I had a Naim Nait 5i, and imo with the 1C, which I also owned but never paired, I suggest you have a LOT of room to go up in terms of sound quality with that pairing. I didn't keep the Nait 5i for too long; it simply wasn't that good. Thin, lacking body and not terribly captivating, classic Brit, flat earth sound and on the whole sterile. The 1C is ok, but certainly not all that. It's a starter speaker, very nice, but compromised, as would be expected for a budget model. At the time I thought they were super-great, but much more experience shifts that perception.
Do have any idea of how much of the performance spectrum lies beyond that combo? I suggest you get moving - either up the Vandersteen line if that's your thing, or onto something else - before you spend another 15 years not hearing that much of what is possible in HiFi. :)
My guess is you might be convinced that there is not much better performance than Vandersteen for the money. So, you may as well do the 3. "Lithe"? You mean, constrained, less adept, less generous, less dynamically easeful, less tonally ripe, etc. You're afraid of what you'll lose, but you seem to not realize that there is far more to be gained moving up from your level. You are relatively low on the performance level of audio systems. Your issue is not what you will lose, it's not realizing all there is to gain. :(
Do have any idea of how much of the performance spectrum lies beyond that combo? I suggest you get moving - either up the Vandersteen line if that's your thing, or onto something else - before you spend another 15 years not hearing that much of what is possible in HiFi. :)
My guess is you might be convinced that there is not much better performance than Vandersteen for the money. So, you may as well do the 3. "Lithe"? You mean, constrained, less adept, less generous, less dynamically easeful, less tonally ripe, etc. You're afraid of what you'll lose, but you seem to not realize that there is far more to be gained moving up from your level. You are relatively low on the performance level of audio systems. Your issue is not what you will lose, it's not realizing all there is to gain. :(