252 Sound Signature

[Alley_Cat]

@Mike_S

I’ve just placed my SNAIC alongside the Burndy, not sure what difference it made, but I’ll sleep better at night knowing I’ve done my best

Sounds odder than my previous thought

I think I need to join the postie thread in the Padded Cell.

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

Yes the idea is to keep the physical area between the SNAIC and Burndy lead as small as possible to discourage any induced currents into the ground… thereby keeping ground plane modulation to a minimum… more accurate audio.
The greater your background electromagnetic mains field effect in your house (from wiring and appliances) the more beneficial the effect.

[Alley_Cat]

Presumably all this cable dressing and tweaking has been found by trial and error by users, and itsn’t something Naim gives extensive instructions on directly?

[trickydickie]

The recommendation to keep the SNAIC and Burndy close is in the manual.

[HiFiman]

All of the above 282 comments are subjective, room, speakers, source come into play only a home demo will of course be the final outcome.

[Alley_Cat]

@trickydickie

The recommendation to keep the SNAIC and Burndy close is in the manual.

Thanks, certainly an example of when you need to read one (if available!).

[Blackbird]

What’s the reason behind this?

[trickydickie]

I don’t know but @Simon-in-Suffolk has offered an explanation above.

[Alley_Cat]

I’ve probably missed the detail, but did you ever have a Supercap on a 282?

I’ve an old olive HICAP on my 282, and was not bowled over by adding another before it got assigned to powering a NAXO.

The Supercap DR or otherwise on the 282 is an itch I need to scratch and a stepping stone to a 252, but can’t help feeling that as only 2 of the 13 power outputs are used (I think) it may be a false economy until I can get both.

[Blackbird]

I have a 272, 555PSDR and 300DR. Which cables should be tossed together?

[trickydickie]

Yes I did, I bought a new one and used it on my 282 for a few months before a ridiculously cheap serviced 252 came my way.

I found the Supercap to be a nice improvement over the Hicap DR. Unlike @Simon-in-Suffolk I found that it relaxed the 282 and made it more refined. I was using a 300DR though which had already achived similar over the 250DR so whether that was a factor I don’t know.

I changed to the Supercap as it seemed the right thing to do to restore balanace having added the 300. Having said this I could have lived long term with the 282/HicapDR/300DR. It was very good.

[Alley_Cat]

I demoed a 300DR a while back and it was superb, but as I’ve returned to an active olive 2 x 250/chrome bumper NAXO setup a pair of 300DRs is currently prohibitive though it would be interesting to try again and see if a 300DR with PAXO beats the active SBL setup - controlled low level listening was the major take home with the 300DR.

[Guinnless]

I don’t think this arrangement applies to a 272 as there is only the Burndy incoming power and not a SNAIC as well.

[damy79]

Snaic and Burndy has to be close along all the lenght or only in a couple of points? I’m thinking to use the pipes foam similar to that one used to isolate hot water pipes.

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

It’s those cables between the powersupplies and the devices, typically the NAC, so SNAIC and Burndy leads.

[Simon-in-Suffolk]

For the desired benefit, the aim is to keep the physical area apart as small as you can, so that would suggest keeping the cables together along their lengths.
I really don’t think you need to be exact however, and I personally wouldn’t use those jackets, unless you want to for your aesthetics.
I simply had the cables suspended between SuperCapDR and 252 side by side.

[AllanP]

@Simon-in-Suffolk

I’d give a quite a contrary view … the 282 and 252 are very different paths… a SuperCap DR on the 282 to me overegged the 282 exaggerating detail (perhaps what some call a ‘Hi-Fi sound’) , and effectively took it even further away from the 252. The HiCapDR on the 282 seemed to slightly subdue the exhuberence yet still opening up the sound. With non DR powersupplies I did prefer the old SuperCap on the 282, but on the 252, it absolutely benefited from the newer SuperCapDR technology.

I’m not sure how DR tech. would have changed things for me, but I had a freshly re-capped Supercap-2 on the 282. Following a bit of run-in (about 3 weeks) and other factors I concluded it was a wholly positive upgrade from a single Hicap DR (more benefiting the cosmetic sound aspects than musicality I admit, but no backward steps).

@Simon-in-Suffolk

When I had my 282 I bought a SuperCapDR blind (without demo). I ended up keeping it in storage until I got my 252… as I couldn’t live with it on my 282…

You need to go with what you find

I’ve now got the 252 on the Supercap-2, it’s been on for several days now and it’s exceeded my expectations. A Supercap-DR might be better again, but what I’m hearing now is “just-right”. It’s so beguiling, short listening sessions turn into much longer than intended ones. It sounds beautifully balanced with no hint of trying too hard. No desire or curiosity (yet!) to try a Supercap DR. Long may it stay that way!

[bruss]

It is a real dilemma for me. I have a non serviced 252/sc that was running with a 250 classic. Sounds absolutely beautiful. I have now introduced the newly dr’d 300 and after just a day of listening I am hearing the improvements, and they are improvements on an already outstanding system. I was intending to leave it at that until our next house move in 12-24 mths. I now find myself thinking the sc might have a similar uplift if I just DR or replace that.
Where does it end?

[Naim_The_Dragon]

@bruss

I now find myself thinking the sc might have a similar uplift if I just DR or replace that.

That was to be expected, I am afraid…

[GraemeH]

@Simon-in-Suffolk

For the desired benefit, the aim is to keep the physical area apart as small as you can, so that would suggest keeping the cables together along their lengths.
I really don’t think you need to be exact however, and I personally wouldn’t use those jackets, unless you want to for your aesthetics.
I simply had the cables suspended between SuperCapDR and 252 side by side.

This totally chimes with my experience of 282 & 252 ownership.

G