Nice honest review, thanks. I did a listening session with the m33 yesterday, paired with Kanta no3 speakers from Focal.( I have those at home too ). I had my current Marantz Stereo amp with me ( 140W into 8 ohms, class A/B ). I switched a few times between those. ( connected to the pre-outs of the M33 ). Beforehand, I thought the M33 wouldn't sound as warm or deep as my Marantz. ( because it's a 200W into 8 ohms class D basically ), but I did not find any bass/power differences. Actually it sounded pretty equal to my ears low mids and highs. The demo room was quite big and acoustically treated. ( The other side of the listening room displayed the huge Focal Utopia maestro's from Focal hooked up to several high end McIntosh amplifiers, just to emphasize how big the room is there ). My living room is much smaller and I have a LOT more bass from the Kanta's. I'm glad I took my current Marantz with me, it's a device I've had for several years now. It allowed me to judge better. Naim is part of Focal now, and my dealer had those ready for testing too, and basically he told me the same story as you do. ( it's sounds a lot better vs what you expect when you see the power ratings, but their units lack ARC HDMI, a big deal breaker for me, as I didn't want to run into lip sync issues when watching movies when using toslink optical input connections. ( I don't say Naim has issues with that, but you never know ). Also if a remote control unit fails, I feel on the M33 you still have a plan B and you can use it's touch screen.
I heard M33 and a Naim Uniti Star. I prefered the Star. I really enjoy it. I use the app, so although a touch screen would be good, I don't really miss it. Also, the volume knob on the top is a thing of wonder, it feels amazing.
A few weeks ago I faced the same decision. I had the Kanta 3 delivered and did not know what to choose : Nova or M33. Sadly the M33 needed 2700 euros more and it had a two week delivery wait. Having received such a good price in the Nova I got this. After 30 hours things are breaking in and my Kanta start to shine :). Do I regret not buying the M33? Not really but I will agree that to have the bass give me CPR i need to turn it at 45-50.
Have not heard of the Nova, but have personally tried M33 a few times and very impressed by the amount of details, bass and layering if you have a proper set up (Dirac), this could seriously rival even some of the amplifiers out there that cost 2x more.
The Naim Nova sounds more powerful because it has a 770 voltage amps toroidal power transformer with a high quality class a/b amp instead of the Nad m33's class d amp.
I had the Nova but sold it and got the M33. I had heard the M33 takes long to break in and it did. First after approx. 2 months did the bass really open up. After 3 months it was perfect. With Dirac it blows the Nova out of the water... Also in the bass region. You probably should have given the M33 longer to settle in. In the beginning I too considered selling the M33 but was adviced to be patient and give it the time it needed. Now, I could not be happier that I choose not to part with it in the early days. I would never take back the Nova over this amp.... Just the perspective from someone who went through the same process but owned/owns both amps for considerable time to form a solid opinion... The Nova is still a great amp, I hope you enjoy it.
I have right these days on demo both Nova and M33, on my own BW 805 d3 speakers, with various power and speaker cables and a few years back i was a Naim fan, owning quite everything they made from 5i up to 282/250 level... but i have to be clear and state that Nova is not on the same level for SQ as the M33 as some suggest. The reviewer maybe has had a defect M33, the bass in M33 is one of it's main strenghts, and is far more, in quality and quantity, than the bass of Nova. The sound of Nova is compressed and forward and sinthetic compared to the M33. I think the M33 is a true hi-end product, while Nova is just a decent lifestyle product. Just my 2 cents.
