and nothing made it quite gel.
So:
Since I'm of reasonable intelligence, I took the proverbial look around. And tried some different systems - probably the usual suspects for someone with such a strong history with Naim and Linn. And wound up with a stack of gear from Exposure Hifi - the 3010S2 series. In many respects, it's better sounding than the Naim gear it replaced. It's a little clearer sounding (or a bit more detailed, whichever way you prefer), while at the same time providing more body, making a Bosendorfer more easily distinguishable from a Steinway. It's got a touch more warmth, so you can tell Suzanne Vega, while thin, does indeed have a body and is not just a disembodied mouth. And it has more grip (at least on the speakers I tried with both systems), which gives the impression of deeper, better controlled bass. And it actually made more sense of rhythms and timing than the Naim system.
While I trust my own ears, I played both systems for some friends, and the unanimous preference was for the Exposure. Which made me curious - the Exposure costs something like 35% of the Naim at retail - what on earth could be going on? And I think that the core answer is that Naim has changed dramatically since Julian Vereker passed, and especially when they joined Focal and were then acquired by Naxicap, a French investment bank. It's rather sad to see that some on the Naim forum can't accept that something might sound better and be preferred - one of the aspects I appreciate here.
Anyway, it's been an interesting journey, and fun to get back to it.
When I got back from Afghanistan, I got back to hifi with a fairly basic Linn system, which I enjoyed until this past summer, when I swapped out the Linn gear for a modest Naim setup - the entry level separates. Over the course of a couple of months, I rapidly ran up the range and wound up with a 202/Hicap/NAPSC/200.
But.
I wasn't pleased. It didn't make me want to play CD after CD the way the older Naim gear had. And the journey had become a chore, rather than the fun it used to be. I tried different speakers, different sources, etc., and nothing made it quite gel.
So:
Since I'm of reasonable intelligence, I took the proverbial look around. And tried some different systems - probably the usual suspects for someone with such a strong history with Naim and Linn. And wound up with a stack of gear from Exposure Hifi - the 3010S2 series. In many respects, it's better sounding than the Naim gear it replaced. It's a little clearer sounding (or a bit more detailed, whichever way you prefer), while at the same time providing more body, making a Bosendorfer more easily distinguishable from a Steinway. It's got a touch more warmth, so you can tell Suzanne Vega, while thin, does indeed have a body and is not just a disembodied mouth. And it has more grip (at least on the speakers I tried with both systems), which gives the impression of deeper, better controlled bass. And it actually made more sense of rhythms and timing than the Naim system.
While I trust my own ears, I played both systems for some friends, and the unanimous preference was for the Exposure. Which made me curious - the Exposure costs something like 35% of the Naim at retail - what on earth could be going on? And I think that the core answer is that Naim has changed dramatically since Julian Vereker passed, and especially when they joined Focal and were then acquired by Naxicap, a French investment bank. It's rather sad to see that some on the Naim forum can't accept that something might sound better and be preferred - one of the aspects I appreciate here.
Anyway, it's been an interesting journey, and fun to get back to it.
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