Hi all

I know some here will advise against this as I'm very happy with my CD5i / Nait 5i but have been reading posts with great interest from you guys with far superior kit.

I certainly can't even afford to upgrade at the mo with a new baby and new house but am SO intrigued as to what even the next step up sounds like.

How likely are dealers to give me a quick demo in the hope I may at least purchase from them in future? or am I likely to be asked to see the colour of my money first ??? (mind you, I only went in for a simple Arcam system when I came out with my Naim purchase !)

In particular I'm thinking Audio T in Portsmouth as they're my nearest if any one has experience of them...

Diminishing returns! That said, it's nice to listen to high end kit, but it's also nice to dream about it when you don't possess it. Why not go to a hi fi show as well as your own nearby dealer? I'm sure your dealer will be happy to let you audition systems even if you do not go on to buy. I guess they ought to feel they are building up a relationship with a potential customer.

Hi Roger Roger,

Do you still live near the dealer you bought your kit from? I'd imagine that they would be more than happy to whet your appetite. Careful though, it's a slippery slope.

ATB

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Smith:
Diminishing returns! That said, it's nice to listen to high end kit, but it's also nice to dream about it when you don't possess it. Why not go to a hi fi show as well as your own nearby dealer? .

Well I remember in my teens and twenties going to Earl's Court every year to a 'consumer electronics' show - I think it may have been called 'Live' etc and the last one I went to was Live '96 - after which I promptly bought a home cinema kit.

I thought these shows were excellent - being able to wonder around like an alcoholic locked in an off licence drooling over kit and going to demos.

So where are all these now ?

quote:

Originally posted by Sir Crispin Cupcake:
Hi Roger Roger,

Do you still live near the dealer you bought your kit from? I'd imagine that they would be more than happy to whet your appetite. Careful though, it's a slippery slope.

ATB

Rich

Sadly the excellent dealer in Worthing is no longer a Naim dealer... shame.

A slippery slope I'd imagine but the wonderful thing about Naim kit is that it more or less all looks the same - so if I ever did trade up from my CD5i to a (er...) CD5x - the wife wouldn't even notice (as long as I destroy the credit card bill...)

Dont do it.....

Upgraditis is very very severe....

Especially with NAIM....

quote:

Originally posted by Luxen:
Dont do it.....

I may not! I'm intrigued what the kit sounds like !!!

If your up front and honest with the dealer about your intentions i am sure they would let you have a dem, I for one know that my dealer let my brother demo naim gear after he heard my system, even though he made it clear he was nowhere near ready to buy, many years later he returned and is now a happy customer of the shop, And i'm pleased to say naim customer also.


ps you may regret going

I have one fairly harrowing remembrance of listening to one of the highest pieces.

It is a great experience for sure, but I had a 300 at home between my 52 and SBLs for eight days with my CDS2 as the sterling souce.

Sending the beauty back was a wrench. If you end up falling for a set better than you can afford, then please don't say that I did not share my experience of this.

I am older now, and less easily swayed, but there is something very special about the high Naim models ...

George

A nice thread I started after having the 300 the second time. In those days I had an alias! The FF of my current set of initials!

quote:

I may not! I'm intrigued what the kit sounds like !!!

RR, go have a listen. Rather than diminishing returns you will find more musical bang for your buck. My 555 for example leaves my earlier CDS1/CDSPS, CDS2/XPS and CDS3/555PS in the shade, it is that good. In the same way the move from 52 to 252 to 552 was rewarding in the extreme.

Any dealer worth their salt will let you have a dem of whatever you want to listen to, on the basis that you could be a potential customer in the future.

Listen to all you can,even after listening to "top" systems that are very good I have always returned home to my system and found it does fundamentally the same thing. Maybe on a slightly smaller scale but still very good.

Whether it's a good idea listening to the next step up depends on whether you might be tempted into buying what you cannot afford. If you can listen as a purely academic exercise, and still be happy with what you have, then listen away. But you may find that it ruins your enjoyment of what you have now.

Remember that, while your stereo is modest in Naim terms, it's better than 99% of the 'hi-fi' that most people will ever own. With a new baby around, there are far better things to spend money on.

The top Naim stuff is much better than what you have. It's more natural and more real. But it comes at a huge price.

I used to have a CDS3, 555PS, 552, 300 and SL2s and it was very very good. Now I have a CD5x, 122x, 150x, flatcap 2x, nsats and nsub, and it's still very good, and gets used just as much. Having owned the very good stuff makes you realise that you don't need it to enjoy your music.

That said, you'd be very welcome to pop in for a listen (so long as you don't like metal or 70's prog) and a cup of tea if you are near Emsworth, which is nearer to Worthing than Portsmouth. You'll hear the next step up with no dealer trying to sell you stuff.

