£5000 naim hifi??

Dirisya

Dirisya

Dirisya

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26 Dec 2014
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Hello, I have around £5000 to spend on Naim kit and have auditioned the 155xs, 152xs and the XS CD player. Nice sounding kit I must admit.
My question is, do I purchase this kit new or look at alternative older equipment secondhand. Only saying this as I have seen older more pricier kit and reasonable cost.
if you had £5000 what Naim kit would you go for?
 
Should post this in the Home Cinema & Hi-Fi section should get some knowledgeable respones.
 
I think for £5,000 you should visit a proper hifi store near you and speak to someone with some real knowledge who can perhaps show you what you can get for your money too.
 
Definitely post in the home cinema/hi-fi section for advice, if you're looking to spend that kind of money. While we do love good quality audio here in the Sound City section, the majority of us have never spent anywhere near £5k on audio gear and likely never will. :p

You really need advice from people who have experience with more expensive gear, and most of them only post in the hi-fi section.
 
Shame they can't be bothered to check out this section :p I think lucid's the guy who usually knows what he's talking about.
 
I'd echo TwsT's advice. I've seen the aftermath of folk spending just 1/10th what you're proposing. They buy on other's recommendations or five star reviews or special offers, only to be thoroughly disappointed with the outcome.

Auditioning is vital. If you're more concerned about value for money than sound then I'd suggest that you haven't yet found the gear or dealer that makes you smile when tunes are played. That should be your quest; not which boxes allow the most willy waving.

One question.... Why Naim? I'm not knocking the brand, they make some great kit. But there's a world of other gear out there too and you shouldn't limit yourself to a one brand without an exceptionally strong reason. Which dealer(s) have you been to see?
 
If you have auditioned Naim already and like the Naim sound, there is nothing wrong with buying second hand if you choose with care. I have a Naim XS, DAC and Proac tablette reference speakers all bought off the bay for more or less 1/2 the list price and they are good as mint and all working perfectly several years on.

If I had £5K and my heart set on Naim system, I would personally buy second hand but it is not a path without some pitfall or risk as with most second hand purchases.
 
Would I spend 5K on Naim kit? no way, as I don't like the sound they produce, not even the 50K systems... A much cheaper Rega system was better..... Wouldn't buy CD player either now, I'd say get a Streamer, then it would have to be a Linn DS......

So you can see already you question can only be answer by yourself, as everyone has there own biased views. Go to a couple of good dealers (not just biased Naim ones) and test the market....finding the sound you like by comparison.

Then I would strongly recommend buying from the dealers, exdem and traded in items will cost much the same as auction sites and you'll still get the support and service you'll probably need.

If you have any Linn question please ask, otherwise Lucid is your main man :)
 
Thoughts:
- A key thing I've learned is that there is NOT a single perfect solution, even by price point. Different people seem to have different listening preferences on what's important to them, so every single recommendation you might read will include that personal bias
- S/h will always get you more for your dosh
- My personal opinion is that the comments about "the latest xxx is a big step up on the last model" are frankly just b/s, typically from marketing teams who then push it out via magazines. My gear is generally 5-15 years old and and still walks all over most things I've come across.

Based upon the above, go listem, and do it in multiple dealers to understand what's important to you.
Once you get that:
- My suggestion is that you choose your speakers first. They're the more personal element as there's more variation in the technology available and additionally, how they interact with your room WILL influence sound quality. Note that I did NOT say you spend the most money on them, only that you should choose them first.
- Once you've got speakers, then work up the chain. Buy an amp that works synergistically with your speakers. That does NOT mean that it has to have a "best buy" win in whatever hi-fi rag you might have picked up. It does mean that it works with the speakers
- Then add a decent source.
On spend, I'd say spend a similar level of dosh on each component area

Do NOT forget room interaction. It's a vastly overlooked area by many.
Key options are passive and active. My opinion is that neither fully solves the issue on their own. If you can get both, and definitely so if your room has issues. Decent bass traps are not killer expensive (checkout GIK).
Active solutions vary, but some key options include:
- If you're going with a digital source, consider a laptop running say DIRAC, which is a room correction software and probably the best one available on the market right now
- You can buy DACs with room correction built in (e.g. by miniDSP). I've never heard them, so can't comment on how good they are
- A good AV processor. Some include room correction, but you need to tread carefully, as most are frankly a bit pants

Note that I've been through the £5k Naim system. Enjoyed it at the time, until I'd heard what else was possible and at similar dosh.
 
I was in 7 Oaks and there was a guy returning his Naim system for the second time for repair, so make sure you get after sales support.
 
The OP might be better served posting on the Naim forums as for obvious reasons you will have all sorts of members who haves used the entire range and might be better experienced to help you along your journey.

It seems to me that you have already made up your mind up on an all Naim setup. Which by the way to me while fine as the money is yours to do as you please and I am not judging you on that.

Naim makes fine equipment and what I would deem towards the upper end of British audio I still have a niggling feeling is selling your proposed setup short. From what I remember of my Naim experiences which is worth jack that they are renowned for PRaT (Pace, rhythm and attack) and lack refinement compared to other brands and that the newer models have more refinement than the older Naims but still not in the class of their peers.

So basically if listen to rock, dance, electronica those kind of genre you are laughing. If not they can be fatiguing in the wrong setup.

£5000 on a hifi setup is a substantial amount of money to invest and therefore I would respectfully suggest that you invest a substantial amoount of time into the research and auditioning of various components so you get a)the sound that pleases you most, b)the features you are looking for c)a setup which will give you pleasure for years to come. whiten that case 5k on a hifi setup is not a big as an investment if you build a setup and then you are happy with for say at least 10 years.

I mean what kind of music do you listen to and what kind of sound do you like although you did mention in your opening post you liked the naim setup.
 
ethan said:
I was in 7 Oaks and there was a guy returning his Naim system for the second time for repair, so make sure you get after sales support.
Click to expand...

Are you sure it was faulty? Naim have an amazing after sales service and offer a really good 5 year warranty. I have sent things back to have minor hardware upgrades free of charge and it used to be that firmware updates were done at the factory (again free of charge). Pretty much any older Naim kit can be serviced and in some cases upgraded.

Naim is very much the marmite of Hi-fi, personally I love it but it is not for everybody. Make sure you have demoed lots of other stuff before investing that kind of money.

Second hand naim stuff is a pretty safe bet and holds it value well. Make sure you buy from a reputable source as there is a lot of stuff that has been modified and bodged out there that will look fine from the outside but will be a mess off solder and cheapo caps inside.

I downgraded to a Uniti a few years ago and I'm really pleased with it. Do you need a CD player? I had a CDX2 that I was wary of selling but I much prefer streaming FLAC rips of my CD's now.

Dave
 
I remember listening to a full Naim setup in PJ HiFi in Guildford once with a set of electrostatic speakers and even thinking about it today the sound quality makes my jaw hit the floor

"truly sublime"
 
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