You are absolutely right, the M33 needs some time before it all falls into place, when that happens there are very few amplifiers that sound as true to reality as Nad and not at all Naim uniti Nova. Nad is also far more powerful than Nova. I have compared Nova, Hegel H390 and a number of other amplifiers in the same price range..M33 is far better than the ones I have heard .... but it takes some time before it breaks through …. 😃
If you did like the Naim Sound running the Nova on your KEF's, DO NOT TRY the NDX2/282/HiCap/250 with your speakers or else your wallet will suffer the consequences :-)
@@WitczakAudioUK can I recommend music you should try?…. ‘Songs from analogue playground’ - track Day is Done, Charlie Hunter and Nora Jones; let me know what you think 😉👍
@@witoboo FAJNE DUZE GLOSNIKI , mysle ze moglbys pomyslec nad ta Nova , sekcja zasilania to polowa podelka , jest z referencyjnego modelu , bedziesz mial troche nizszych basow wiecej , troche glosniej , i troche wszystkiego lepszego , ogolnie brzmienie troche lepsze , berdziej audiofilsko , juz taki dzwiek ze swoja sygnatura, troche blizej do Nait 3 . Aco do kabelka , testowalem rozne i polecilbym ci Chord jakis ze sreberkiem
@@WitczakAudioUK dzięki za odp , może jak będzie okazja to zamienię :) / w kwestii basu mam tez Sub MA Gold W15 wiec niski bas nie jest potrzebny . Wcześniej miałem Roksan K3 , Naim jest lepszy ale nie ma już takiej radości grania , nie wiem czy właśnie ten pierwiastek audiofilski / coraz lepsza separacja, detal do końca mi odpowiada . Kabelka tez spróbuje
Hej Adam dzięki za to porównanie :) czy miałeś okazję porównać Naim Star do Naim Atom? Jestem właśnie w momencie wyboru między tymi trzema a Lyngdorf Tdai-1120. Czy jest szansa żebys zrobił jego test?? :) pozdrawiam
hejka , no tego longford to nigdy wczesniej nie widzialem a co do atoma no tez potrafi zaskoczyc jednak niema tego Low Endu co Nova , Star to taki posredni z Cd ripperem co jest plus no ale jednak Nova brzmi najlepiej ale tez najwiecej kosztuje , byc moze kiedys zrobie jakies porownanie , narazie poswiecam wiecej czasu na kanale "Keto Zakrecona" pozdrawiem tez :)
i had the same problem , please watch my Naim Nova reviem , you will get more info . But yes , its a lot of power wich i was sceptic before baying . Nova needs burn in at least 3 months , i had 1 from showroom and 1 brand new so i seen big diffrence , in power is well , on the bigining is not wery good byt after u can fill it , all frend coming visit me and could not belive it how powerfull is it
In my opinion, both the nova and the nad don't do justice to the KEF R5's on display. The 80 Naim Watts are probably much powerful than the NAD's 200 during it's usable capacity. One thing is driving a speaker, another is driving it nicely. To drive it nicely, you need to give more headroom to your amp in relationship to the loudspeaker so that you are actually giving a chance for the amp to shine and show it's strengths. Also, bear in mind that speaker manufacturers indicate admissible clean watts and amplifier manufacturers indicate maximum watts. If you want 100 clean watts, you normally need a 120 watt amplifier to achieve it (usually above 80% is distortion). On the other hand, I own Naim and I know that they're watts sound much more powerful than what's told. But looking at your beautiful speakers, I'd say, from Naim, try a NAP250DR (£2500 used). The issue is that the matching preamp is a NAC282 (~£2800 used), and it need's to be powered by a outboard power supply - let's say a HiCap DR (£1000 used) and to complete let's play it with a streamer that's also from the same series NDX2 (£3500 used)... You get it, it starts becoming very expensive going the Naim route... but the sound is delicious
@@OsvaldoSousaPuco Naim pair the Nova with the focal kanta No 2 speakers at big audio shows, which are well over double the price of the KEF R5's . So I believe the Nova is more than capable.
@@MrZookeeper38 1) focal owns naim. They obviously want to showcase they’re most beautiful speakers on the shows. 2) most people get attracted to one box solutions versus the bulkiness of separates systems, especially the hardcore systems. 3) it’s normal for naim users that go shopping for speakers to end up with something other than naim or focal. Usual suspects are Neat, Spendor, Harbeth, ATC, Dynaudio, b&w… the list is bigger of course. Usually, it’s better to have more amplification than needed than the other way around.
