There's a Naim with your name on it. Our favorites of the 20% discounted Naim Audio products
It's sale season and we have a stash of Naim Audio gear at a rare 20% off. The English hi-fi legend is known for its obsessive focus on sound quality, right down to the specifications for bending internal wires, see the photo above. Naim's sonic philosophy is informally called PRaT, wherein circuits are designed to preserve the music's Pitch, Rhythm, and Timing, an approach that demands large, high-current power supplies in order to track speedy transients and driving bass lines.
To Spin or to Rip?
With CDs now a nostalgic item, it's ironic that CD players (still being made) have never been better. All of the learnings from high-res streaming can be applied to the CD player, including better clocking, low-noise power supplies, and advanced filters. This is why more and more hi-fi enthusiasts are crawling into attics or breaking into their storage units to bring their silver disc collections back into the home to enjoy the golden age of CD reproduction.
A cracker of an example of the modern CD player, the Naim CD5si, uses a Burr Brown PCM1793 DAC for that characteristic weighty sound filled with natural warmth and texture. Naim's famous swing-out CD drawer and bullet-proof transport ensure you get the best possible stream off that Cranberries album whose acquisition you clearly remember, though it's been 30 years.
If bringing your CDs back onto your shelves is not an option but you miss seeing those albums together (they tell such a story, don't they?), the Naim Uniti Core is the product for you. Think of the Core as a super-NAS that will automatically rip and store your CDs making your collection available over your network. With its BNC S/PDIF output, you can even use the Core as the streaming source for a secondary system, with its music available to the main system via UPnP, a network-sharing protocol understood by all audio streamers.
Just Add Speakers...
...but they're going to have to be good speakers, because the Naim Uniti Nova is one of the best-sounding all-in-one players we sell. The Nova's smaller sibling, the Atom, is now a cult classic amongst Upscale staff and customers, beloved for its amazing sound and tactile usability. The Nova takes the good idea that is the Atom and makes it brilliant by doubling output power to 80 W, and widening the chassis to allow room for all that extra displacement. You get the same excellent screen and top control knob with the goosebump-inducing feel, as well as wide connectivity, including HDMI eARC and Roon Readiness.
 |
|
|
Naim Uniti Nova Music Player $5,519 |
|
Two-Shelf Quality on One Shelf
Just as the Nova is the super Atom, the Supernait is... well, yes, a powerful version of the famous Nait integrated amplifier. It delivers 80 W per channel, which, in Naim's high-current, fast transient world, is a lot of power. You also get class-A headphone amplification, an Alps Blue Velvet volume control, reed relay input selection, ceramic insulators for the power transistors, and many other high-end build details culled from Naim's stratospheric products.
The Supernait can be upgraded with Naim's standalone power supplies such as the Hi-Cap or can become the preamp for a power amp such as the NAP 200. There's an AV bypass, so you can share your stereo speakers with the home-cinema setup. The Supernait 3 is the amplifier for the one-shelf-free audiophile with two-shelf dreams, requiring you to spend far more on a separate preamp and amp to get the same level of control, separation, and sophistication.
 |
|
|
Naim Supernait 3 Integrated Amplifier $4,559 |
|