ryder
18-02-2010, 02:11 PM
I managed to listen to the Naim XS in my system today after a friend came over. He is a Harbeth SHL5 owner as well and uses an all-Naim system to drive the speakers. The listening session lasted for about 3 hours so that gave us the opportunity to do an A/B comparison between the Naim and Rega Elicit which I own. Another guy who happened to be some sort of a dealer for a high-end cable manufacturer tagged along with him.
We started out with the Rega Elicit and my friend thought something didn’t sound quite right. We then swapped to the Naim XS. Pace and timing improved a little. Music sounded quicker and livelier with better pace. We then swapped out the Rega SC42 speaker cable to the Naim NACA5 cable. Bass and dynamics were fleshed out more prominently and everything had a more solid feel to it. Basically pace, rhythm and timing were spot on with the Naim. The Rega was more lush-sounding and sweeter in comparison.
With the Naim XS still on board, we fiddled a little with speaker placement and room treatments. Speakers were brought out into the room by approximately 1 to 1.5 inches and toe-in was reduced. Music sounded more coherent. After that, diffusion panels were fiddled with numerous times. They were moved towards the listening chair by a foot, placed down on the floor, elevated from the floor, placed down on the floor again, 1 piece on the wall, 2 pieces on the wall, 3 pieces on the wall, back to 2 pieces on the wall. Finally we settled with 2 pieces of diffusion panels on the side walls placed on the ground as we thought this gave the best result. Each and every configuration yielded a noticeable difference to the sound, and this is a testament to the importance of room treatments in shaping up the sound. With these diffusion panels, voices sounded more organic and overall presentation had more air and coherence. Surprisingly bass tone also improved with more solidity and less smearing.
We finally switched back to the Rega Elicit. After all the changes made to speaker placement and room treatments, the Rega Elicit still did not possess the superior pace and timing of the Naim XS. However, the Rega gave a slight sweetness, or should I say lushness to voices with a tinge of warmth which was pleasant to certain recordings or music.
Then came the unexpected. The dealer of the cable manufacturer took out his stuff from the bag. Forgotten the brand but the model is called “Lifeline” or “Liveline”. The Rega SC42 speaker cable was replaced with this cable and we all heard an audible improvement in dynamics and bass slam. Dynamics and transients were better on this cable as bass came out more prominently from the speakers. Just to be sure I disconnected the cable from the system and hooked up my Rega SC42 to the amp and listened again. Music was back to flat and monotonous-sounding.
I asked him how much is the cost of the cable. I was hoping it would be around the Rega SC42’s price-range but got a surprise when the cable was said to cost $1,200 / £750 which is about 8X the price of the top-of-the-line Rega SC42 cable. I was then informed that it’s a high-end cable from a French manufacturer.
The fun part is since I knew my Rega SC42 was flat sounding, I took out my Pure Note Cerulean cable from the store-room collecting dust after both guys had left. This cable is a solid-core silver cable. Hooked it up to the speakers and blimey, it sounded similar to the high-end French cable. Dynamics and attack came back. The good thing is the Pure Note costs 3X less. The Rega cable will go to the storeroom. So much for synergy(thought the Rega wire would match with the Rega amp). [Note: Sound differences between cables may be negligible if tested in a different room. Previously tested in the living room and found no audible differences. The current dedicated room is a much better controlled environment in picking up sound changes.]
Okay I got carried away. To summarise between the Naim XS and Rega Elicit, both of them sounded quite similar. Generally the Naim has better pace and timing while the Rega is sweeter and slightly lusher in comparison. Nonetheless, the Rega Elicit + high-end French cable managed to bridge the gap with the Naim XS + Naim NACA5 in terms of PRAT and dynamics. I was told that a Naim source hooked up to the Naim XS would bring even better PRAT quality that is synonymous with most Naim gears. Since the source used in the comparison was not a Naim but a Krell, guess that would be a slight disadvantage to the Naim XS.
