so.. whats in a Naim ?

[mpw]

here goes .. first impressions..

less meaty bass than my previous amp but overall much more satisfying over the spectrum..

Heard Norah Jones and Edith Piaf and the vocals come out just fine. The imaging is spot on and the soundstage is very satisfactory.

I havent experimented with speaker toe in.. just firing straight for now but will do a bit of toe in later and see later.

The amp does not get warm at all and i have this feeling the more you play the better it gets..

I also feel that the speakers are "driven harder" at equivalent volume levels as compared to earlier amps i have owned.. maybe the power is cleaner ..

Somewhere i read that PRAT is equivalent to thumpy bass but it is not the case with the Naim. The music has a prescence of its own.

Many amps i have auditioned have had either muddiness or a certain degree of coolness or simply been clinical but this one is thoda different.

In my previous reviews i have spoken about the NAD 356 being like Rahul Dravid ( The Wall.. dependable and can play for long hours ).. the NAD + Promitheus pre was like Sehwag... if its there to be hit.. HIT IT !!

This one is like VVS.. can thump and can unleash the delicate wristy strokes that all of us love.. It looks something akin to him too.. very polite to look at but quite nicely constructed ( elegant )

will chip in with more inputs along the way..

mpw



mpw

 

[srinisundar]

Congrats MPW for owning this Superb Stereo amplifier..

What speaker cable are you using ? I will send an Naim speaker cable for testing if you are interested. Forgot to add the ends do not have naim plugs

 

[mpw]

srini,

i got terminated Naim NACA5 cables pair 3.5 meters long.

mpw

 

[srinisundar]

srini,

i got terminated Naim NACA5 cables pair 3.5 meters long.

mpw

Yep, i got the same one.. Musical cable..

 

[prem]

Hi MPW

Enjoy. Infact yesterday i too set up my resonators using Norah Jones as a reference. Her voice was fresh in my mind since i had heard her live the previous day.

 

[mpw]

hi prem,

thanks for everything !

i could not make it tp the concert but our FM samirk was there too. and i thought why not make Ms Jones sing for me at home

someday i hope to learn to maximise my setup by learning from you. ( placements / controlling reflections etc.. )

will be happy to have you over sometime should you wish to hear my small setup.

best regards,
mpw

 

[prem]

Anytime mpw. Are you available this week? Could drop in on Saturday to listen to your set up.

 

[mpw]

prem,

will call or sms you by Friday. Presently am travelling.

mpw

 

[SatMumbai]

Congratulations! I remember our talks about all the auditions that you went through and finally you have your choice of amplifier at home! That is very nice and will read through this for your more concrete impressions in near future.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Somewhere i read that PRAT is equivalent to thumpy bass but it is not the case with the Naim. The music has a prescence of its own.

It is interesting that all/most of us experience the PRAT thing while listening to music but in the end many explain it very differently from others. One thing I would like to point out. Many a times people think PRAT is in the music, it has nothing to do with gears. If the music is pacey and rhythmic then one naturally foot-taps. Yes, this is correct however there is more to it. A system which preserves the PRAT accurately can actually keep the momentum of the music intact even in the slowest of passages. One doesnt feel disconnected at all when the music slows down, in fact one should just be able to slow down his foot taps proportionately and keep going. This indicates that one is able to make sense of the music at any pace and even during highly complex rhythms, not just during simple fast paced tunes. While this is a fundamental building block for music making, most hifi engineers and designers have overlooked this aspect. In a quest for the highest transparency and biggest soundstage these fundamental factors are forgotten. That is the reason brands like Naim, Linn and Roksan stood out. You will hear that undeniably compelling momentum of the music whenever you hear a system which is built around these products. Interestingly, PRAT has always been well preserved in the simple low-fi systems (mini-compo, computer audio, cheap car audio etc).

 

[gobble]

Interestingly, PRAT has always been well preserved in the simple low-fi systems (mini-compo, computer audio, cheap car audio etc).

I wonder why that would be? Is it encapsulated in the distortion ?

I'd like to preserve it in a bottle and pour some whenever I feel like it ...

--G0bble

 

[Dr.Bass]

I wonder why that would be? Is it encapsulated in the distortion ?

I'd like to preserve it in a bottle and pour some whenever I feel like it ...

--G0bble

I am not at all a techie to be able to explain this, however from the little knowledge I have gathered, PRAT related issues are a result of distortion in the time domain. Since a typical lo-fi equipment uses very less parts (mostly ICs), the signal possibly doesnt travel much within the circuit board and hence the time distortion is minimal. But then the quality of the parts are very inferior so other types of distortions are very high. This is just my inference, I could be possibly be wrong. A typical audiophile product on the other hand is overloaded and overspeced in a big way. Negative feedback is a common thing. Possibly all these additional processing takes a toll on the timing accuracy of the signal.

 

[prem]

Hi Dr Bass

I have a feeling its got to do with mid bass. Get that right and the timing is fine. A little bloat and its off. When you use traps or other room correction devices, the first thing you notice is that mid bass tightens up and the timing improves. In case of low end stuff, there is little or no mid bass and hence timing is normally spot on. This is just a guess. I may be wrong.

 

[arj]

I am not at all a techie to be able to explain this, however from the little knowledge I have gathered, PRAT related issues are a result of distortion in the time domain. Since a typical lo-fi equipment uses very less parts (mostly ICs), the signal possibly doesnt travel much within the circuit board and hence the time distortion is minimal. But then the quality of the parts are very inferior so other types of distortions are very high. This is just my inference, I could be possibly be wrong. A typical audiophile product on the other hand is overloaded and overspeced in a big way. Negative feedback is a common thing. Possibly all these additional processing takes a toll on the timing accuracy of the signal.

my observations as well, mp3 devices car stereos and readios seem to get that timing part much better than many component systems.
LPs somehow seem to be better in that..is it because music is not broken up into bits and pieces processed separately and brought back again ?

 

[Dr.Bass]

Hi Dr Bass

I have a feeling its got to do with mid bass. Get that right and the timing is fine. A little bloat and its off. When you use traps or other room correction devices, the first thing you notice is that mid bass tightens up and the timing improves. In case of low end stuff, there is little or no mid bass and hence timing is normally spot on. This is just a guess. I may be wrong.

Yes Prem, there are different things that contributes to this whole philosophy. These days most big amplifiers have a lot of grip on the speakers and control the woofers very well. However they still do not get this basic thing right. IMO it is about getting the transient response right without overdoing it and that seems to be a difficult thing to achieve once the amplifier plays full range and has to do "special" soundstaging acts with 1000 watts of dynamic headroom.

 

[Dr.Bass]

my observations as well, mp3 devices car stereos and readios seem to get that timing part much better than many component systems.
LPs somehow seem to be better in that..is it because music is not broken up into bits and pieces processed separately and brought back again ?

Arj, even in the world of LP players there are the ones which sounds of tune, however it is relatively rare. Possibly because of less electronic processing.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Although I was slow to understand what you mean by PRAT, I think that transients is probably the key, but is the key to the key in the amplifier or the speakers? OK... both: if the amplifier doesn't pump it out, then obviously, the speaker doesn't have a chance.

Neither have a chance, though, if the room blurs everything.

 

[Dr.Bass]

Interestingly I have observed that many PA systems keep the PRAT well !

 

[SatMumbai]

Interestingly I have observed that many PA systems keep the PRAT well !

+1 I have same observations.. night clubs and PA systems convey the energy very easily where as home systems struggle a lot. I wonder why?!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Because their audiences are only interested in beat/rhythm?

Heck, I haven't even been in a night club for forty years. I'm really guessing here .