Really! How much of a difference we talking here. My linear PSU on my Roon core helped tightens up the bass. I thought originally it had done nothing , but when I switched back to the original smps the other week I really noticed the difference.
I totally disagree here. Adding a NAP200 to my Atom created for me the best system I ever had. And I have had multiple high-end systems including Esoteric and Classé. Combined with my Dynaudio loudspeakers, the Atom plus NAP200 combo sounds just perfect to my ears. Adding the NAP200 made the sound more robust and it added even more PRaT to the picture. In my case the NAP200 upgrade was ‘only’ 750 Euro (I live in The Netherlands) and I have not regretted it for a single second. BTW: I am using standard power cables and NACA5 speaker cables (8m length).
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Interesting @John and @Afgverhart
Then your different perceptions must depend on the installation of your music systems.
Please tell us how you have installed your systems,.and what you have for peripheral equipment,…
Cables, loudspeakers, hifi racks, powercables, banana contacts, Chips or other, powerstrip etc,etc.
This is interesting when you got so different soundquality.
Here we can maybe learn from you,.what the difference in SQ can depend on.
/Peder🙂
I am not at all surprised with opposing opinions … do not forget that music & sound perceptions are, & can only be, subjective. We each have our own ears & brains and we each have our own opinion on what constitutes good sound. Add to that the anticipation & expectation we will each have with adding/removing/changing a component in the system. I would suggest that this probably has more influence on what people write in these forums than does how a system is set up. Not forgetting system set ups, supports wiring etc are also unique to each individual.
What I’m saying is, there are no hard & fast ‘control standards’
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Afgesproken! Without a doubt, adding a power amplified to the Uniti made a huge difference for me. I started off with a NAP200 before migrating to a NAP250DR and an upgrade to 24 bit on the Uniti. I would recommend it to anyone thinking of getting a little more “welly”.
I would also hazard a guess that if you want to upgrade an Atom with a 200, you are probably not going to spend £2300 on a brand new one. There are always a fair number of older 200s on the market, and there’s no guarantee that they will all be performing in ‘as new’ condition due to sample variation, lack of servicing or unofficial modifications.
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Our system consists of the following components:
- Naim Atom 1.5 years old with standard power cable but on separate mains ‘audio’ group
- Naim NAP200 2nd hand unmodified from 2013 (checked via s/n)
- Flashbacksales RCA to DIN cable 1.5m
- 8m NACA5 cable with NAIM fork into NAP200 and QED banana at speaker side
- Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 Latest Edition
- Mac Mini 2011 i7 server with Roon and TIDAL
- Cambridge Audio CXC CD transport
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Atom is < 12 months old and the NAP 200 I had was 2014 so not in need of a service. Also used a Flashback RCA to DIN and NACA5.
Streaming from QNAP NAS.
The main difference compared with afgvehart’s system is that I’m using Neat Iota Alpha speakers. The Dynaudio Contour S 3.4 may be more in need of the extra power provided by the 200. Also my system is in a small room so don’t need much volume.
As I said before, in the above set-up the Atom sounded more balanced without the 200 which I found hardened up the sound.
The Atom is woefully underpowered for those Dynaudios, as is the 200 really, but a bit less so, therefore it’s no surprise that the 200 improved things.
Agreed, that’s a lot of speaker to drive with an Atom, so it’s no surprise that the 200 was a big improvement.
That might indeed explain the improvement of NAP200 over the Atom in my case.
Nice colours and furniture in the room…Contour S 3.4 are rated at 4 Ohms, so that almost doubles the output of amp. Atom was rated at 40W but measured at 45W into 8 Ohms, while into 4 Ohms it delivered 72W. That’s a output increase of 60%. Apply the same theory on 200, and rated 70W becomes 112W. Saying this, we are talking Naim, somehow Naim rating numbers always seem lower than what you experience.
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Excellent!
Thank you for your reply and nice words about our living room. 
I never have the idea that the NAP200 is stressed when driving the Dynaudios, which might be the case when driving them with the Atom as it sounds more open and relaxed with the NAP200 compared to the Atom.
Thanks for all the reply’s , i’ve just bought a Nova 
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Good choice, let us know how it sounds when you’ve got it up and running.
I used to own the R500’s with a unitiqute2. You would certainly benefit from a bigger amp. The R500’s love current. Mine ended up on a Supernait2 before I upgraded them and they were very much at home with the Supernait2’s grunt. Low level listening was transformed also. I would look more at the 250 over the 200.
Congratulations @Installer…Nova is an awesome system, it will give the KEF’s a good kick in the guts. Happy running in, enjoy!
Power is one thing, a good power supply is another. I have made the experience that the quality of the power cable is essential for superior sound, especially for bass. Before upgrading your Atom I would try a very good AC power cable, like AudioQuest Monsoon e.g. Power cables need about a week to burn in. How much power you need depends on how loud you want to hear your music. If you like to hear loud, than an amp makes sense. Again, with a superb AC power cable
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