I have both, Nova and M33. M33’s actual performance comes with Dirac Live. Dirac Live also support EQ, I could hear deeper and dynamic bass in M33. M33’s midrange is also adjustable and has absolutely overwhelming sound stage than Nova. Nova’s sound texture is better than M33. But in overall, M33’s sound is more close to high-end. I think you should’ve reviewed Dirac Live with M33.
I have M10. Tried several times dirac live and playing with it but at the end sound quality was always better without dirac switched on. I would like to see good review about setting dirac live eq (playing with bass on the 1st olace) that it sounds good.
@@vlax543 ciao Vlada try to adjust dirac by just reducing the worst peaks inside your room by just a few db, following the natural curve of the room (example when the bass is +10 db at a certain hz bring it down a notch, for example to +7db).This is the way the correction work at its best, forcing the natural curve of the room down to completely flat makes the sound similar to a radio with no bass at all:) containing the peaks improves clarity and tightens the bass. Having said so I sold the M10 and bought an Hegel H190 which I prefer. ciao
@@massimilianozeni1848 few months ago update made M10 running perfect. Finally they fix tone controls. So I got what I need. I dont have to use Dirac (because I like how it sounds from the box) but can boost just a little bit bass and treble
The nad m33 has had firmware upgrade .The lack of bass is fixed .With dirac very tight bass can't be beat.You should have kept it.Huge soundstage.maybe you will do another review👌
Thanks for the info as well, had the very same problem with my m33 (and dynaudio confidence 5) with lack of bass and even more with dirac turned on. Will check the firmware Update!
@@raphaelmeillat8527 i was thinking about SN3 , but plus streamer that will by too much for me at this time , maybe next year i will try again something alse , i dont wonna stock with the same hifi for all my life :) i paid quait good price for it so i will loss maybe £200 on it when sell it
heyka , no bylem na odsuchaniu w zeszlym miesiacu , glowna roznica jest taka ze potrafi mocniej udezyc , nie jest to duza roznica ale jest . no i przy moim typie muzyki nie bylo znacznej roznicy w detalach od Nova . sluchalem na PMC 25 seria i podlogowe duze i te male podlogowe , no i oczywiscie na kef R5
@@WitczakAudioUK Czy nova ma Apple Music bo z tego co czytałem chyba nie ,szkoda... Czyli nova daje radę w porównaniu do SN 3. Do nova Ponoć można dołożyć zasilacz czy tak?
Nice honest review, thanks. I did a listening session with the m33 yesterday, paired with Kanta no3 speakers from Focal.( I have those at home too ). I had my current Marantz Stereo amp with me ( 140W into 8 ohms, class A/B ). I switched a few times between those. ( connected to the pre-outs of the M33 ). Beforehand, I thought the M33 wouldn't sound as warm or deep as my Marantz. ( because it's a 200W into 8 ohms class D basically ), but I did not find any bass/power differences. Actually it sounded pretty equal to my ears low mids and highs. The demo room was quite big and acoustically treated. ( The other side of the listening room displayed the huge Focal Utopia maestro's from Focal hooked up to several high end McIntosh amplifiers, just to emphasize how big the room is there ). My living room is much smaller and I have a LOT more bass from the Kanta's. I'm glad I took my current Marantz with me, it's a device I've had for several years now. It allowed me to judge better. Naim is part of Focal now, and my dealer had those ready for testing too, and basically he told me the same story as you do. ( it's sounds a lot better vs what you expect when you see the power ratings, but their units lack ARC HDMI, a big deal breaker for me, as I didn't want to run into lip sync issues when watching movies when using toslink optical input connections. ( I don't say Naim has issues with that, but you never know ). Also if a remote control unit fails, I feel on the M33 you still have a plan B and you can use it's touch screen.
I heard M33 and a Naim Uniti Star. I prefered the Star. I really enjoy it. I use the app, so although a touch screen would be good, I don't really miss it. Also, the volume knob on the top is a thing of wonder, it feels amazing.
