Sorry, what was the question?
I think we can sum it up thus;
Q: 500 series replacement imminent?
A: No.
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We shall continue in a few years time 
You would say that lol.
But seriously the longer they leave it, the more sales they probably lose as people look elsewhere for the next upgrade.
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My upgrades for now will be the dCS
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Plus, really apart from a power amp, you dont need a massive noisy power supply to supply the very small amount off power other devices need, like a dac, pre amp, streamer, etc.
Itās like having a F1 engine in your lawn mower, and you only have a square meter off grass to cut.
Itās more about separation, and using a good power supply /winding for each section.
Saw your note somewhere else stating that your new amplifierās pre section was very clear and transparent compared to certain others; I wondered how you ascertained that to be the case, given that your pre and power is a single entity?
You can do a straight through bypass of the pre amp if you want. This then allows me to use the volume section in my dac, and just the amp in my intergrated.
But i donāt use it like this as the vitus sia030 is fine, plus i worry i will do something wrong and blast my speakerās, and ears to death if i get it wrong switching between sources, even if the vitus is ment to work it all out.
Fair enough, as long as you had the rival pre on hand as well, to make the comparison.
Didnāt need that as i remember all to well how my dac sounded going through it, compared to not going through it. Plus i can just switch it between pre or no pre in the settings on the intergrated, so easy to hear what is going on in the pre amp section, very pleased to say it was very little.
This allows me to run the same dac through the intergrated amp, either using just the amp part or all. So it was a bit like when i ran my dac direct into the 500dr or when i put the pre back in that mix.
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OK, as weāve often discussed, itās not your conclusion I would disagree with necessarily ā¦ itās the methodology used to come to your conclusion. Can only imagine you have a fine setup. ATB.
But would the 350 be better still if you separated out the power supplies. Naim lore and experience from other boxes and stacking order or Brian + Brawn racks suggests it must be.
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As with all i say its just how i find thingās.
I have no reason to lie or whatever, not being paid etc.
But the difference was very obvious, and probably why some donāt see the true benefits when trying said dac in their system.
But some might find it useful as quite a few have with what we have been talking about here already.
No need to go there again really. Lol.
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As always, there are very good, average and bad SMPS and the same for linear ps.
I canāt generalise because I donāt have listened to all devices, but however, in my modest experience, I tend to prefer the signature of sound with big linear ps. They often give a beefier sound . But itās my preference.
I doubt for example that I will move from Naim as the digital source, because all other brands I could listened to sounded leaner and less organic, be it Chord, DCS, Esoteric, Lumin, Devialet, Linnā¦.
But I donāt say itās better, but more to my taste.
Statement does sound betterā¦no doubt but there is not a massive differenceā¦certainlyā¦in the context of the Naim dem room. I think the weak link in a 500 system is the 552ā¦good though it isā¦there are a number of guys on the forum who are running S1 preamps with great successā¦driving 500drāsā¦certainly if I had the disposable cashā¦I would definately buy oneā¦
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Yes butthe statement is designed in a way where the vertical layout avoids this issue. In a compact design it would be more difficult to achieve. Separate PS isnāt the only factor but as Naim have championed it, itās obviously an important factor.
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Totally agree at the presentā¦but things will changeā¦in years to come I am sure the technology for audio power supplies will improveā¦and there will be a shift to smpsā¦
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As with lotās of things, there is many ways to do something, and end up with the same or very similar results. Take F1 for instance.
Plus as with a F1 car, what was the best they could do then, soon becomes old tec. Especially in the F1 world, but as far as hifi goes, 10 years is a very long time, and after that well.
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