Leaving the Naim game . . .

As you all might guess from my screen name, I've owned Naim for a long time - since 1983, when the first Nait came out.  I've been up and down the range, topping out with the CDS2/52/2x250/SBL active (along with a maxed out LP12).  Lots of boxes!  And it all sounded pretty good - when it was "on," it was was mighty hard to beat.  Life intervened, and I wound up moving back down to much more modest systems, finally selling everything off when I was deployed to Iraq and then Afghanistan. 

When I got back from Afghanistan, I got back to hifi with a fairly basic Linn system, which I enjoyed until this past summer, when I swapped out the Linn gear for a modest Naim setup - the entry level separates.  Over the course of a couple of months, I rapidly ran up the range and wound up with a 202/Hicap/NAPSC/200. 

But.

I wasn't pleased.  It didn't make me want to play CD after CD the way the older Naim gear had.  And the journey had become a chore, rather than the fun it used to be.  I tried different speakers, different sources, etc., and nothing made it quite gel.

So:

Since I'm of reasonable intelligence, I took the proverbial look around.  And tried some different systems - probably the usual suspects for someone with such a strong history with Naim and Linn.  And wound up with a stack of gear from Exposure Hifi - the 3010S2 series.  In many respects, it's better sounding than the Naim gear it replaced.  It's a little clearer sounding (or a bit more detailed, whichever way you prefer), while at the same time providing more body, making a Bosendorfer more easily distinguishable from a Steinway.  It's got a touch more warmth, so you can tell Suzanne Vega, while thin, does indeed have a body and is not just a disembodied mouth.  And it has more grip (at least on the speakers I tried with both systems), which gives the impression of deeper, better controlled bass.  And it actually made more sense of rhythms and timing than the Naim system. 

While I trust my own ears, I played both systems for some friends, and the unanimous preference was for the Exposure.  Which made me curious - the Exposure costs something like 35% of the Naim at retail - what on earth could be going on?  And I think that the core answer is that Naim has changed dramatically since Julian Vereker passed, and especially when they joined Focal and were then acquired by Naxicap, a French investment bank.  It's rather sad to see that some on the Naim forum can't accept that something might sound better and be preferred - one of the aspects I appreciate here. 

Anyway, it's been an interesting journey, and fun to get back to it.