That is all for now. Next upgrade for me is to get an additional 4 pieces of diffusion panels and I’d be done.
http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/i/f/1266498117.jpg
Naim XS Driving The SHL5 With The Stiff NACA5 Cable Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb
We started out with the Rega Elicit and my friend thought something didn’t sound quite right. We then swapped to the Naim XS. Pace and timing improved a little. Music sounded quicker and livelier with better pace. We then swapped out the Rega SC42 speaker cable to the Naim NACA5 cable. Bass and dynamics were fleshed out more prominently and everything had a more solid feel to it. Basically pace, rhythm and timing were spot on with the Naim. The Rega was more lush-sounding and sweeter in comparison.
With the Naim XS still on board, we fiddled a little with speaker placement and room treatments. Speakers were brought out into the room by approximately 1 to 1.5 inches and toe-in was reduced. Music sounded more coherent. After that, diffusion panels were fiddled with numerous times. They were moved towards the listening chair by a foot, placed down on the floor, elevated from the floor, placed down on the floor again, 1 piece on the wall, 2 pieces on the wall, 3 pieces on the wall, back to 2 pieces on the wall. Finally we settled with 2 pieces of diffusion panels on the side walls placed on the ground as we thought this gave the best result. Each and every configuration yielded a noticeable difference to the sound, and this is a testament to the importance of room treatments in shaping up the sound. With these diffusion panels, voices sounded more organic and overall presentation had more air and coherence. Surprisingly bass tone also improved with more solidity and less smearing.
We finally switched back to the Rega Elicit. After all the changes made to speaker placement and room treatments, the Rega Elicit still did not possess the superior pace and timing of the Naim XS. However, the Rega gave a slight sweetness, or should I say lushness to voices with a tinge of warmth which was pleasant to certain recordings or music.
Then came the unexpected. The dealer of the cable manufacturer took out his stuff from the bag. Forgotten the brand but the model is called “Lifeline” or “Liveline”. The Rega SC42 speaker cable was replaced with this cable and we all heard an audible improvement in dynamics and bass slam. Dynamics and transients were better on this cable as bass came out more prominently from the speakers. Just to be sure I disconnected the cable from the system and hooked up my Rega SC42 to the amp and listened again. Music was back to flat and monotonous-sounding.
I asked him how much is the cost of the cable. I was hoping it would be around the Rega SC42’s price-range but got a surprise when the cable was said to cost $1,200 / £750 which is about 8X the price of the top-of-the-line Rega SC42 cable. I was then informed that it’s a high-end cable from a French manufacturer.
The fun part is since I knew my Rega SC42 was flat sounding, I took out my Pure Note Cerulean cable from the store-room collecting dust after both guys had left. This cable is a solid-core silver cable. Hooked it up to the speakers and blimey, it sounded similar to the high-end French cable. Dynamics and attack came back. The good thing is the Pure Note costs 3X less. The Rega cable will go to the storeroom. So much for synergy(thought the Rega wire would match with the Rega amp). [Note: Sound differences between cables may be negligible if tested in a different room. Previously tested in the living room and found no audible differences. The current dedicated room is a much better controlled environment in picking up sound changes.]
Okay I got carried away. To summarise between the Naim XS and Rega Elicit, both of them sounded quite similar. Generally the Naim has better pace and timing while the Rega is sweeter and slightly lusher in comparison. Nonetheless, the Rega Elicit + high-end French cable managed to bridge the gap with the Naim XS + Naim NACA5 in terms of PRAT and dynamics. I was told that a Naim source hooked up to the Naim XS would bring even better PRAT quality that is synonymous with most Naim gears. Since the source used in the comparison was not a Naim but a Krell, guess that would be a slight disadvantage to the Naim XS.
That is all for now. Next upgrade for me is to get an additional 4 pieces of diffusion panels and I’d be done.
http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/i/f/1266498117.jpg
Naim XS Driving The SHL5 With The Stiff NACA5 Cable Sticking Out Like A Sore Thumb