Naim isn’t wasting any time kickstarting its 50th-anniversary celebrations this year. Just four days into it, at CES 2023, the British brand has revealed a new Classic range of components at CES 2023 – the NSC 222 streaming pre-amplifier, a new iteration of the iconic NAP 250 power amplifier, and the NPX 300 power supply upgrade. A launch fit to mark the half-century milestone, indeed.
Of the new Classic series, Steve Sells, head of hardware engineering at Naim, says: “From designing in our best-ever performance at this level, to added features and flexibility to eco-friendly elements – New Classic products use less than 0.5W in standby – we’ve combined our 50 years of experience with the very latest technology to redefine home hi-fi.”
The NSC 222 – which has already picked up a CES 2023 Innovation Award this week – is a gateway to streaming services such as Tidal, Spotify, Apple Music and Qobuz, as well as internet radio and networked music. In addition to facilitating wireless streaming within a system, the NSC 222 can also accommodate a record player thanks to its built-in MM phono stage, while an integrated headphone amplifier – the same used in the Uniti Atom Headphone Edition – is onboard for quality personal listening. The streaming preamp certainly looks the part (as you can see at the top of this page), echoing the contemporary design that has contributed to the Naim Uniti range's success.
A natural partner no doubt is the range’s 100 watts-per-channel NAP 250 power amplifier, which is the sixth iteration of a model that has been in continuous production since 1975 and, if you ask us, is one of the very best Naim products in the company's five decades. To take performance even further than its predecessor, the NAP 250 features technology trickled down from the company’s flagship Statement amplifier, such as an eddy-current circuit breaker between the speaker outputs, and promises “more power, even better performance, and greater system-matching flexibility”. Proof of that final point can be found in Naim's decision to include balanced XLR connections this time round.
Another potential partner in crime for the NSC 222 is the NPX 300 power supply, which Naim says offers an “instant upgrade” for the streaming preamp by disabling its internal power supply, thus reducing the noise floor, and delivering to it “superior, cleaner” power.
So there you have it. A new Naim trio that we very much hope marks the beginning of a prolific 50th-birthday year for the brand. The new Naim Classic range will be available starting this month (January 2023), with the NSC 222, NAP 250 and NPX 300 each priced at £5700 / $8999 (around AU$10,000).
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