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| It seems like a lifetime since our last report. What I failed to mention last time was that we all scuttled off in different directions for our summer breaks. Mick, Kirsi and Wilson the dog made it to Scandinavia in their self-converted electric camper van. They didn’t quite get to the intended destination due to some connectivity issues but Mick can explain if you ask him! Rhea and I had a driving holiday in Scotland, Kevin and Sadie went to Malta and Andy and Lorane painted their fence. It’s a very big fence but I think we need to have some serious discussions about life / work balance 🙂
Since I’m writing this dross, you have to suffer my pictures and the photograph above is from the A838 at the northernmost coast in Scotland. We really do live in an amazing country.
Unsurprisingly, the weather up there was fair rather than brilliant, but we still managed to fulfil my requirement of touring the area in an open top car and, more to the point, with the top largely down. Big lesson learned is that (a) it can be too cold for midges even in late July and (b) if a cloud of them follow you back to the vehicle, driving al fresco clears them at double quick speed.
Anyway, back to boring work stuff. With our business year starting in April, we’ve just passed the half way point and it all makes very little sense. Despite the downbeat vibe, it seems that we’ve been doing pretty well with the accounts showing that we’ve done marginally better than at the same point last year.
It’s not plain sailing though. Certain items, used ones in particular, have become slower to move along. Any tracking on eBay shows that reduced demand means that prices have been less robust than you might expect. This makes us more and more uneasy about taking trade-ins against trade-in sales. Still, we have to find a way to make the wheels turn.
On top of this, we are starting to see some price reductions from some of the cheaper (predominately oriental) brands. This is all about stimulating demand and, as such, it’s a fine idea. It’s just a little irritating when you already have items in stock bought on the old terms! |
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| Where Accuphase has dominated our higher end Summer business, Rega has seen a significant chunk of the rest. Good old fashioned separate components seem to have taken on renewed appeal at the moment, so the Naim sales have been more at Supernait + streamer level than Uniti. Further up the scale, the New Classic 300 series has still been winning new friends. Rega’s unique combination of attractive pricing and hand-built-in-Southend Britishness probably explains its success. Oh yes, and it sounds really good too!
Stepping away from the all-in-one systems tends to take away the in-built streaming option and adding this at modest cost to a standard separates system has become a common topic with buyers.
New arrival, WiiM, make some distressingly low priced yet accomplished streamers. Bluesound, who tend to dominate this area, have clearly sensed the gauntlet being thrown down and have set about some serious revisions of their own.
The new Arcam Radia products have landed well too. The streamer sounds great but really needs the promised software update to improve its user appeal. The new amplifiers and CD players have started to win buyers, though. And, yes, people still buy CD players. |
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Inexpensive streamers you say?
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| With the new mid-range Rega and all Arcam and Audiolab amplifiers being equipped with a digital input, it’s easy to instantly get the best from a whole host of low cost Streamers.
Our list kicks off with WiiM’s Pro Plus at £219. There is a slightly cheaper one in the range but Pro Plus seemed well worth the modest extra cost. All of them are fully compatible with Amazon Music and with Alexa too, so allow you to summon up what you want to hear via voice command. Beyond that, all significant streaming platforms, Qobuz, Tidal etc are covered. BBC radio too. |
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| The internet sensation, the WiiM Amp has been mentioned before and I confess that, despite my attempted hype, hardly anyone ever mentions it! Nevertheless, it’s an absolute bargain with surprisingly good sound quality, a decent amount of power and stunning functionality for a very modest price. Looks fairly nifty too: |
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| The new WiiM Ultra network player comes in a similar chassis. It deletes the amplification but gives a full colour display and front panel controls along with improved sound quality for just £349. |
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| All of the above are here on demonstration. All have two way bluetooth, so that you can pair with bluetooth ‘phones such as the excellent Focal Bathys. |
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| First of the new Bluesound products is the Node Nano. It’s a tiny box with most of the functionality of the full sized (but already compact) Node. You lose the HDMI connection, optical input and the sub-woofer output. Sound quality is extremely good and it’s priced at £299, so you save £200.
The new full sized Node N132 has an improved DAC (shared with NANO), offers potential Dirac integration and, along with Nano has two way adaptive Bluetooth, meaning that you can connect to Bluetooth headphones just like with WiiM. Clearly, this is now a ‘thing’! All are Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant compatible. Goodness knows how . . . Price is £499. Both Nano and 132 are ahead of the previous Node.
We still have a couple of the outgoing Node X’s left and these still offer noticeably better sound quality than the new arrivals for a discounted price of £549 (it was £699).
It is worthwhile putting all of this in context. After working his way through listening to the various WiiMs and Nodes, Kevin connected an Auralic Aries S1 ‘transport’ to the same digital input on an Elex amp and muttered ‘bloody hell, it’s still better”. Truth is, you’d likely feel the same way about a Naim ND5XS-2 or NDX-2 too. More is always available. |
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| We got an email about transitioning the other day. Disappointingly, it was about the transition from green to white lights on various products and not some exciting gossip about a member of the team in Salisbury.
The 500 series became available with white logos a year or so ago and this has been cascading through the range. Whilst Supernait 3 goes white, the NDX 2 does not. If an NDX 2 is on your wish list, now is a very good time to ask about one.
Recently, software updates came through for the NSS333 and ND555. It was mainly about adding compatibility with streaming services but, in the case of the NSS333 it has improved the sound quality quite dramatically. I have one at home with NAC332 pre-amp and NAP350 monos and what was always an engaging listen has burst into new territory.
The trade-in scheme of old Naim CD players for new streamers remains active and seems to have acquired some latitude in what can be traded and supplied. Talk to us please! Cue gratuitous shot of Naim streamer. |
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New from Melco: – it’ll look better in black!
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| We had a listening session this week to Melco’s new S1 switch. It’s definitely dramatic! It took moments for us to place (a black) one on order. We’ll be able to demonstrate it in a week or two. If you own an N1 server, this may well be of interest. Even if you don’t, it still might! More on this when we have it to hand. |
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| Shown, but not demonstrated at the Bristol show 2024 (see above), hoped for at our Trinity Park event in 2023, a pre-production set of the Mercury / Solus Pre / Power amps made their way to us recently for a quick play. Effectively a very grown-up Aethos with a weight problem, this £14k combo is due in early 2025 and we have committed to taking a set. |
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Oh yes, just one more thing . . .
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Trinity Park Ipswich
14th & 15th March 2025
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| The show I say ‘never again’ to will return next year. Friday + Saturday, as per usual. We’re now working on the plan. Will be aiming at a better food offering next year. Please put it in your diary. It’s a little pointless without you!
All the best from Alastair, Andy, Mick and Kevin 17 October 2024
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