Naim 5i/CD5i

The sound of Naim is easy to recognize. "Good tempo" is a classic comment. More importantly, the Naim sound is not an electronic sound. Of course, it cannot compare to the soulfulness of tube acoustics but it is truely an audiophile sound..

My first encounter with Naim was with a Naim 5 that I bought secondhand from someone from Echoloft. When I first heard it, it made my previous Rotel and my demo set of Roksan sound decidedly crappy. Unfortunately, I got conned and the set started malfunctioning (the volume control was whacky). Fate will make sure that $%$#%$@ person who sold me that set gets his just punishment in the future. I found out later from Acoustic Sound the distributor in SG that that set was faulty and had been repaired several times and had many previous owners before.

Luckily (or unluckily) the Absolute guy allowed me to trade in the Naim 5 for his demo set which included a Naim 5i and CD5i. I can say, the sound of the 5i isnt as warm as that of the 5. But it isnt bad, and the extra 20W probably drives my B&Ws better. Unfortunately, my 5i volume led has died recently, leading me to conclude that Naim QC is not the greatest. Also, the much vaunted rule of using NACA cables seems to be a marketing gimmick. The sound isnt much improved over my previous run of bi-wire cables.

I was tempted to get a NATO tuner but I might hold back and wait for a good deal on a DAB set. The Tivolis dont appeal to me though..

The below pic is of my Naims with B&W speakers.. listening position isnt ideal though at the PC though... :)