We hear differently and have differing preferences.
Everyone’s favorite speaker is dull, warm, bright, fatiguing, luxuriating, etc., for someone.
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Indeed, no surprise. I seek what I hear in actual live salon listening sessions that typically seat no more than 30 avid listeners. I tend to keep in mind that at best our audio systems provide for an illusion of the actual performance. It is a special system that can reliably recreate the dynamics and passion of a live jazz combo. A should add yet another new component on its way.
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I have that now with the CJ tube pre to the M1200’s. The magic with jazz is out of this world, but cannot listen to all music that way
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Understood, the cj sound can be addictive. My most critical listening is small combos, jazz, creative music, avant-garde, and classical baroque. I should add a few vocalists thrown in for good measure.
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An advertisement from Uncle Kevvy at Upscale Audio just hit my inbox on the Nait 50 LE. Not in the market, but I must say I’m enjoying the current ‘updated retro’ trend. I have gotten very close to pulling the trigger on the ‘updated retro’ Mission 770 big monitors, though. And Wharfedale has announced the ‘updated retro’ Dovedale big monitors (also being built in the UK). I am looking for a pair of good, large classic monitors. Mission and Wharfedale have my attention. Seems Brit hifi is leading the way with this trend. I like it. A lot.
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Caution with the Wharfdales, I had given the Lintons serious consideration five years back, as well as the EVO series. The Lintons driven by a Hegel H190 sounded a bit too colored and unrefined to my ear. I mentioned it to the retailer who promptly reconfigured them into a stacked set, ala stacked Advents from the 70’s, and the whole illusion fell apart. At the price i found the EVOs enticing, but a bit forward with the Hegel H190. Regarding the Nait Naim 50 LE, it could be a fun addition with the right speakers, say Linn Kans, KEF 101 Ref or Harbeth original P3ESR, to name a few. I ran mine with the Kans, and then replaced the Kans with the KEF 101 REF. My daughter continues with the Nait driving the KEF 102, as she prefers a bit more bass in the Brit BBC tradition, aka the BBC Bump. 
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I heard these at AXPONA. I was surprised by how nice they sounded.
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The plastic was left on as I knew they were being exchanged for silver. The dealer sent their silver Bartók in for revision it was a shipment of 9 DAC’s. I just paid my bill and exchanged DAC’s no waiting. What a great process. As for the sound, the first day was OK by day three things have settled down and the new boards are coming into their own. I listen a low levels and what I’m getting far more detail and the music is far more encompassing. Without a doubt it’s the best digital music I’ve heard in my system and I’ve had a Waversa VDAC and I still have the Mark Levinson 519.
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I am doing a little at home A/B. The other night I swapped out my rebuilt NAIT2 for more powerful NAIM gear (plus HiCap power supply) that I use in my bigger system. Want to see how the new toy compares with both amps when it gets here.
BTW my speakers on the smaller system are ProAc Tablette 10s with a couple of RELs for a bit of bottom end. A very happy match with NAIM gear.
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I have an XA-25 I hooked up last week. It’s a great amplifier at any price in my system. I love it simple…like to me an amp should be!
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I use Tablette 10 Signature’s in my office nearfield system. They are fantastic. I don’t foresee ever selling them.
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We rarely change or update our equipment, but recently we did. With this little interface device between our computer and our Playback Designs MPD-8 DAC. Yep, it makes a difference. The interface takes the incoming digital data stream from one’s computer via USB, cleans it, clocks it and sends it out via Playback Design’s proprietary fiber optic PLINK interface to a Playback Designs piece of equipment. So, this device is a dedicated accessory for Playback Designs’ gear due to it’s proprietary fiber optic interface. But for years I’ve read about similar devices that are brand agnostic. Whether they work as well is a question I’ve not explored.
Our journey of discovery is described here:
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I read this review earlier today.
My takeaway - Yet another fiddly little box with yet more cables that cleans up USB.
< Insert sound of one hand clapping >
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Yeah, I’d never bothered with any of these fiddly little boxes before either, having a similar reaction to descriptions of them. But after the opportunity to audition it for a review, we bought it. Ann commented yet again yesterday that she continues to be impressed with the improvement it’s making – which we never expected. So, incremental improvement.
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My system sounds better if this forum is running in the background
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How is the humidity. Same temps here but omg it’s like 90%
If I was a MPD-8 owner I would have been happier if Playback had spent the same amount of time and effort and upgraded the DAC itself. For me, sending the DAC in for an upgrade would be far more preferable.
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Nothing to upgrade in the MPD-8. It has the same USB interface tech already built into its input. This is why we didn’t do the “fiddly extra box” at the time we bought the MPD-8. As explained in the article, we decided to wait since Andreas said it might add just a subtle further improvement by physically separating everything. And it appears to do so.