Excuse my poor knowledge of the Hegel product range but am I right in thinking that stand alone steamers are not featured in their line up ? I may be wrong. If this is the case I can see a strong business case for Naim supporting their separates route, with the Nova having a place in their portfolio, and Hegel taking a different approach if streaming only available through integrated approach.
Indeed, I decided on the 2 box limit and ended up with the 3.5🙄
The Nova is primarily limited by inability to add a dedicated PSU and lack of digital out.
Appreciate you may want a one box solution, but the three things that can help performancer are:
1 - Using a separate power amp - I had older NAP 250s and as good as the Nova’s power amp is the NAP 250 gave an excellent boost.
2 - Ethernet cable - worth trying different ones - I found a Chord C-Stream was best bang for the buck over bog standard ones I tried and relatively cheap - a much more expensive Chord offering was better but at considerable cost - probably worth trying a variety of cheap ones as some find excellent non-audiophile ones.
3 - Naim Powerline - I am currently using my Nova as a source into a NAC 282 with active SBLs powered by NAP 250s - I was planning on getting an NDX2 and redeploying the Nova, but a Naim powerline was one of the most stunning upgrades I’ve experienced in recent years - naturally try one if you can.
Appreciate you’re after a one box solution, but of the 3 above the Powerline was the biggest improvement for the cost.
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Hegel seem to have overcome the need for a separate power supply.
I use Powerline on my Nova and agree it has improved SQ.
Quadraspire Reference isolation feet have further improved SQ.
I don’t think there is much difference between wi fi or direct wiring my Zen server.
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Good to know, especially about the Powerline which I feel added a cost-effective boost way beyond what I expected.
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This entire discussion is rather pointing another missing niche in the current Naim range - and that is a now apparently increasing demand of a new stand alone DAC. Seems people are misusing the Nova as one box solution and are only using it for streaming services mostly, feeding into a separate preamp + active speakers or power amps + passives ones. Nova is not meant to play this role in my opinion, using it in any other scenario different than its main purpose equals loosing money and constantly thinking into a potential upgrade, which includes this very product + other that shares some of its functionalities or potential sale and going separates.
Personally I am not into streaming services, I prefer controlling my music from a lap top into a dac into a integrated and that’s it. If i was to use a streamer I would not be searching for all in one box solution. One box solution is 1 box, the other one is 2, not a big difference really box-count wise, if aim is only reducing their count.
A SuperNova would only make sense in case no other separate components are being added + it would cannibalise entire ranges - nd*+integrate in particular, so not likely to happen in a near future since nd* and sn & xs third gen recently came out.
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My particular usage is not one I’d envisaged - my older active system was in storage and I needed a compact system or an all in one temporarily - briefly had an Atom which was replaced by the Nova.
The NDX 2 and other updated streamers were not available at this stage.
As I had a NAP250 to hand I added it to the Nova, as I wondered how it would sound, and I suspect many would have done the same test in a similar position. I agree at this stage you are wasting the in-built Nova amp, though Naim had clearly thought of an external power amp option and even have a few recommendations for the Atom/Nova from memory.
I demoed an NDX2 and a few other items over a year ago and the NDX2 was clearly better than the Nova and was my aspirational next step once I’d got the active system out of storage with Nova potentially going to another room/bedroom.
I tried an NDX 2 again against the Nova at home with the active system and for some reason this time around the NDX2 was only slightly better - I’m still scratching my head about this as I really wanted one, but decided I’d be better off spendinhg money elsewhere or not at all.
Perhaps it’s a testament to how good the Nova sounds with current firmware that it runs the NDX2 close used as a source, or maybe the NDX2 was hampered by something I didn’t pinpoint (a different mains socket?), or a sonic change induced by firmware since I last heard one. Whatever the reason it was not a wow monent when I A/B’d, whereas a Powerline on the Nova improved the sound dramatically and convinced me I needed one within a minute or two of listening. The NDX2 had gone back so I couldn’t compare that with/without Powerline.
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(I appreciate it’s slightly off topic, for which apologies.) If box reduction is important, and I have occasional vague thoughts in that direction, is NDX2/SN3 preferable to N272/250DR and, if so, why? The former combination is a little more expensive, which may or may not be a sign.
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I was impressed by the NDX2 when I heard it with an SN2 last year but they both used the appropriate power supplies.
Like you I’ve added a Powerline to the Nova and was pleased with the improved SQ. The addition of Quadraspire Reference pads have made a similar improvement although both of these additions depend on your existing electrical supply and rack quality.
I don’t think there is now enough difference in sound quality between my current Nova set up and the NDX2/SN2 system to justify the substantial cost increase but would be happy spending half this cost on a Supernova.
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One reason might be that the NDX2 has the new streaming platform which in my experience is very much more versatile than the old version in the N272 and is likely to have new features added via firmware upgrades whereas the old platform is limited in this respect due to hardware limitations, in spite of Naim’s best efforts. If you are sure you will never use Quobuz, Casting or Roon etc. this may not matter to you.
Of course you could also wait for the mythical N372…
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The answer may depend on your speakers. The 250DR is certainly a more capable power amp than the Supernait, and with demanding speakers, that could tip the balance in favour of the 272/250.
That aside, I thought the old NDX/Supernait 2 sounded better than the 272/250DR with speakers that are easy to drive, and one would hope the NDX2/SN3 would be better still.
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Why not try a Superlumina speaker cable on the Nova
I heard a Vertere Pulse XS in the Nova and NACA5 back to back, the Nova sounded considerably more energetic with the Vertere speaker cables, to the point I was thinking, WOW… amazing. The Superlumina and Vertere cables do not sound the same, but in terms of the design and intentions, to my ears do the same thing : preserve the energy in the music.
The Nova is actually for me, and endgame hi-fi with the right speakers and speaker cable.
I think there’s a lot of people waiting for the N372.
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Why would that be?
The software updates come at such speed/frequency that hardware cannot keep up the pace. Amps are just suffering the aging of the components but that process is much slower. To put it shortly computers are old in three years amps last ten.
And those two boxes won’t match. If it was to be a Nova plus power amp then you are getting two mis- matched boxes 
. Not good from a spend of over £7,000 ( It would have to be further up the ladder than a NAP 200 / Nova combination)
I’m not speaking of degrading faster physically; a good pre/power can last decades. anything based on software tends to last less due to changing advancements. not that it works worse than when you bought it, but new apps, interfaces, compressions, come out that you want to use. Buying a seperate streamer allows you to swap out when something better or more modern comes along.
I see it like a fridge vs. a tv. every TV i buy I think it will be my last, and I’ve never had one break. yet I’ve upgraded 3 times over the last 10 years. I never think of upgrading my fridge.
Although I would certainly buy a 1 box “supernova” I would do so knowing it might be outdated sooner than the amplification.
Well, Im not sure what computers we are talking about but my 2013 MBPro is still going strong and I expect i shall do so for at least another 5 years. Yes, there comes a point when it wont be able to handle the new OS but that doesn’t mean that it cant work using the old OS.
There are always exceptions and seems that you are lucky to have one 
I have 2011 NU but unfortunately it is starting to show symptoms of failing…
I doubt very much there will be much advances in music files in the next 10 years. Whatever files are being used now will still be used then. And even if that wasn’t the case the Nova can still be used as an Amp by attaching another source to it.