Naim Nait XS 3

The third generation of a supremely musical amp

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Naim's Nait XS was introduced in 2008, but revised for a second time a decade later, resulting in the XS 3 we have on test here. That revision turned out to be light, with the previously line-level amplifier gaining a moving-magnet phono stage and undergoing a tweak in the power-amp circuitry to improve its responsiveness.

The new phono circuit is made up of three stages - a gain stage, passive equalisation and final gain, and active equalisation. The idea is to minimise noise while delivering plenty of dynamic headroom. The equalisation curve chosen is custom, treading the path between traditional RIAA and the IEC alternative. The aim is to deliver a good bass performance with enough low-end roll-off to avoid rumble spoiling the sound.

There is the choice of stereo RCA or Naim's preferred DIN sockets for the four line-level inputs and the option to split the pre and power sections should you want to improve performance by slotting in something more sophisticated for either part.

Inside that crisp but solid casework you'll find immaculately assembled audio circuitry fed by a generous power-supply section. Great care has been taken in reducing the degrading effect of outside interference and unwanted interactions between components.