With what speakers did you hear it ???
@@olaeinairoda Spendor A4 and ProAc DT8’s. The ProAc speakers make everything sound good. I ended up with some PMC Twenty5.23 I speakers.
@@billywindsock9597 Totem and Martin Logan
That Naim volume knob is marvelous indeed. So smooth. Perfect craftsmanship!
A few weeks ago I faced the same decision. I had the Kanta 3 delivered and did not know what to choose : Nova or M33. Sadly the M33 needed 2700 euros more and it had a two week delivery wait. Having received such a good price in the Nova I got this. After 30 hours things are breaking in and my Kanta start to shine :). Do I regret not buying the M33? Not really but I will agree that to have the bass give me CPR i need to turn it at 45-50.
Congratulations on your purchase, my new one has been running in for about 6 months, so I think you'll still get more out of it
Have not heard of the Nova, but have personally tried M33 a few times and very impressed by the amount of details, bass and layering if you have a proper set up (Dirac), this could seriously rival even some of the amplifiers out there that cost 2x more.
The Naim Nova sounds more powerful because it has a 770 voltage amps toroidal power transformer with a high quality class a/b amp instead of the Nad m33's class d amp.
Listened to M33 in real life, one of the best hands down.
I had the Nova but sold it and got the M33. I had heard the M33 takes long to break in and it did. First after approx. 2 months did the bass really open up. After 3 months it was perfect. With Dirac it blows the Nova out of the water... Also in the bass region. You probably should have given the M33 longer to settle in. In the beginning I too considered selling the M33 but was adviced to be patient and give it the time it needed. Now, I could not be happier that I choose not to part with it in the early days. I would never take back the Nova over this amp.... Just the perspective from someone who went through the same process but owned/owns both amps for considerable time to form a solid opinion... The Nova is still a great amp, I hope you enjoy it.
Thank you very much for this rich comment, it will probably help a lot of people to make decisions
Please do a review
I have right these days on demo both Nova and M33, on my own BW 805 d3 speakers, with various power and speaker cables and a few years back i was a Naim fan, owning quite everything they made from 5i up to 282/250 level... but i have to be clear and state that Nova is not on the same level for SQ as the M33 as some suggest. The reviewer maybe has had a defect M33, the bass in M33 is one of it's main strenghts, and is far more, in quality and quantity, than the bass of Nova. The sound of Nova is compressed and forward and sinthetic compared to the M33. I think the M33 is a true hi-end product, while Nova is just a decent lifestyle product. Just my 2 cents.
You are absolutely right, the M33 needs some time before it all falls into place, when that happens there are very few amplifiers that sound as true to reality as Nad and not at all Naim uniti Nova. Nad is also far more powerful than Nova. I have compared Nova, Hegel H390 and a number of other amplifiers in the same price range..M33 is far better than the ones I have heard .... but it takes some time before it breaks through …. 😃
Very helpful video. Thanks for sharing!
If you did like the Naim Sound running the Nova on your KEF's, DO NOT TRY the NDX2/282/HiCap/250 with your speakers or else your wallet will suffer the consequences :-)
I think it is clear, from your face, you are in love… welcome to Naim family 🎉
Thank You 😍
@@WitczakAudioUK can I recommend music you should try?…. ‘Songs from analogue playground’ - track Day is Done, Charlie Hunter and Nora Jones; let me know what you think 😉👍
Excellent review. Thank you.
Loads of good Informations! Well done
Very interesting and Excellent review, maybe if you let M33 warm up the sound would open up...
Lol class D amps don't need to be warmed up.
Hej, porównywałem może Nova vs Star ? Mam Naim Star i zastanawiam się nad sensownością zmiany na Nova . Jeżeli różnica jest niewielka to szkoda kasy 😉
ogolnie roznica jest niewielka , ale... jakie glosniki masz ?
