New Naim Forum


Hello everyone I recently changed out of a 5 seperate system and decided I wanted a small good integrated amplifier and a new CD player. I sold of all of my gear and started down the Naim rabbit hole. Don’t get me wrong, I am very glad I made the change. I’m now listening to music almost daily again where as my old system would going unplugged for weeks. There was just no emotion. It was overly warm and slow in the uptake. I honestly believe the 13 year old Mark Levinson no.334 amp needed a refresh to keep up with the new Totem Forest Signatures.

So I kept my Oppo Universal Disc Player as it is virtually new and the Totems 3 years old. I was wanting smaller kit with a good integrated amp and a matching CD player. Less cabling to figure out, just simplify my setup.

Enter the Naim Supernait 3. Wow what a beast. I bought the Supernait 3 and had planned on the CD5si CD player. After reading to the Naim forum discussing it with my fantastic dealer I decided against it the Cd5si. I was informed Supernait 3 would out perform the cd5si as the player was a entry level and offered no digital output or power supply upgrades. What to do? I found a nice Naim NDAC.

I’m running the Naim nDAC fully refreshed with new firmware. Man!!.does it sound good. It has 4 optical inputs, 2 RCA and 2 BNC I puts as well as 2 USB ports. Lossless playback and it charges your phone. It’s a digital hub. It has the ability to except an additional outboard power doubling the performance. (See Below)

I use my Oppo as the Transport playing CD’S through the RCA digital out via a Chord Company Signature Super ARAY Digital Coax RCA > BNC to the nDAC.

The nDac also plays a 2 Terabyte External Hard Drive full of FLAC, WAV and lossless files 192 files. It is connected via HDMI from the > Oppo to a HDMI TV Monitor and I have literally thousands of tunes at my fingertips. The Oppo remote populates the files on screen alphabetically, simply point and shoot.

From the nDAC I’m using Naim Super Lumina DIN5-5 cable to the Supernait 3 CD/DIN input. (Is anyone running the Chord Sarum T between their Naim source and preamp?)

Speaker cables are NACA5 / for now but I’m looking for suggestions from this new post for replacements. Any ideas?

The NACA5 hooked to the Totem Forest Signature Speakers. 12 feet!

For now, all power Cables for now are Naim TibiaPlus12 Deep-Cryo power cables except a Voo Doo Cable low noise 10 awg Digital Power on the nDAC. I’m using a Naim Wiremold power strip except the Supernait 3 is plugged directly into the AC.

Next week I’m expecting a Teddy Pardo XPS power supply for the nDac with included Teddy Burndy and a power cable. We’ll see how that shakes things up.

I have my Totems 6 feet center toe to toe and 10 feet to the listening position.

I would really lime some feedback whether your running Naim or not. I’m looking for alternatives that can propell my Naim system.

Thanks -

N

nutty

The big power supplies are a transformative upgrade for Naim gear.  From what I can see, not many Naim lovers here. Not Naim haters, but most Naim owners gravitate to the Naim forum. BTW, the HiLine IC made a huge difference as well. We had a complete system set up and only changed the IC and it was amazing. Have fun. 

I’m a Naim owner albeit slowly moving away. Nowadays, for all the great reviews, I’d argue their amps outperform the sources. I had a Naim source for 2 decades but their streamers leave me unengaged. 
 

For me, more boxes improved the quality but the hassle of cable wrangling to keep things in order and the endless cycle of recapping made downscaling attractive. 

Hello chayro -Thanks for the positive comments. I agree Naim values their transformers. My 80 watt Supernait 3 has a 400VA transformer. Regarding the HiLine interconnects/DIN, I haven’t heard them so I don’t have any experience to directly draw from there. My dealer and the Naim forum cautioned that the plastic portion of the DIN’s were prematurely breaking. As a result I opted for the Super Lumina DIN5-5 cable and it is smokin!

mahughes - Great to meet a current Naim owner. Sorry to hear you’re thinking of leaving the flock. Wow. A Naim source for two decades. I don’t do any streaming however I can get behind a component like the Uniti CORE.

As I eluded to above as a result of Naim’s 2022 price hike I’m looking for alternatives to enhance my system. Still waiting for the Teddy Pardo XPS for the nDAC to arrive.

Regarding their amplifiers outperforming their sources, their nDAC IS a great performer and I’d say it almost equals the Supernait 3 without an outboard power supply. YMMV.

Your losing boxes and I’m collecting them :-) If you mind me asking, what speaker cables are you using? I’m using NAC A5.

N