Hi-fi is full of dogma. One of the prime examples is that great sound is only achieved by having a separate box for each step in the signal path. The logic is understandable, in that a dedicated component has only one thing to do and so should do that job better. Such an arrangement also means that there are fewer opportunities for unwanted interactions between the various sections of the system, so optimising performance.
Over the years, Naim Audio has been a master of such a purist approach at the premium end of the market, separating power supplies from the preamp and offering standalone phono stages, headphone amps and DACs, all in the name of performance. The results justify the strategy, or do they?
