I am not suggesting changing to Roon…if you can avoid it…its another link in the chain…absolutely… A good switch and psu will help… speaker positioning and room treatment would make a big difference if that can be tollerated…
When I added GIK acoustic panels that was quite profound and very worth while. The NAP 300 has very good current capability…so the amp should drive those B&W’s well. The 500 may not have quite the same cureent but it is a bridged amp so the earthing of the speaker is very different…which effects the percieved drive…for the better!
Hey I am using an Ndx 2 with my cds ripped to a Core and mostly Tidal these days.
Speakers are now isolated and I added a PSU to the NDX2 and that’s changed everything.
The amp is a good for me. I doesn’t seem to be the issue here but will at some point play with it…
I have had a quick read through…and it seems you have quite a big room…those B&W’s need to be whipped into action…a NAP500 should do the trick you need a home demo…but I would love to hear the Musical Fidelity M8is driving those speakers…(an amp that would really take those speakers by the scruff of the neck - check out the HiFi Riff)
So after all that chat. I first isolated my speakers, I then added a chord power filter, I then added the CD555PS to the NDX2. Wow it was an awesome trip……
And today I swapped out the NAC282 and HiCaps for a NAC 552.
OMFG by far the biggest shift of the whole journey. I just cried to Adele and I don’t even like Adele. I may not move for the next week from this spot…. What a shift.
I am shaking my head every time I play a track.
congratulations on the move to 552.
Have to say, the 552 is an extremely good preamp.
It’s blown me away!!!
Before you do anything clean the speaker sockets and nana plugs very throughly - I did this on my 500 and gained nearly an octave of bass…and allot more control. Sorry just seen that you now have a 552 and 555ps…wow that must have made a huge difference… anyways still clean those speaker plugs and sockets.
Delighted that everything has worked out so well for you!
I have had so much fun and am so happy.
Isn’t it ironic that all these complex/expensive fixes for your “problem” i.e. weak bass at low listening volume was solved in the “old day” by pushing the loudness button.
LOL well yes except not at lower volumes. What was needed was a Roundness button!
I discovered a whole new level of HiFi in this process.
In the 70’s and 80’s nearly every amp had a “loudness” button whose purpose was to increase the bass at lower listening levels. It would shut off after the volume was increased. They were eliminated sometime during the era I was out of music and hifi. Deteriorated the sound quality was the excuse. I would buy one today if it were still offered.
I’m not a great lover of having a sub in a music system, having an old fashioned view that the right speakers for the room negates the necessity
However when Mrs Bruss retires early to bed, I find the study Nait 2 at a super low volume, coupled to a pair of Tannoy tall thin surround sound speakers and a Gale sub gives me that loudness button effect.
You have nailed my contextual dilemma - when my wife or son go to bed before me or when homework or such other is being done.