@@WitczakAudioUK Monitor Audio Gold 300 5g , kabelek tellurium q black 2
@@witoboo FAJNE DUZE GLOSNIKI , mysle ze moglbys pomyslec nad ta Nova , sekcja zasilania to polowa podelka , jest z referencyjnego modelu , bedziesz mial troche nizszych basow wiecej , troche glosniej , i troche wszystkiego lepszego , ogolnie brzmienie troche lepsze , berdziej audiofilsko , juz taki dzwiek ze swoja sygnatura, troche blizej do Nait 3 . Aco do kabelka , testowalem rozne i polecilbym ci Chord jakis ze sreberkiem
@@WitczakAudioUK dzięki za odp , może jak będzie okazja to zamienię :) / w kwestii basu mam tez Sub MA Gold W15 wiec niski bas nie jest potrzebny . Wcześniej miałem Roksan K3 , Naim jest lepszy ale nie ma już takiej radości grania , nie wiem czy właśnie ten pierwiastek audiofilski / coraz lepsza separacja, detal do końca mi odpowiada . Kabelka tez spróbuje
Thank you sir. Very helpful.
Hej Adam dzięki za to porównanie :) czy miałeś okazję porównać Naim Star do Naim Atom? Jestem właśnie w momencie wyboru między tymi trzema a Lyngdorf Tdai-1120. Czy jest szansa żebys zrobił jego test?? :) pozdrawiam
hejka , no tego longford to nigdy wczesniej nie widzialem a co do atoma no tez potrafi zaskoczyc jednak niema tego Low Endu co Nova , Star to taki posredni z Cd ripperem co jest plus no ale jednak Nova brzmi najlepiej ale tez najwiecej kosztuje , byc moze kiedys zrobie jakies porownanie , narazie poswiecam wiecej czasu na kanale "Keto Zakrecona" pozdrawiem tez :)
Bakman65 I co w sumie.wybrales?
Thank you for the review. I am curious what was your previous streamer and comparing to Nova, I assume it's worth it to upgrade?
Yes the remote looks like it has way too many but the remote looks way too long. It's not the yamaha dspa1 fromt he old days.
İve got kef r3 meta thinking to get h190 or h390 ? What will be difference Hegel and Naim Uniti Nova? Thanks
i never had hegel at home so is hard to say anything
@@WitczakAudioUK ok 👍 thanks
@@WitczakAudioUK how would compare the R3 meta and R5 meta or R7 ??
Is 80 wpc enough to really drive your KEF R5's nicely? Is there much head room left? Please talk to me about this. Thanks much! m
i had the same problem , please watch my Naim Nova reviem , you will get more info . But yes , its a lot of power wich i was sceptic before baying . Nova needs burn in at least 3 months , i had 1 from showroom and 1 brand new so i seen big diffrence , in power is well , on the bigining is not wery good byt after u can fill it , all frend coming visit me and could not belive it how powerfull is it
Don't ever look at wattage.
A 10watt tube amp can get louder then a 2500watt sony amp.
In my opinion, both the nova and the nad don't do justice to the KEF R5's on display. The 80 Naim Watts are probably much powerful than the NAD's 200 during it's usable capacity. One thing is driving a speaker, another is driving it nicely. To drive it nicely, you need to give more headroom to your amp in relationship to the loudspeaker so that you are actually giving a chance for the amp to shine and show it's strengths. Also, bear in mind that speaker manufacturers indicate admissible clean watts and amplifier manufacturers indicate maximum watts. If you want 100 clean watts, you normally need a 120 watt amplifier to achieve it (usually above 80% is distortion). On the other hand, I own Naim and I know that they're watts sound much more powerful than what's told. But looking at your beautiful speakers, I'd say, from Naim, try a NAP250DR (£2500 used). The issue is that the matching preamp is a NAC282 (~£2800 used), and it need's to be powered by a outboard power supply - let's say a HiCap DR (£1000 used) and to complete let's play it with a streamer that's also from the same series NDX2 (£3500 used)... You get it, it starts becoming very expensive going the Naim route... but the sound is delicious
@@OsvaldoSousaPuco Naim pair the Nova with the focal kanta No 2 speakers at big audio shows, which are well over double the price of the KEF R5's . So I believe the Nova is more than capable.
