Overview
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.
Naim 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