The swagger, the groove, oh the humanity !

May not suite the princess who requires 3 watt amps to blow horns with.

I've been listening to this Nait5i for less than a day; does this disqualify my opinion? hell no, as I've owned a complete 5 series kit in the past, that I regretably sold only to venture through audio hell. Now I'm back; in love with Naim that is.
This Nait is the little engine that could: it's got clout, vigor, moxy, and just plain has a musical pulse that grooves with the music. The Nait takes my Harbeth 7's by the Kujones and makes them their bee-och-es. Quite impressive, considering the Beths' are 87 db sensitive, albeit an easy resistive load.
This int-amp is very impressive, and honest sounding . Very groovy!
Dead sexy tells no lies; believe it !

Similar Products Used:

Naim Nap 150112, Kora Explorer,Portal Panache, Consonance a120, Rogue Cronus. All within 2 years!.......i'd better try some brand loyalty!

Dynamics, verve and musicality.
You really are there!
Simple attractive and understated styling.
Excellent build quality and reliability.
Hold their value well and command good 2nd hand prices.
Runs cool.
Remote controlled

None really, but for soundstage fanatics it may not quite measure up.
Only 4 line level inputs - not a problem for me.
No phono stage.

I have been using the Nait 5i for over 2 years now and it has never ceased to amaze me with its musicality, dynamics and sheer verve. Throw in good 2nd hand trade-in value and dealer/manufacturer service and it is no surprise that this model continues to succeed. As an entry model it is hard to believe the sonic prowess it possesses, not in absolute audiophile terms, but in the humanity it manages to convey musically.
It is unbelievably quick and pacy for the money, giving leading edge transients all the snap they need, a feat that many a drummer(or not!) will quickly appreciate. Pop and rock motor along with real energy, without overdoing the analysis of recordings, meaning that even compressed and poor recordings get their musical message across. So often with lesser quality components, your typical pop record sounds more palatable on the kitchen radio, which it certainly shouldn't!
Jazz and classical recordings fare equally well, the Nait embuing a particularly live sound to performances. I should know, I watch live jazz most weeks and although hi-fi at any price(and particularly not at this level) can never recreate the live performance perfectly, I also cannot enjoy live performances from the likes of Oscar Peterson, Charlie Parker et al in my local pub, so my home listening serves up a close second best, even if I can't enjoy the pleasures of draught beer at the same time!
There is no point in mentioning/slating the other hi-fi brands I have tried/auditioned in the past, because to someone else's ears they may just be the ticket, but for me the Nait does the business on a musical level and this was apparent from the off. As is always the case, a symbiotic relationship comes from equipment that matches well sonically and the Nait is just part of the equation. A good dealer and home audition is always to be recommended.

Customer Service

Excellent

Similar Products Used:

Loads
Currently using Arcam, Naim, Dynaudio, Russ Andrews, REL, Cambridge Audio, Apple, Rega

Wonderful musicality, great micro-details, excellent soundstage, sounds every bit as capable and agile as amps rated twice the power or more. Great upgradability and outstanding looks. Runs surprisingly cool to the touch. Mostly, incredibly pleasing and involving and rhythmic sound.

Buggy interface, only four inputs, remote isn't very well-designed, volume knob doesn't react in small enough movements when adjusted using the remote. Some would say that Naim's entry-level products (is a $1000 amp really an entry-level product?) are siren-calls to spend a lot more money on other things by Naim, but is that really a weakness--that the company is so good you keep coming back?

The Naim Nait5i is a 50wpc (8ohm) integrated amplifier with four line-level inputs. This makes it both small by current standards, and of limited flexibility. The traditional 5-pin DIN input sockets are still there for two of the inputs (for CD and, improbably, tuner), though the other two inputs (AV and Tape) are RCA-only, and even the CD and Tuner offer RCA sockets as well. As has been reported by other members, the amp is every bit as "buggy" as a piece of electronics designed by Britons could reasonably be expected to be -- including a noticable 'thunk' at power-up and power-down, as well as a tendancy for the input selector to freeze after significant running time.

