Arcam, Audio Technica, Creek, Chord Company, Eichmann, Dynavector, Epos, Focal / JM Labs, Grado headphones, Harbeth,

Isoblue (and special branch), Kudos Audio, Lyngdorf, Lyra, Michell Engineering, Naim Audio, Neat Acoustics, Nordost, Origin Live, Ortofon, Nottingham Analogue, Partington, Primare, Rega, Roksan, Sim2, Graham Slee, Shahinian, Something Solid, Stands Unique, Stax Earspeakers, Sumiko, Trichord, Wireworld, Wyrewizard

Ah, the Naim Fraim. Pretty, functional, allegedly effective and far from inexpensive. But hey, if Naim make it, it must be best.

This might sound silly, but fresh from having to swallow our pride over cables (see breaking the code) we really wanted to rebel against this one! We would not do this simply on a point of principal, of course, so we did listen.

Not wishing to overdo it (OK I guess that we were not hugely 'liquid' at the time), we ordered just a base and a single level. Our comparison was with the (then) only Naim integrated amplifier, the Nait 5i and with it's most rational partner, the CD5x.

Quite simply, the Something Solid XF rack won hands down. It had less 'hash' timed better, just sounded more natural. Wow. We might make less money not selling Frames, but we can at least be honest, earnest . . . and earn respect for not simply falling in line.

After borrowing a stack of Fraim for the 500 series kit at last year's hi-fi fetishist's convention, (people would have expected nothing less) we started to pick up on some interesting pieces of synergy, not least with standard Naim cabling.

On further testing we established that the CD 555 really liked the Fraim. It would almost certainly have been designed on it, of course so this makes sense. We finally 'cracked' and bought some more levels, placed a CDX2, NAC202, NAP200 on it and re - ran our earlier experiment. It promptly wiped the floor with the Something Solid stand! The gains were in the traditional areas of more effortless dynamics, cleaner bass, less glare, more clarity more addictive timing. Amazingly, the very areas where the XR seems to suit the 5 series kit.

Our own demo stack(s) are in maple with black anodised uprights. And it looks cool too.

OK, so it's expensive. If you are using Naim gear above 5 series (or maybe plan on progressing in that direction) it is still a "no brainer".

Sorry and all that, but sometimes it's simpler just to believe.

Signals hi-fi for grown-ups. suppliers and installers of music hi-fi audio stereo system, systems and a/v av products to all areas of Suffolk,North Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 01473 655171

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