You would think we had sold out to the devil. The reaction, now almost ten years ago, to signals ‘becoming a Naim dealer’! This is one brand that polarises opinion and Signals was evidently seen by some at thge time as a NON Naim dealer. Yes some Naim kit can (could?) sound a bit raw, a little up-front. No, it has never been about the largest deepest sound stage but it has always been surprisingly transparent. In any case times change and brands develop.

 

To get a little bit of context, lets zip back 40 years to when Naim Audio first broke onto the hi-fi establishment. British hi-fi was epitomised by (old style) Quad and Spendor. Tonally quite faithful but BBC - safe and, frankly, just a little bit dull. American brands dominated the high end, majored on weight, scale and offered greater detail retrieval. Generally, they were also pretty safe, refined and, dare I say it, boring.

 

No-one, to the best of our knowledge, has ever come away from a live concert raving about the detail and refinement. Usually, assuming the performance is a good one, rhythmic interplay,v ibrancy, dynamic contrasts and, well, the sheer life of it is the appeal. So when Naim's gutsy, dynamic, rhythmically dramatic products broke onto the market the breath of fresh air that they represented was welcomed by many in the audio community.

 

Naim's late founder, Julian Vereker, followed up his unique approach with some rather clever thinking in terms of presentation. Having established that power supplies lay at the heart of his products' unique character, he developed the concept of the upgrade path. A basic Naim preamplifier could be powered by its partnering Naim power amp.

Substantial gains can then be made by adding a separate power supply just for the pre-amp. Various performance (and price) levels of pre-amp and power amp, and power supply, most of which were cross - compatible, allowed for the birth of what has probably been the greatest addiction in audio. Electronic Lego, if you will.

 

Naim products have an extended life, even beyond the initial purchaser. Their build quality and attention to detail is the stuff of legend. Naim still support everything that they have ever made, with the limited and fairly recent exception of the very oldest CD transport mechanisms. Loyalty amongst owners (believers?) is remarkable. For sure, part of the appeal is the male collecting thing, but a large chunk is the painless ownership experienced coupled with a unique and compelling sonic character.

 

Those of you who have followed Signals over the years will know that the approach here is open and holistic (in the sense of system compatibility), quite happy to mix and match brands to obtain the required results. Serious audio buyers quite often have this approach, so the fact that Naim users tend to have one make systems rings quite a few alarm bells. It all rather smacks of being suckered into one purchase that leads inexorably to the next. Fact is, Naim understand system synergy and, by controlling all of the elements, right down to cables, are able to supply synergistic combinations right out of the box.

 

The sound stage / space / rhythm trade off debate has always intrigued me and over the past few months has come into sharper focus. As we see it, audio systems can try to replicate the sound of the event with spatial cues, tonal accuracy and resolution. This is what hi-fi is generally considered to be about. This facsimile can contain the outline, the picture of the event but without the drama, the interplays, dammit, the music, this is at best an academic exercise.

Naim may have started off with the musical excitement as the priority. Refinement, sound stage, even ultra high resolution, had, they argued, nothing to do with ‘getting’ the content of a musical performance. With the latest equipment they have retained the core of life and fun but without the two fingered tonal balance. This stuff is really good. No apologies!

 

Visiting the Naim factory does nothing to undermine faith in the company values. Excruciatingly well organised, impressively busy and amazingly friendly. We were shown the machinery where the components are pair matched prior to assembly. Consistency between products is a subject close to my heart as an audio dealer and it is impressive to see Naim taking such care.

 

An indication of their thoughtful approach is the integration between A/V and music. Should you wish to mix your music system with your cinema one, the pre-amps have the ability to hand control of the front stereo power amp over to the A/V processor but control the power amps directly for music. Simple, elegant and logical. The iPad /iTouch control of the new ND5XS& NDX streameres also allows control of (existing, even 20 year old) preamp, tuner and CD player.

 

Since taking on Naim we have pretty well bought the set. We usually have every item in stock on demonstration right up to the CD555 and 500 level electronics. The new products might be hard to explain (read on to see me falter) but they are stunningly good and easy to use.

 

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