Naim Audio NAP 350 Mono Amplifier
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Note: for the full suite of measurements from the SoundStage! Audio-Electronics Lab, click here.
The NAP 350 is the third and final component of Naim Audio’s 300 series to be evaluated here on SoundStage! Ultra.
Naim has an illustrious history of amplifier manufacture, but the vast majority of its power amplifiers to date have been stereo designs. Perhaps the firm’s most famous mono power amplifier was the legendary NAP 135, which first emerged in 1984 and became established as a more powerful alternative to the stereo NAP 250. In active guise, a sextet of NAP 135s could be assembled into a magnificent “six-pack” active system to drive three-way speakers such as Naim’s cavernous DBL.
Audio-Technica AT-ART20 Moving-Coil Cartridge
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Design and development
In 1962, when The Beatles were raising the roof at Liverpool’s Cavern Club, Hideo Matsushita founded Audio-Technica in a small apartment in Japan. His first product, the AT-1 phono cartridge, received a warm reception and was quickly followed by the AT-3 and AT-5 moving-magnet designs. By the 1970s, Audio-Technica was the biggest manufacturer of phono cartridges in the world. With the advent of digital audio and the CD, the firm diversified into headphones and microphones, fearing the impending decline of vinyl. While vinyl sales did indeed fall, the firm continued producing an array of cartridges to suit all budgets. The resurrection of vinyl from its 1990s nadir has enabled A-T to continue to innovate and to grow its cartridge-manufacturing operation.
Shelly Manne & His Men: “At the Black Hawk, Vol. 1”
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Contemporary Records / Craft Recordings / Acoustic Sounds CR00601
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ****½
Sound Quality: ****½
Overall Enjoyment: ****½
I’ve reviewed quite a few of the Contemporary Records / Acoustic Sounds vinyl reissues by Craft Recordings. It would be easy to just say, “Buy them. They sound great.” That would be true, but Craft has made it a point to reissue Contemporary Records LPs that deserve more recognition. Art Pepper Meets the Rhythm Section is well known, but André Previn’s take on West Side Story is perhaps less so. Craft has done jazz lovers a service by casting a wide net.
Read the Instructions! The Perils of Cartridge Setup
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
It’s a failing of mine. I’m impatient. And even at this stage of my reviewing career, I’m still excited when I receive new gear. Combined, those two traits are a recipe for disaster.
X-quisite Voro Moving-Coil Phono Cartridge
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
This wasn’t how a review process normally starts. I’d just received the Thales TTT-Compact II turntable for review and was rolling up my sleeves to dig right into this fascinating product. According to Wynn Wong, the Canadian distributor, the Thales ships to the dealer, and thus the customer, as a ready-to-go package, complete with their Simplicity II tonearm and—this is what threw me—the X-quisite Voro cartridge.
Musical Fidelity M8xTT Turntable
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
I have a sweet tooth when it comes to turntables, but I’m not stuck on one type of confection. I’m an equal-opportunity fetishist. I love turntables made from solid steel, real wood, MDF painted to look like wood. Piano lacquer, matte paint, or—gasp—clear acrylic.
Bounce with Counce and Mat Matters
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: For the Record
Curtis Counce, and that album cover!
I’ve always loved You Get More Bounce with Curtis Counce! by the Curtis Counce Group. It’s a delightfully easy, loping album, full of smooth, juicy lyricism, almost totally absent of the paid-by-the-note speed-bop that often leaves me feeling cold. But it’s not so laid-back that it’s going in reverse. Rather, it’s a midway blend of West Coast chardonnay and Chicago barrel whiskey. There’s some wonderful soloing going on here—Miles meets Ben Webster without the drug addictions. The arrival of the Craft Recordings reissue of this criminally underappreciated album really sent me down a rabbit hole.
The Hardest-Rocking Album Ever—“Van Halen” on Vinyl
- Written by: Jason Thorpe
- Category: Opinion
Van Halen’s first album is the greatest debut record of all time. Some may well not agree with this.
Naim Audio NAC 332 Preamplifier and NPX 300 Power Supply
- Written by: Jonathan Gorse
- Category: Full-Length Reviews
Technology and design
The Naim NAC 332 is the second component in the new Naim 300 range to be reviewed on SoundStage! Ultra. The 300 series is only the fourth generation of Naim amplification to be launched since the firm’s inception in 1973. Priced at $10,999 (all prices in USD), the NAC 332 preamp sits in the middle of Naim’s hi-fi separates series, above the new 200-series NSC 222 streaming preamplifier ($8999) and below the existing NAC 552 preamplifier ($32,000), which will continue in production unchanged, save for switching to white front-panel illumination. In effect, the NAC 332 replaces both the discontinued NAC 282 and NAC 252 preamplifiers with a single unit. It’s all part of a simplification strategy that’s admirable, not least because the NAC 332 is priced only slightly above the NAC 282 (currently retailing at $8599) and below the recently discontinued NAC 252 ($12,599).
The Grateful Dead: “Terrapin Station”
- Written by: Joseph Taylor
- Category: Recording of the Month
Rhino Records R1 516251 / 603497830824
Format: LP
Musical Performance: ***½
Sound Quality: ****
Overall Enjoyment: ****
The consensus among fans and critics is that Grateful Dead was primarily a live band, and its studio recordings were rarely good examples of its art. There are exceptions, of course. Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty, both from 1970, have long been considered outstanding and are among the best albums in rock music.
- DALI Epikore 11 Loudspeaker
- Old Man Yells at Clouds
- Naim Audio NSS 333 Streaming DAC
- YG Acoustics Peaks Ascent Loudspeaker
- The Importance of the Phono Cable—Crystal Cable Diamond Series 2 Reference2
- I’m Not an Oligarch!
- Audionet Humboldt Integrated Amplifier
- DS Audio DS-W3 Optical Phono Cartridge
- Analog versus Digital: We Have a Winner!
- Leema Acoustics Tucana II Anniversary Edition Integrated Amplifier
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