I have an original red led nait 1 from 1983 and have had my new nait 50 for a month. First of all i did not care how the nait 50 would sound. I just wanted one for what it is. After comparing with my original nait 1 i can say the 50 beats it as you would expect. The phono stage in the 50 is an absolute gem and i was very surprised by its quality. According to the handbook the nait 50 uses the same transformer as the nap 250 power amp despite the low ish 25 a side it has plenty in reserve with this in mind and as we know the 250 is frightened of no speakers. I cannot comment how it compares with nait xs models and super nait models as i stopped buying naim amps onwards of the olive series. The 50 also sounds better than my nait 3 especially via the mm stage but if you were to trade your nait 3 for a nait 50 you will not get £2000 odd worth of sound quality over your nait 3 as i said i bought it for what it represents and that is a brand new chrome bumper nait something of which i thought i would never see the likes of again. Thank you naim and JV.
I can't believe they're still using that same extrusion. Back in the day I had. 32/HiCap/250 setup (on loan from our favourite employer 😉) and what used to bother me was the different wall thicknesses of the two extrusion sections. My understanding was that they were off the shelf profiles and not custom tooling.
In North America Naim is not a value proposition. It is,however, the amp that got me into stereo, and it is a much better value in the UK. It is - imo, a great company.
I'm from the USA. I first saw Naim gear around 1981. A guy who managed a boutique store in 1979 told me that he was going to open his own store offering British audio equipment. When I was looking for a new turntable I paid him a visit. The store was in an old house and the main floor had been configured to demonstrate audio gear. This was the first time I ever saw a Naim Audio component. I ended up buying a Rega Planar 2, and later a Naim 32.5 Hicap 110 driving a pair of 15 ohm teak Rogers LS3/5A's. What a great sounding system that was. I have cycled through much audio gear since and still own some vintage Naim gear: CDi, 42.5 Hicap 110, and a Nait 2. After more than 40 years I still love the Naim sound. 😊
Had a nait 1 in the same box. Not enough welly imo. Might be ok with really sensitive speakers. The olive series have a similar but better sound but more welly. The nap 140 nac 72 is what most people consider the best naim served up in terms of Prat. After then naim lost a bit of the magic with their later drsigns.
How could we judge an audio system through RU-vid? Same way you get to Carnegie Hall: practice, practice and more practice😂. For those complaining about the searingly bright white LED there are LED lens covers made for guitar effects pedals with too bright LEDs. Stick one over the white LED. You could even have it in the original red or later green.
Remember reading the usual reviews of the Nait 1 (Listed £180.00 in '83) way back in the early eighties in a publication called Popular Hifi and the thing they pointed out was that the official power rating was never disclosed. Just out of curiosity, does the 50 have an official rating?
I would actually like to buy a Nait 50. But: My biggest problem with the Nait 50 is that the space between the words 'naim' and 'audio' is too big. For me, that's a bad design. You can also see from the original that they belong closer together.
Is the Nait 50's sound signature sound anything like the original Nait 1? Or is it more like a modern, low powered Supernait 3? Is it worth the price or is better to go for a Nait XS3? Thanks.
Well designed amps don't have a sound signature (same as well designed DACS, except that even with propely designed amps there could be a bit of audible variation) that's the point of a well designed amp. All else is myth.
Que ?? You mean I didn’t say something along the lines of : “Well, You put this amp on, and it does this, and sounds like this, and makes your Pink Floyd sound better, innit mite."? @@jerrypartington3650
@jakeroberts8517 It's not a ridiculous amp, it's probably a nice little amp, but £2700 for a solid state amp with very limited power is a bit rich in my opinion.
I found the bass a bit thumpy with the Dynaudios, other than that they sounded great. As I'm sure you're aware, LS3/5a need a beefy amp to sing and I think the those 25 Naim watts just aren't up to task in bringing the best out of the Falcons. Those looking for a small form factor system are confronted with the reality that small speakers need big amps while big speakers can often be driven with small amps. For roughly the same price a Nait XS3 would provide more juice as would something like the much cheaper Rega Elex R MK4. Sorry to say that Naim are celebrating their 50th anniversary at the expense of their fan base. Like their new Classic series the Nait 50 is poor value for money (especially in Canada where I live). Not a Naim basher as I own pre-Focal Naim gear, just don't intend on ''going deeper'' down the Naim rabbit hole.
Possibly the worst I’ve heard LS3/5a’s is with Rega. I’m a massive fan of them too but not in that combination. Dynaudio Evoke 20’s and Rega are a match made 👌
Don’t think the 3/5As need tonnes of power. I used to drive them with 1st gen Cyrus 1 (push button on/off switch & plastic case) & achieved very good quality sound. Transparent, airy & inherently sweet. The later cast case Cyrus 1 were nowhere as good though.