Naim Nait XS 3 Integrated Amplifier (White Light) Reviews

NAIT XS 3 Major performance upgrades and now with added love for vinyl. In the six years since the last NAIT integrated amplifiers were released, Naim's research and development team have worked on a range of amplifier improvements. The result is upgraded power amplifier sections for NAIT XS 3, delivering greater pace and intimacy to their musical delivery – whether it's driving a pair of loudspeakers or your favourite pair of headphones. The NAIT XS 3 has received significant performance upgrades, including a built-in phono stage, making it a perfect partner for turntables, as well as for streamers, CD players, or any other music source people want to enjoy with the signature Naim sound. The NAIT XS 3 offers much of the performance of their reference quality SUPERNAIT 3 in a simpler, slimmer package combining a 70W power amplifier with five analogue inputs plus a phono stage. Its high-performance preamplifier stage is as transparent as you would expect from a Naim Audio amplifier, and it also shares the single-ended class-A headphone output of its larger sibling. The NAIT XS 3 can be upgraded with Naim's external power supplies, power amplifiers and even cabling upgrades to get the best from all sources. Features With Naim's typical obsessive attention to detail – all in service of achieving the most authentic musical performance – the NAIT XS 3 benefits from the following features: Class A headphone amplification Alps Blue Velvet volume control Reed relay input selection Ceramic insulators for the power transistors Galvanically isolated microprocessor control section Microphonic-isolating PCB mounts Technology & Craft The upgrades in more detail:Naim's R&D team has found a way to more than double the speed of the voltage gain stage, which in turn doubles the rate at which the speaker output stage can react. The second gain stage transistors have been optimised, so they no longer need to be shielded by a cascode stage transistor. Removing the cascode means less amplifier stabilisation is required: that doubles the slew rate and delivers another uplift in sound quality. The phono circuit topology comprises 3 stages: the gain stage, passive equalisation and final gain and active equalisation. This enables excellent noise performance, extended RIAA equalisation beyond the audio band and great overload headroom. All RIAA equalisation capacitors and the RIAA resistors are ‘through-hole’ mounted film designs, with low microphonic pickup and excellent transient performance. As phono stages are 1000x more sensitive than other inputs, this greatly benefits the sound quality. Input impedance is 47kΩ in parallel with 470pF capacitive loading; the gain is perfect for 5mV moving magnet cartridges.