Conventional wisdom says that YBA is smooth and laid back, Naim dynamic and up front. I have a Nait 5i and like it a lot; I listened to a YBA YA201 for an hour in a shop a couple of years ago and thought it was excellent. I'm really not sure how the conventional wisdom squares with real world listening. I would say, though, that ime it's true that Naim is more organic than transparent and doesn't do soundstaging like other electronics I've heard. Its strength is putting the music together. Of course, there's no substitute for listening, but I hope this helps.