This RU-vid channel is complemented by HifiandMusicSource.com, created by Simon Wilce in 2013 and is the go-to hi-fi component and music reviews channel and website designed to engage fellow enthusiasts looking to make informed purchasing decisions and share a passion for high-quality audio within a like-minded community.
Thank you very much. Sadly I'm away and missed it. What speakers did you think performed very well. How did the Marten sound with the Gryphon reference system. I have never heard Marten but want to soon. Appreciate your thoughts on the leading speakers at the show.
Thanks for the video. I found putting my 7 units on Custom Design Quadraphonic iRaps was a huge upgrade. Give them 3 days to settle in. Easily the best value upgrades I ever did. I added reviews to the Audio Affair page. I use big stands Norstone Esse so can fit the Quadraphonic iRaps. The normal iRaps will also be a great upgrade. I urge you to give these a go for a huge upgrade for no money at all. All the best, Faysal
Naim did appear to dominate the market once and for good reason. There does appear to be a lot of brands to choose from nowadays and in the end most people have to be discerning about how much and what products to choose to build a system. @@hifiandmusicsource
The upgrade bug can effect everyone and instead of listening to music we land up listening to the system the issue however is that when your system gets too good it starts to show up bad recordings and instead of enjoying the music we start thinking about how to fix the sound. So many people have been through the upgrade path that naim has and arrived at a really exceptional sound quality only to realise they enjoyed the journey more than the end result and actually for day to day listening they are content listening to a far lesser system. I have several friends that actually downgraded the system after reaching the high end as they realised they were actually listening to the music more with a less revealing system. For me it was switching to really good headphones with a good headphone amp that got me back to actually listening to the music instead of the system.
Yes, good comment! I have always been music-led, I believe, and of course, headphones are a really good value way to access high-end HiFi. Thanks for the comment
Agreed, and I have abated my desire for the New Classic equipment, for now at least! It has also greatly helped things, taking it all apart and putting it back together... neatly! Thanks for the comment.
The mains cable could be another option, have tried various types, from Naims own to Chord and Viborg with success in each case. Speaker cables have also been tried again with success, these options are more a tuning affect to correct anything that's lacking or taming thing that's over bearing.
Yes, I put this in the article itself. I have Atlas' mains conditioners and power leads in the XPS and the 250. I agree with you about loudspeaker cables as well.
Nice question, thank you. With my own (Old Classic) NAP 250 I have an old saggy pair of KEF R700s that still sound great to me in my lounge. If I had the money I'd be looking at the Kudos Titan 505s that I have in the review room and they sounded just perfect with the new 250 (if you go to the review you'll see why). I'm also a big fan of the PMC Twenty5i series, the 26s (Editor's Pick Award) are sumptuous
That is an a cheap old Target rack that I bought years and years ago from eBay, it does a job. This is my lounge in this video. HF&MS has in fact recently bought an Italian SolidSteel rack from Mian Distribution which has certainly made a difference on the reviewing side offering a firmer delivery and plenty of space to work around. Thanks for the comment and look out for the next video we're doing in the next week on how to upgrade the old Naim Classic if you can't afford the new stuff!
The naim nac n-272 and the nap 250 dr are still sounding good today? I have a pair of triangle borea br03 and would like to pair them with the old classic 200.
Yes, thanks for the comment. I still love my NAC-N 272 and the 250. I've just reviewed the Triangle BR10s with the New NAP 250. Triangle is doing really good things at this moment so good luck with that.
So, Long Story Short - I Down Sized from a '10 'Box Naim System about a year ago. Now using a Hegel H390. WOW! ! ... And included is an excellent Streamer & DAC. ( Still have my Denafrips & RME DAC"S and the Innuos Pulse Mini Streamer ) Naim gear always was 'Over-Priced' ... 🤑 I bought all mine Used. I have however kept the '02' FM Tuner and I have a Unity Atom in the Bedroom. Oh, and anyone thinking of starting on the Naim 'Ladder' with the Nait 5 Amp.... STOP ... Listen to the ( Cheaper ) Hegel H95 first.Yep, It 'Blows Away' the Over-Priced' Nait. And yes again, it has the Streamer / DAC Inside. As commented below ... ATC Speakers. I was using the Amazing ( Passive ) SCM 40's. Part of the Mega 'Down-Size' was to a smaller listening space. I'm now using SCM 11's with a REL T Zero Mk3 SUB. Again, WOW ... If U listen to a lot of Female Vocal / Simple Instruments Music ( Agnes Obel / Dianna Krall etc ) then U have to hear ATC Speakers. They just 'Do' Mid's .... Soooooo Well. Oh, and finally, all the SCM Speakers are not just ''Another'' Super Boring 'Square Box' ! ! They have nice 'Curved Sides' ..... Today’s ‘Band’ Recommendation … ‘Tiny Ruins’ ...( Jaw Dropped ! ) What a Voice. Check out the albums … ‘Ceremony’ … and … ‘Brightly Coloured One’ … Hope Y’all Enjoy. 🥰
Excellent! An affordable alternative may be the 6000N play by Audiolab, that has a no-nonsense front but with 6 presets. Now with the introduction of both the 7000 and 9000 range, retailers are cleaning up their inventory as it were, so the 6000N now often retails for ridiculous discount prices. It hasa high quality circuitry, its own solid transformer and an excellent sabre 9018-dac for the money. It is truly excellent with many review awards. Its only downside is the Play Fi app, but the 6 presets do ease the pain somewhat…atb, Gerlach Sven
Thanks for your comment. The Audio lab 6000N is indeed a good piece of equipment. We tend not to review items that we haven't had a good chance to listen to. Looking forward to seeing if we can get our hand on one of the 8000 or 9000 ranges.
