Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation Wireless Music System

My review of the Naim Mu-so 2nd Generation wireless music system is now live at Part-Time Audiophile. You can read it here.

Naim Night at Whetstone Audio

Last night's Naim event at Whetstone Audio was quite a success, with a large number of Austin audiophiles showing up to drink beer, eat pizza, sit in a $300,000 Bentley and listen to Naim's latest Uniti components. Whetstone owner Brian DiFrank played the part of the genial host as Naim UK's Doug Graham and Naim USA's Dave Dever showed off Naim's new line of components including the Uniti (which combines a CD5i CD player, a NAIT 5i integrated amplifier, a multi-format tuner, a digital stream player, a DAC, an iPod/MP3 player and a USB-stored audio player), the UnitiServe (a hard disk player and server) and the UnitiQute (an all-in-one player that can handle almost every digital format available, and some that haven't even been invented yet).

Here's the bigger of the two systems that were playing at Whetstone. This all-Naim system was based around the Uniti (top shelf). The amazing thing about the Uniti is that all you really have to do is add speakers, and you have a truly one-box solution for your hi-fi. The total cost of the Uniti is only $3750, which is not too much more than the cost of a CD5i and a NAIT 5i. I owned the NAIT 5i for a couple of years, and it's one of the two or three best integrateds for under $2000.

So in other words, you're getting all the added features such as the tuners, the DAC and the other audio players practically for free.

This system used the new Naim Ovator S-400 loudspeakers. These beauties sounded authoritative, punchy and dynamic and achieved ear-splitting volume levels when Doug Graham played a hi-rez copy of The Dark Side of the Moon.

This was the smaller system that featured the UnitiServe as well as Naim's new DAC, which is getting a lot of buzz these days. This system featured the modest Rega R3 speakers which sounded unusually big for their size. Not to steal any thunder from Naim on their big night, but I've always enjoyed the smaller Rega speakers and always felt that if I had only a few hundred bucks to spend, I'd go right for their little R1s. This system sounded excellent and was actually played more than the bigger system.

Here's another shot of the components. Unfortunately, Naim gear is so dark and handsome these days, it's hard to do it justice with a simple cell phone camera!

Here's a close-up of the display of the UnitiQute. Just as I snapped this pic, someone chose my favorite band on the server!

Most of the musical selections were done from either this iPad, or a second laptop. Both were on the same network with the Naim gear.

This is the stunning Bentley that was brought over by Jason Schieck of Bentley of Austin. It's powered by a 620 horsepower 6 liter W-12 engine. A fellow audiophile, who was clearly not a car nut, asked me what a "W" engine was. I asked him if he knew what a V engine was. "Oh, sure," he replied. "Well...it's two of those slapped together," I told him. "Oh."

This is the first time I looked inside of a Bentley. Wow.

And this is the first time I sat in a Bentley. That's the Naim audio system that's custom made just for Bentley. It uses a class-D switching amp to achieve 1100 watts per channel. Doug Graham commented "we had to go class-D because we only had to fit everything in a fairly small space." I'm not a real fan of Class D, but it makes sense in an application like this. The Naim car audio system sounded clear and detailed, with more imaging and soundstaging than I'm used to in a vehicle.

Back in the store, I noticed this NAC 282 preamplifier. It's not every day you see the innards of a Naim component...unless you're me and keep accidentally losing your little magnetic CD puck inside of your Naim CD player.

Here's Brian, standing guard over the two pizzas he bought for the event. In Texas, we call these mediums.

Here's Dave Dever demonstrating the UnitiServe to a couple of Austin audiophiles. The gentleman to the far left is what Texans call "medium build."

Seriously, I talked to those two gentlemen for quite a while. Their names are Scott and Eric, and they've just started a company called Appogg Systems, and they're making isolation platforms for audio components. I checked out their website (at appoggsystems.com), and the products look great. They're also getting a lot of buzz from audiophiles in the area. They are working on an entire line of platforms before they really go "public." But for now it looks like they're on the right track. I hope to speak with them further about Appogg.

All in all, it was an enjoyable night, and I always have to give credit to Brian DiFrank for making audio fun once again. I'm going to go back in a few weeks and listen to his line of Kudos Speakers (a new British brand from the people who brought us NEAT). Thanks, Brian!



Naim Night at Whetstone Audio...Tomorrow!

Tommorow night is the big Naim Night at Whetstone Audio here in Austin. Here's the actual press release from Brian DiFrank of Whetstone:

"Naim UK’s Doug Graham and Dave Dever from Naim USA will be coming to the shop October 21st. They will be introducing lots of new Naim goodies fresh from The Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. Jason Schieck from Bentley of Austin will be there and will be showing a Naim equipped car. I bet the trunk won’t even rattle! Brad Farbstein, owner of Real Ale, will be bringing a keg of delicious beer. This will be an awesome event!"