@@MrZookeeper38 1) focal owns naim. They obviously want to showcase they’re most beautiful speakers on the shows.
2) most people get attracted to one box solutions versus the bulkiness of separates systems, especially the hardcore systems.
3) it’s normal for naim users that go shopping for speakers to end up with something other than naim or focal. Usual suspects are Neat, Spendor, Harbeth, ATC, Dynaudio, b&w… the list is bigger of course.
Usually, it’s better to have more amplification than needed than the other way around.
Where you from Mister Adam ?
Hi , from poland
Good job!
I have both, Nova and M33. M33’s actual performance comes with Dirac Live. Dirac Live also support EQ, I could hear deeper and dynamic bass in M33. M33’s midrange is also adjustable and has absolutely overwhelming sound stage than Nova. Nova’s sound texture is better than M33. But in overall, M33’s sound is more close to high-end. I think you should’ve reviewed Dirac Live with M33.
With what speakers did you hear it ???
I have M10. Tried several times dirac live and playing with it but at the end sound quality was always better without dirac switched on. I would like to see good review about setting dirac live eq (playing with bass on the 1st olace) that it sounds good.
@@vlax543 ciao Vlada try to adjust dirac by just reducing the worst peaks inside your room by just a few db, following the natural curve of the room (example when the bass is +10 db at a certain hz bring it down a notch, for example to +7db).This is the way the correction work at its best, forcing the natural curve of the room down to completely flat makes the sound similar to a radio with no bass at all:) containing the peaks improves clarity and tightens the bass. Having said so I sold the M10 and bought an Hegel H190 which I prefer. ciao
@@massimilianozeni1848 few months ago update made M10 running perfect. Finally they fix tone controls. So I got what I need. I dont have to use Dirac (because I like how it sounds from the box) but can boost just a little bit bass and treble
The nad m33 has had firmware upgrade .The lack of bass is fixed .With dirac very tight bass can't be beat.You should have kept it.Huge soundstage.maybe you will do another review👌
Thanks for the info
Thanks for the info as well, had the very same problem with my m33 (and dynaudio confidence 5) with lack of bass and even more with dirac turned on. Will check the firmware Update!
Usually, it's hard to beat Naim for tight bass. Supernait 3 is a perfect example of tight powerful bass!
@@TripleMixXx Let us know if there is an improvement with the update.
@@raphaelmeillat8527 i was thinking about SN3 , but plus streamer that will by too much for me at this time , maybe next year i will try again something alse , i dont wonna stock with the same hifi for all my life :) i paid quait good price for it so i will loss maybe £200 on it when sell it
Great video ;)
Zgadzam się 🙂👌
Czyli nova zdecydowana przyjemność ze słuchania ciekawe jak się ma do supenait 3
heyka , no bylem na odsuchaniu w zeszlym miesiacu , glowna roznica jest taka ze potrafi mocniej udezyc , nie jest to duza roznica ale jest . no i przy moim typie muzyki nie bylo znacznej roznicy w detalach od Nova . sluchalem na PMC 25 seria i podlogowe duze i te male podlogowe , no i oczywiscie na kef R5
@@WitczakAudioUK
Czy nova ma Apple Music bo z tego co czytałem chyba nie ,szkoda...
Czyli nova daje radę w porównaniu do SN 3.
Do nova Ponoć można dołożyć zasilacz czy tak?
@@dariuszr8426 aple music nie , no i zasilacza chyba tez nie ale pamietaj ze w Nova masz zasilacz 770 watt z Reference series
@@WitczakAudioUK
No jest dylemat Nova czy SN3
Dużo też słucham na słuchawkach oba mają dedykowane wyjścia.
@@dariuszr8426 jesli masz kase na osobny Streamer to bierz supernite 3