I know there are lots of happy 272 owners out there.
I have 1 serving as Preamp only. Do you think if it will be an improvement if I swap it for a 202 instead?
No I would regard the 202 as being behind the 272 which is close to a 282.
Depending on which power amp you have you would also have to sort out a power supply for the 202.
Best
David
Agree with David.
I had a demo of 272 with a friend who now owns it at my Dealer and we compared all items and alternative combinations near it in the hierarchy - the 272 as a Pre acquitted itself very well.
If looking for an upgrade option the XPS power supply lifted performance nicely.
DB.
Interesting. How is the 272 as a streamer/source for 252? Thanks.
In itself the 272 is an excellent streamer and source - I have three friends that use it and all evaluated that and purchased independently, so must be something good going on.
When I compared 272 just as a source into a 282 Pre against an NDX then the latter was clearly a bit better but not by a huge margin. The 272 is an excellent product, so will be promptly discontinued having reached that status! 
DB.
Thanks DB. Contemplating either using existing 272 or getting a new ND5XS2.
I have nDac xps running into 272 xps. So I am wondering if swiching the 272 out will be better or worst as I dont really use its other functions at all.
I agree it is very good! It’s just that I happened to have fell into the trapdoor called Roon…
So I guess that means the 272 have to stay, even 282 wont be a meaningful upgrade right?
Thanks
The 282 is better and more authoritative in terms of delivery with the music in the demo I attended with a friend. The 272 just performs above its price in the Naim hierarchy for the bundle it provides, but the better Pre Amps do progressively give you more and you have to decide where you achieve what you want for the money you want to spend.
I think the 282 maxed-out with Supercap supply easy beats 272 with extra supply - but the cost is obviously more and the 272 includes the Streamer…
DB.
Sounds like adding a ND5XS2 to 272/XPSDR May be a nice upgrade from what I’m reading. Not ideal but an upgrade on the streaming end.
It depends what you want to stream. If you want a streamer service like Tidal then I would go with the ND5SX 2.
But if you are mainly streaming from a local network, eg a NAS or a UnitiCore or similar then keeping the 272 streamer but adding a 555PS DR might be the way to go. One of the interesting things about the 272 is that the 555PS DR lifts it significantly compared with an XPS DR.
Best
David
Will be listening to the various combinations (of existing equipment) once I receive the 252 and SCDR. Amp is 250DR. Thanks David.
When I listened to a 272 vs and a 202 with NDX as source, I most definitely preferred the NDX/202 by some margin, and that was powered by a 200DR, not a Hicap. Adding an XPS DR to the 272 made it a fairly even match.
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Guys - the 272 is fine a great box.
But at my first ever demo of it it was compared (partnered with a 250) against a NDX/SN2. By a very considerable margin the consensus was that the NDX/SN was better by far. I’m not sure how a 202 would do but suspect the latter would be an improvement, but a 282 would be way ahead.
Regards,
Lindsay
Every time I’ve heard an NDX/SN and a 272/250 I found it hard to tell the difference. The 272 suffers rather from tall poppy syndrome I feel.
Anyway, having owned a 202 and a 272 I’d put the latter ahead as a preamp.
So if I sell my 272 and fetch a 282, I should be able to do so without much cash outlay but immediate improvement?
I would say so, yes, but of course, you will then have no streamer.
I am currently running Blue Node 2 -> nDac/XPS -> 272/XPS -> 200
The 272 streamer doesnt work with Qobuz nor Roon…
With that much redundancy, I would certainly look at an analogue preamp in your position. You can use your 200 to power a 202 or 282, with the option to upgrade by adding a Hicap. Seems you will also have a redundant XPS, so you may even have cash left over from making the change.