Nigel

I second what Nigel says. I am in the process of downsizing from a fairly high-end system (CDS3, 252 etc.) to a CD5i MkII and Nait 5i MkII for various reasons. I have owned many combinations between these extremes and they have all been very enjoyable to listen to. They all do the same thing, ie. comminicate the music. The further up the ladder one goes, the closer to reality is the experience. As Nigel says, this comes at a huge price. Disproportionately so. Also, and I won't delve into the reasons here, in my opinion the cheaper simpler set-ups are in some ways easier to enjoy. I know many others will profoundly disagree, it's just my personal opinion formed, by the way, many years before my need to downgrade. I got caught up in the whole up-grading thing, ever eager to get to the next step up. I'm older and much wiser now. I would say enjoy what you have. Certainly listen to more expensive set-ups if you want to. Upgrade if you really feel it will bring something important into your life, and if you can comfortably afford to.

Regards,

Peter

A Nait 5i-2 really is the best bang for the buck Naim kit there is.

It really is a mini-500!

I wouldn't demo till I could afford the piece of kit I was demoing, even with a credit crunch credit is still too easily accessible!

RogerRoger

IMHO as long as you don’t take the kit away for a home trial and you have a reasonable degree of self will, then go take a listen to what is out there. You will probably be pleasantly surprised how good your home system will sound when you get back home.

Many yeas ago I built up a fantastic system over decades ending up with an active IBL, 2 x 250 system that got a lot of play. After some domestic ‘rearrangements’ I ended up with CDX, NAIT 2, and Kans. This took a bit of getting used to I must admit but it gave me much pleasure for about five years. The upgrading bug struck a little while back and I now have CDX, XPS, 72, 180 and Kans. This sounds quite a bit better that the previous system and has been worthwhile, BUT….. I am not listening any more often that I was with the previous system. When I do listen the involvement is a bit more but it is not life changing.

One day maybe I will upgrade the amp to 72, Hicap , 250 as I know how this would sound and it would be quite a step up from what I have now. What I’m not kidding myself is that I will be a happier man for having better kit, it will just make my listening to music a bit more involving.

At a tangent but still relevant, I play bass guitar, have done for most of my life. My instruments are now all top flight, some vintage costing thousands, and the amps are just the ones that I want, no compromise. Do I enjoy playing bass more on this kit or when I was a teenager playing on crappy stuff? The early days were the most fun. I wouldn’t like to go back to my old equipment now, but wouldn’t mind some of that learning and experience curve that gave me such a buzz over 30 years ago.

OverOver

Hi Roger Roger I would echo a lot of what has already been said - Nigel's post is instructive.

My advice would be to first decide how well you know yourself. If you are 95% confident that you can listen, be impressed and educated but then walk away satisfied then yes do take the opportunity. If however you suspect that once you've been bitten by the bug you will succomb then don't risk it - seriously.

PS This forum is a risky place to visit too!

quote:

A slippery slope I'd imagine but the wonderful thing about Naim kit is that it more or less all looks the same - so if I ever did trade up from my CD5i to a (er...) CD5x - the wife wouldn't even notice (as long as I destroy the credit card bill...)

Very true, I managed to get a 180 to 250 upgrade and an 82 to 52 upgrade under the radar. Even a hi-cap to supercap upgrade went unnoticed. I did own up though.

Luckily my girlfriend takes the view that it's my money (which it is) but I'm more worried about her thinking I'm nuts.

Rich

I guess it really depends on what you think listening to 'higher' kit means to you.

I've always enjoyed getting the rare opportunity to listen to very high end rigs. For example, at hi-fi shows, a full top of the range Krell AV system with Sonus Faber surrounds. Or, in Linn demos, their full 25k speakers with mono power amps running fully active. Listening to stuff north of 50-60k to me is an experience.

Now, listening to the next amp one up in the range from where you are can be dangerous. You either end up trying to buy it (no bad thing really ), or worse, end up being unhappy with the sound of what you own just now. I think this is more what you need to think about before you go to listen to things a bit higher up than where you are today.

Roy.

I also listened to the 122/150 and the next one up (200-something)...very very nice...but I listened to other amps at the 1000€ - front and found NONE similar to the value-for-money-bang the NAIT 5i-2 can give you.

First I had
* Nait 5i-2
* CD 5i-2
* Arivas
* Naca5 /standard DIN

Then:
* Nait 5i-2
* CD5x
* Arivas
* Naca5/standard DIN

Then:
+ FC2x

Then:
+ Hi-Line

Then:
+ PowerIgel

AWESOME!!!
But see, the NAIT 5i-2 is still there...ready to rock your soul.

A beautiful amp.