I've got had the 6000a it's a good streamer but playfi is frustrating and let's the system down, can be mitigated with other software and the required stream platform quoboz tidal using upnp software, but has no Chromecast, apple airplay or roon or usb but has native Amazon music which is not common on other streamers. User software is important in a streamer if it's buggy it frustrates and ruins the experience. 6000a Sounds good though vfm
I just couldn’t summon up the enthusiasm to go this year after attending in 2022 and 2023. A lot of the equipment is out of my personal price budget but even the stuff that exceeds it can sound rough and edgy in those tiny hotel rooms (and some of the larger ones). A lot of shuffling into tiny rooms, feeling awkward, confined and disappointed then looking for the moment to escape. I enjoyed the video but it merely confirmed I made the right decision to skip it this year.
Yes, I understand. The bar and food area were a relief in the excellent weather. Many of the rooms were a lot bigger and better than Bristol, so that was excellent
Looks like a great show again this year - good to see what was on show for those of us who couldn't get there in person. Thanks for a great video. Lots of Billie Eilish!
Hi, thanks for the comment, the full reviews are on the website for the 250 and the 222. The Titans are at the back as I was listening to the white ones at the time of shooting the video.
Thanks for the comment, Hugo 2; really, every time, it's still the desktop GOAT. Sorry for the delay; lots going on here at HF&MS! Can't go wrong with the MoJo 2 on price though.
Why would you compare a 5,000.00 dollar pice of equipment to a eversolo 800.00 dollar pice, keep it to fair run, not a pice that cost 4× it's MSRP come on
Yes, fair comment, but really we were trying to highlight the options across the range, from very affordable to high priced. Interestingly the new Auralic 'Entry-Level' S1 would work well in this video at £2,000, the review is coming shortly. It is a stripped-back piece of Auralic kit that is seriously of great value in the context of your comment. Thanks for the comment.
Hey there, just use this guide (or Google REL Hi-Level) from REL, you can't go wrong! Good Luck. relsupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115004486467-Connecting-a-Single-REL-via-High-Level#:~:text=The%20standard%20high%2Dlevel%20hook,%C2%AE%20connector%20into%20the%20Sub%2D
I think the Aqua linQ is the absolute best streamer on the market- and I haven't even tried it yet😂😜... because I demoed both the aqua La Scala and Formula DAC's at my home in my system and wow 🎶now to connect the linQ with the Formula🧨🎉🎶 or simply compromise on the lower end products...😮
Depends what you want… and how long you want the kit for. Naim is known for supporting even their earlier models. Not discarding technology and the sound quality as well as the way the power is handled (not just for the cleanliness but on the delivery to the speakers).
I am very sorry to say I don't rate Naim at all - I had a demo of PMC Twenty5 26i last month on an expensive all naim system and it sounded much, much worse than the same speakers with an Audiolab/Bryston system. Do yourself a favour and try some other kit you might well be suprised.
Thanks for the comment, yes it is all in the ears. I've personally owned Naim equipment for many years now, my views are quite clear in the many reviews I've done with Naim and if you have read any of my MOON reviews. I love PMC and reviewed the Twenty5 26i a while ago with Moor Amps amplification, they received an Editor's Pick at the time, our highest award.
Hi there, great question, thanks for that. The Titans are terrific speakers, detailed, and dynamic and they'd be my choice, as I said in the review, with a modest lottery win. There is a video on them on this channel. The QR3 SEs are also very responsive to this new NAP 250 and very well priced. In the middle, price-wise, I'm always going to say PMC, I love their loudspeakers, and the Twenty5 24i won an Editor's Pick if I recall correctly.
Thought the Boyer room was just a big PA, everything they played 1000 miles wide because of the speaker placement. The Muons sounded worse than Blade 2s, and the WB Cardinals were soon strident off axis. Best of show was the blackwood audio active pyramid speakers, think they had sb acoustics driver and hypex amps with Dirac room eq. Loads of stupid cables on show.
@paulupton7698 . They are all terrible hosts. With the price of these systems, the clientele appreciates a certain level of service. I could go on forever about how poorly these rooms are arranged. From furniture to the components and displays themselves. To your point though, at the very least there should be a smiling professional hostess to welcome them. Show some Class, instead of aimless sausages. Acid Jazz, Funk & Brass 🔈🔉🔊
Great show and video - thanks. I thought best room by far was the Boyer room with WADAX, Engstrom, Kroma speakers. So natural and engaging. The Luxman and Dali room was also great. I think the Magico S3 was an amazing performer if very neutral. Wilson Benesch was great but too overpriced. Thank you and keep up the great work 👍🏽
I would imagine with enough power and space they would sound nice. However they have been done before in the Ruark Equinox and thats what I compare them with and I honestly don't hear an improvement over the Ruarks.
@@hifiandmusicsource thanks. I finally figured it out, but the Eversolo was able to download all my music. So I did it the other way around. It took forever though, like over night. Also, when it comes to searching the files on the hard drive with the Eversolo, it is super slow.
Perilously close to pulling the pin on these beauties. I have a rather huge open spaced area to fill and although the Founder 100 is much better suited to my budget, I cant help to think the Class powered 120H model might have to be the one I go with. My room is approximately 20 by 36 feet by 16 feet high as it is a room that opens up to a loft above. I am (for the moment) Powering my existing speakers with a Bryston 4b and also have at my disposal 2 Hypex Ncore500 Monoblock amps if needed in a bi amping 2 channel configuration. At some point I may opt to change or add some Mcintosh tube gear (MA 352 is on the short list). I have also considered Monitor audio Silver 500 7Gs as well as Polk Audio R700 and Revel F208s with the latter probably being a better option for my Bigger space. What are your thoughts on my speaker considerations? Auditioning all of these probably isn't a real option here on Vancouver Island. Cheers