Why would anyone put up with all of this? One word: sound.

When I first started posting in Audio Asylum in search of a good, flexible integated amp that I could continue to use when funds permitted graduation to a 5-channel system, I received a great many recommendations for 'usual suspects' ranging from the Onkyo A-9555 through the Arcam FMJ A-23, and on to beefier (and pricier) products by Musical Fidelity, Ayre, and SimAudio. Because my listening tastes tend to be skewed in a way that isn't contemporarily popular -- most notably, because my preferences are for articulate micro-details and a quick, lean bottom-end, many of these well-intentioned suggestions proved either excessively tubey for my pallete or else just not involving enough.

After much gnashing of teeth I finally received a single post, from a single Asylum member, who said, "You will like the Naim Nait5i, period. Either buy that, or stop wasting our time." How could a fellow argue with advice like that?

Having never seriously considered Naim, I downloaded several professional reviews and found them all to be extremely favorable -- more so even that professional reviews tend to be anyway -- and always with the very adjectives that would describe my own particular bias. Everywhere I looked in the literature I found comments like, "rhythmic," "lively," "quick", and "snappy." Eventually, finding no specimens on Audiogon, I overpaid by about $200 to acquire one from CannuckAudioMart dot com and, after a nervous week spent watching the front window for signs of a truck, it eventually arrived.

After a month of giddy experimentation, I am here to report that the Asylum member who challenged me to put up or shut up was spot-on with his advice: The Naim Nait5i is striking to look at, easy to install, easy to use, and, here's the thing, sounds better -- streets better -- than anything I've ever used before. It beats my Bryston 3B for noise floor and resolution of detail; it beats my old Onkyo integrated for current and base definition; it beats the Musical Fidelity for fluidity of sound (the MF seemed brittle to me), and it beats the Ayre for involvement in the music. It beats many of these products -- some of them handily -- in the price department, even at $1050 instead of the $850 I could have paid with a little more patience. At no point in over a month of listening to the Nait on an Asylum-recommended pair of AudioPhysics Spark-IIII's (see forthcoming review under that heading), has the Nait sounded even the tiniest bit small or underpowered. Indeed, at full-up, ears-whanging levels, the Nait seems every bit as clear and cool as amps twice its power rating, maybe even more so.

Best of all (well, at least second-best of all), Naim is one of a handful of vendors whose products are consciously engineered to allow for future upgrades. Specifically, the Nait5i includes a provision for downstram connection to a 5.1 processor, gain-matched to function as the amplifier for the front two channels, in combination with a separate 3-channel amp that is purpose-built to round out the system.

If you are in the market for integrated power, if your room isn't fifty feet across, and if your speakers aren't unusually insensitive -- if you don't mind sparse inputs, no phono stage, and an occasional glitchy interface -- and, most importantly, if the idea of being settled for life on a particular brand, so much so that your search preferences disappear down the rabbit warren of that one company's resale market -- then you owe it to yourself to listen to the Naim Nait5i. Frankly, the only reason it has taken this long for me to sing the praises of the little guy is the time it has taken me to betray my work committments for long enough to write it all up. In truth the Nait5i -- and the larger company from which it hails -- 'had me at hello'.

Dave O'Gorman
Gainesville, Florida

Customer Service

No experience dealing with Naim-USA yet, though I am told they are excellent.

Similar Products Used:

Arcam FMJ A-23 Integrated (not quite as quick or detailed)
Onkyo A-22 from about ten years before God was born (too small, only 2 inputs)
Harmon/Kardon PM-665vii (no finesse)
Parasound A-23 and P-3 separates (had serious mechanical problems)
Bryston 3B and Audio Research SP-5 (sssssssss!!!!!!!!!)
Rotel RC-995 and RB-980 (there's a reason these things are so cheap on EBay)
Linn AV-5105 power amp with Rotel RC-995 (sounded sloppy to me)