once you‘ve tasted that sweet sounding equipment, no wonder, that you‘re getting hungry for more. 
been there, done that.
A modest first step could be a SN2 + ND5 XS2. You should be able to source a clean used SN2 and a recent ex demo or light use ND easily enough.
That gives you a wealth of flexibility to refine and modify, adding a HiCap to the SN2, swapping out the ND5 for an NDX2, adding an XPS DR to that, adding a NAP 200 or 250 then swapping out the SN for a NAC 282, only budget and time limit your options here.
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Yes you can, and then you have it for the next box as well.
Ideally, if you know you’ll keep the Atom for a second system (which is the best option I feel) then if you know where you want to end up, build using source first as a base. The first decision then is do you want to stop at an integrated amp, or do you want seperate pre and power - if the later, it will get very expensive very quickly.
So, I started with a UnitiQute add fairly quickly added a NAP100. I then moved to a Nova with the UQ2/100 going to my second system. Then I’ve gone SN2/NDX2 and moved the Nova to the second system, trading in the UQ2/100.
Now I’ve maxed out the SN2/NDX2 with power supplies and superlumina interconnects and speaker cables, and powerlines. Now, that’s a lot of $’s above a Nova - so be warned!
I have seen a few people on here using the Atom through an existing pre. I’d not have thought of that. Can I ask what volume setting you use/was recommended for the atom please? Does it naturally have a lower output vs other Naim gear by being Phono rather than DIN? How is the sound quality?
It has preouts to go to a power amp not necessarily another pre. Although some have used it as stepping stone to keep the streaming section until they could afford one of the new streamers. It’s not designed to be fed into another pre and I can’t see this being an optimum setup.
It works very well and is a considerable upgrade over the atom alone, even the dealer at Audio-T was suprised at the improvement in sq. The cable was bought from flashback sales. See the link below.
Thanks. Very interesting idea…very interesting
I must ask though, how does the NDX sound compared to the Atom, and is the streaming source (eg Tidal or Spotify) consistent enough for such a high-end machine or are there good files and bad files just like we have good recordings and poor recordings on CD or vinyl?
The NDX 2 is superior to the Atom and so it should be with the large price difference. I have tried both Tidal and Qobuz, I prefer the sq and the hi res streaming that Qobuz offers. I can’t tell the difference in sq between local cd rips and Qobuz, both sound excellent. You will get poor sounding streamed albums, but that’s usually down to poor production/mastering/mixing the same as with cd’s
Thanks. All very interesting indeed. I wonder whether I can get on Santa’s good list this year…
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