Naim Audio NAIT XS 3 Integrated Amplifier

Reviews

Hi-Fi+ | NAIT XS 3 | Review, Jun 2020 – “Thirty years on, the core concepts have not changed: the Nait was a damn good amplifier then, and the Naim Audio Nait XS 3 is a damn good amplifier now.”

AVForums | NAIT XS 3 | Best Buy , Apr 2020 – “The NAIT XS3 is an absolute star and an unquestionable Best Buy at the asking price.”

Hi-Fi Choice | NAIT XS 3 | Group Test Winner , Jan 2020 – “The best-sounding amplifier is Naim’s Nait XS 3, which is consistently brilliant with all types of music. It’s beautifully made, attractive, easy to use and has an MM phono stage for turntable use, which all adds up to a winning combination at the price.”

Stereonet | NAIT XS 3 Integrated Amplifier, Jan 2020 – This latest Naim NAIT XS 3 represents a subtle but really worthwhile improvement on its XS 2 predecessor and puts it back at the top of its class in terms of value for money. It has a thorough and even-handed yet engaging and enjoyable presentation that’s hard not to love.

AVTech Media | NAIT XS 3 | Review , Nov 2019 – “It ticks all the right ‘hi-fi’ boxes with a well-defined, highly detailed and carefully ordered sound, but more than this, the new Nait really sings and transports the listener deep into the musical event.”

Hi-Fi Choice | NAIT XS 3 | Editor’s Choice Award , Sep 2019 – “The Nait XS 3 is a clear improvement over its already fine predecessor, and a really strong purchasing proposition in its own right. It feels like it has been dusted down and sharpened up, and the result is a more emotionally articulate and engaging performer that’s hard not to love.”

Hi-Fi News | NAIT XS 3 | Highly Commended , Aug 2019 – “What the Nait XS 3 does so well is clarity, that usual foot-tapping Naim thing with an insight that draws you into whatever’s being played.”

What Hi-Fi? | NAIT XS 3 | 5 Star Review, Aug 2019 – “It slots into your system and does exactly what you want it to, and that’s deliver the music with emotional impact intact. We can’t ask any more of an amplifier than that.”

Features

With our 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.

The Naim 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 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 470F capacitive loading;  the gain is perfect for 5mV moving magnet cartridges