LEFT:To the left of the large colour display are a USB-A port,6.3m m and balanced 4.4mm headphone outputs w hile butonsto the rightcoverplay/ stop,inputand ‘favourites’setings
while at the same time maintaining those N aim -esque qualitiesofdetailand rhythm icacuity. Even relatively lush headphones such as the B&W P9 Signature [HFN M ar’17]are keptunder strict controland m ade to work for their living, whilem oreobvious‘m onitor’designsincluding the originalFocalSpiritPro [HFN Dec’15]–stilam ong m yfavourites–sound fast,wideopenand thriling, withoutstraying into harshnes . W ithout resorting to the com plexities and ‘fiddle factor’ofdesignssuch asSPL’sPhonitorxe [HFN Jul’21], Naim has m anaged to design a headphone am p al about the m ost im portant sonic trait – the direct com m unication ofm usic. And thatm eansjustabouteverystyle ofm usicyou chooseto throw atthisstream ing headphoneam p, including realy raw recordings like M otörhead’s No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith [Bronze BMGRM023LP] sounds suitably driving and thriling, for al its abrasive edge. Sim ilarly, a characterfulvocalsuch asSonja Kristina’scoverof ELP’s ‘Stil… You Turn M e O n’ [Purple Pyram id records’ Lake ;CLO 1539]is beautifuly resolved and has superb character. By the way,should you everwantto hearthe original‘god ofhelfire’,ArthurBrown,tackling the firstpartof‘Karn EvilNo.9’in his 70s,orKeith Em erson’s son and grandson atem pting ‘Fanfare ForThe Com m on M an’,thiscuriosityisthe one for you.
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