Discussion
Our Story page on site said:
Our story begins with one man’s passion for music and weaves its way through four decades and a raft of iconic product launches to the present day.
Naim Audio founder Julian Vereker MBE (1945-2000) was a racing car driver, entrepreneur and self-taught engineer with a deep passion for music. Spending his spare time listening to and recording his friends playing live in the 1960s, Julian found that playback on his system at home fell woefully short of the experience he craved.
Not content with second best he decided to design his own amplifiers and loudspeakers, ignoring accepted wisdom and focusing on aspects of performance that made music burst to life. These first designs laid the foundations for a range of iconic and award-winning hi-fi products that would reach well into the next century.
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Our first consumer product for home use was launched in the year of our founding: the NAP 200 power amplifier. Originally designed in 1971, its descendant power amplifiers differ greatly technologically but still aim for the same performance goals of pace, rhythm and timing.
Naim website said:
Every Naim product is conceived, designed and engineered entirely in service of the sound, revealing a pure experience of music that is as close as possible to its original live source.
Yet when I hear my music played back on a Naim system it always sounds like the bass is held back and the midrange is amplified far too much.Yeah, it sounds fast and exciting, but not what wanted it to sound like when recording.
hyphen said:
Our Story page on site said:
Our story begins with one man’s passion for music and weaves its way through four decades and a raft of iconic product launches to the present day.
Naim Audio founder Julian Vereker MBE (1945-2000) was a racing car driver, entrepreneur and self-taught engineer with a deep passion for music. Spending his spare time listening to and recording his friends playing live in the 1960s, Julian found that playback on his system at home fell woefully short of the experience he craved.
Not content with second best he decided to design his own amplifiers and loudspeakers, ignoring accepted wisdom and focusing on aspects of performance that made music burst to life. These first designs laid the foundations for a range of iconic and award-winning hi-fi products that would reach well into the next century.
...
Our first consumer product for home use was launched in the year of our founding: the NAP 200 power amplifier. Originally designed in 1971, its descendant power amplifiers differ greatly technologically but still aim for the same performance goals of pace, rhythm and timing.
gizlaroc said:
Yet when I hear my music played back on a Naim system it always sounds like the bass is held back and the midrange is amplified far too much.
Yeah, it sounds fast and exciting, but not what wanted it to sound like when recording.
Their first sales were to Capital Radio, so guess they have always been about serving the popular listener. What kind of music do you do by the way?Yeah, it sounds fast and exciting, but not what wanted it to sound like when recording.
Pupp said:
You can put a cardboard box over your head to distort the sound you perceive; much cheaper and just about as much to do with hi-fidelity...
You seem personally offended?Its quite simple, people who like it can buy it, and people who don't can buy something else! The Devialet offers similar features as the Naim streamers and are supposed to be pure in output.
See I've been to hifi shows, and it was full of very 'serious' people listening earnestly, I don't want that, just want to put some music on and enjoy. Often when working so the more fun presentation helps my productivity!!
Conscious I may be coming across as a fanboy, so for the record Its my first Naim, bought as the features met my needs and was a good deal. One box with app so easy for the wife to use. Will happily consider other brands in the future, but happy for now.
Mine is just electronic stuff, but I laid down a couple of acoustic tracks for someone in ableton that we listened back to on his Naim system when we had finished. I personally thought that some of the warmth had been lost but they loved it, and that is all that matters.
Are Naim getting on board with MQA?
That will be interesting to see how they handle that, as MQA knows all the digital equipment in the chain and takes away the digital smearing and sonic signatures they produce to leave you with exactly what the artist was looking for in the studio. At that point it is hard for manufacturers to add their sonic signature, which they all do, of course they do, they have to if they want to sell their kit to you.
I would always take a system that I like the sound of rather than one that is 'sonically accurate' and those that won't do that I think are complete muppets, and there are plenty of them in this game.
I like a warm, rolled off liquidy sound, hence I like tubes and Meridian or Quad if digital. But we must have hifi that sounds different, as everyone likes different.
Are Naim getting on board with MQA?
That will be interesting to see how they handle that, as MQA knows all the digital equipment in the chain and takes away the digital smearing and sonic signatures they produce to leave you with exactly what the artist was looking for in the studio. At that point it is hard for manufacturers to add their sonic signature, which they all do, of course they do, they have to if they want to sell their kit to you.
I would always take a system that I like the sound of rather than one that is 'sonically accurate' and those that won't do that I think are complete muppets, and there are plenty of them in this game.
I like a warm, rolled off liquidy sound, hence I like tubes and Meridian or Quad if digital. But we must have hifi that sounds different, as everyone likes different.
"Not content with second best he decided to design his own amplifiers and loudspeakers, ignoring accepted wisdom and focusing on aspects of performance that made music burst to life."
Ignoring accepted wisdom my eye, he used a development of the RCA circuit that RCA issued to get people using their new semiconductor devices. He just played tunes on tantalum caps to get that bright, in-your-face presentation that he liked.
Ignoring accepted wisdom my eye, he used a development of the RCA circuit that RCA issued to get people using their new semiconductor devices. He just played tunes on tantalum caps to get that bright, in-your-face presentation that he liked.
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