Not long ago i replaced an SN2 with a NAC282/NAP 250DR. For years i had been listening at night on headphones using the SN2’s built in headphone amp and was more than happy with it. Obviously the 282 has no headphone amp, so night times have been a bit silent of late.
My question is, can my SN2 be connected to 282 to use the SN2’s headphone amp. If it can be, what cable would i need and to what sockets do i connect the cable ?
It’s unusual but it is possible, if you’re handy making up a custom DIN lead (or your dealer is handy). You could connect a suitably wired interconnect from one of the NAC282’s tape loop OUTs to an input on the Supernait2. Note that a regular interconnect won’t do here as you’ll need the REC OUT pins connected at one end for the 282 connection.
However, it would probably be a better idea to trade in the SN2 against a dedicated headphone amp like the Headline 2 and a power supply such as the NAPSC, Flatcap2, or HICAP.
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Do you really need to keep the Supernait for anything other than headphone use? If you sell it you could use the money to buy a far better headphone amp.
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Thanks for the replies chaps. I sort of had a feeling it wouldn’t be worth the bother.
Got to source myself a headphone amp now.
You could do worse than Headline/Hicap. I run a pair of “olives”- NAHA/HC and another pair of “blacks” - NAHA2/NAPSC2. You should be able to pick up either pair for less than a grand from the usual infamous auction site.
Cans are Senn 650 & 800S.
Both sound pretty d@mn fine (currently listening to Three Colours Dark on the blacks+800S).
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Worth trying a Graham Slee Solo (original one). Doesn’t require a separate power supply (well it comes with a small one, psu1 ideally) and great vfm used. I would expect it to be at least as good although I suspect much better than the SN output.
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When I replaced my SN 2 with a NAC282/NAP250DR I bought a used HeadLine, and NAPSC to use on those rare occasions when I needed them for late night listening or when my wife was entertaing friends or on a business call.
Another alternate is the Rega Ear, used one of these prior to getting the HeadLine.
DG…
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At the moment i am swinging between the Graham Slee solo and Michael Fidler’s Spartan 30.
As i already have Micheal’s MC pro phono stage i am minded to go with the Spartan 30.
The Ear is superb value. And discontinued so a bargain second hand. I also went from an Ear to a HeadLine2 and to be honest, unless you’re powering a HeadLine with HiCap, I’d stick with an Ear.
You can stick a famcy power supply on the Ear too but the cheap looking wallwart it’s supplied with is actually a decent linear PSU.
When I bought mine, they were just 150 quid new!
i’m using a Headline with his napsc.
compared to the SN2 output quality is the same but i can reach an higher volume level with my HD800.
Hi Suzy, I have been considering one of those, but I was not sure whether they need a service like most Naim kit, given it’s age, I am not sure how long will it last, unless serviced. Any idea?
There are, or were, a number of decent and cheap headphone amps available on eBay. My favourite was the MF X-Cans or X-Can v2. They always benefitted from a few basic modifications, even when new. At one point, they could be bought for £40 or so. I had some success in buying a few of these, modifying them, and selling them on a bit later. I still have a nice-sounding v2 in my second system. Although these days they start at about £120. Not bad for something that was £129 when new in 1998.
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The “received wisdom” about “servicing” has been well documented on these forums, and I do not wish to comment further.
The only thing upon which I will note is that the volume potentiometer in the Olive NAHA has been reported as having a tendency towards going “crackly”. Indeed mine did, and I had the pot replaced.
The black NAHA2 ( which I also have) uses a different pot and appears to be less prone to going crackly.
Both of mine are currently running nicely 
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The issue with the Olive NAHA’s pot is down to it being designed to “float” off the PCB. It reforms better this way but does mean the solder joints can weaken with use and then go noisy. The NAHA2 used a better pot affixed more securely to the board. This gave similar performance but with greater security.
That’s interesting, so it was the legs that was causing the problem. My money would have been on the carbon(?) tracks, which would certainly wear over time. I’ve actually got one of those pots in one of my boxes of bits
The pot in the NAHA2 looks to be an Alps Blue, which has a plastic track, much harder wearing. Does that pot float as well?