Most of you know I love Naim gear and have owned several pieces in the past. Naim is definitely at the forefront of 21st century technology with their new Uniti line of products, and I can't wait to hear them perform.

 I'll have a full report with pics after the event is over.
So if you're in the Austin area tomorrow night, stop on by. The event will last from 6 to 9 pm. The address for Whetstone Audio is 2401 E. 6th Street, Austin. See you there!

Naim Night at Whetstone Audio

Brian Di Frank, owner of Whetstone Audio here in Austin, is hosting a Naim Night on October 21st. Naim is celebrating the release of their full line of Uniti components, including the brand spankin' new UnitiQute and UnitiServe. These components contain a lot of features in tiny little boxes (kind of like my old favorite, the Naim NAIT 2 integrated amp), and Brian reports that these pieces are literally plug-n-play.

Both Doug Graham from Naim UK and Dave Dever from Naim USA will be on hand to demo these amazing products and answer questions, and they'll also bring one of their Bentleys equipped with the all-Naim sound system. My friend and former boss, Jeff Dorgay from TONEAudio, will also be there. I'm going to stop by as well, but not in any official capacity...just helping Brian spread the word about one of my favorite audio brands. The event will take place between 6 and 9pm at Whetstone Audio, which is located at 2401 E. 6th Street in Austin. Brian says he'll have beer and pizza there as well!

For more info, check out the Whetstone Audio website at http://www.whetstoneaudio.com/.

Interview with Peter Selesnick of Venice Audio

I just finished an interview with Peter Selesnick of Venice Audio for an upcoming installment of the Vinyl Anachronist column, which will appear in the next issue of Perfect Sound Forever. Peter is by trade a British director of photography (DP, as they say in the film industry), and he decided to start Venice Audio in his spare time. As you can see from the photos above, Venice Audio offers a very beautiful way to audition and buy some of the best equipment in the world such as Naim, Harbeth, Leben, Well Tempered and much, much more.

I talked with Peter about what it takes to open up a high-end store in the 21st century, when most electronic purchases are done on the Internet by people who are searching for the lowest price and not the best advice. He offered some excellent insights into how he chooses product lines, how he auditions equipment and how he hopes to capture the attention of younger generations and turn them onto the joys of listening to two-channel analog-based audio systems!

He also talks about some of my favorite components such as the Harbeth 40.1 loudspeakers (my favorite speakers in the world), the Well Tempered Amadeus turntable (which uses a golf ball damped in silicon fluid in its tonearm assembly) and the entire line of Naim electronics (my favorite audio brand in the world).

The One That Got Away: Naim NAIT 2

The Naim NAIT 2 was an interesting little British integrated from the '90s. It was interesting because it was so small in size, and even more interesting since Naim didn't publish any specs on it...including power output. It was generally estimated between 15wpc and 21 wpc. I owned one from 1993 to 2003, and I grew to love this little amp and wished I'd never traded it in.

At first I paired the NAIT 2 with my rather insensitive (84 dB) Spendor S20 bookshelf monitors. I won't indulge in that tired audio reviewer cliche that the NAIT was a little amp that sounded really BIG. It wasn't. With the S20s, the sound of the NAIT would implode during louder passages. Whenever I played really loud rock or symphonic recordings, the sound would be dull and small and utterly unengaging. But put on some intimate jazz or acoustic rock, and the realism was amazing.

Later I had the NAIT 2 coverted into a preamp (something every Naim dealer knows how to do) and added the Naim NAP 140 power amp. Suddenly I had 45 wpc, which meant that I could now listen to all types of music. Then I upgraded the S20s to the bigger and more efficient (90 dB) Spendor SP100s and suddenly I had my first taste of world-class high-end sound. I even took the NAP 140 out and used the NAIT 2 as a stand-alone integrated and was truly astonished at the quality of the sound.

When I bought the NAIT 2 in 1993, it retailed for $995. I bought a demo unit from my friend Gene Rubin at Gene Rubin Audio (http://www.generubinaudio.com/) for just $695. After the NAIT 2 had been replaced by the more powerful NAIT 3 (and then the NAIT 3R, the NAIT 5, the NAIT 5i and the NAIT 5i), you could find one used on eBay for $300 or $400. Now that some of the Naim faithful have proclaimed the NAIT 2 as the best NAIT ever, it's hard to find one for less than $600. I've owned the NAIT 5i, and I see their point. If I can find a mint NAIT 2, I'm going to buy it. It's truly a great little amp with the right speakers.