Inspired by your good self Simon I just had an early Sunday morning blast with ‘The Wall’ (original cd first pressing) and, for an album I know really really well, It sounds majestic.
I’ve listened to it over the years with a 72, 102, 202 & 252 in front of 250.2 & 300.
Regardless of all the ‘technical’ reasons why the H2/250DR shouldn’t sound optimal without a naim pre, I can honestly say ‘The Wall’ sounds as good as I’ve ever heard it.
I’m not saying it’s at DAVE 552 level but sound per pound I’ll go with my ears on this one and skip the 252/SC.
I am interested to understand in what way. Dave will happily drive any impedance right down to low ohms so any input impedance variation of NAPs is of no consequence, and it can be set to limit bandwidth at the top end.
Wow!!! Very interesting! It’s 6:00 am across the pond. I do my best texting in the strangest hours.
On the sidelines enjoying the forum at its best!
Now please don’t get the wrong idea!
DB said it the best! Paraphrasing: It’s something you must try for yourself. It’s easy to state your view and past judgement but how valid is your perception when you haven’t got your feet wet!
I’ve been guilty of that on more than one occasion! Ok, where am I going with this. Before one can experience something, they must be persuaded.
Engineers, educators, and some very bright pragmatic individuals has contributed to this post: These individuals, rather they know it or not, are shaping and molding the mindset of the forum. What amazes me, is the connectivity of the threads:
And that on the day of the SN3… I thought the new Nait was the way to go for my beloved Hugo 2. I had been thinking about the Hugo straight into a 250DR, but didn’t explore further given the importance ascribed to the preamp…
Time to reconsider my position? How would you describe the difference between the two options?
Cheers!
… In the ear of the beholder.
PS. BTW thanks for the new word GraemeH
Non sequitur
When it’s all said and done, it’s really about love!
And I Love The Forum, you guys have helped me in my recovery.
Although Dave (never looked into TT output spec) is capable of working direct into speakers, to me it would require very efficient speakers, of over 100dB/W to not limit peaks.
As I said there will be some, and indeed your good self, who will prefer it. However Naim themselves will readily admit their poweramps are designed to sound their best for use with their NACs for the reasons I state and no doubt others.
I am aware of Naim once modifying a variant of the 250 for the BBC that was designed to work standalone from a NAC, and that was a special. I have no idea what was done and indeed whether it was just superficial like changing the input connectors perhaps… I think @Richard.Dane was aware of the details.
Simon
Simon, I take it you’re referring to the NAP250Pro. It was a model that was specifically designed to address the needs of the BBC, or any similar studio. I can’t recall the exact details, but it involved special balanced input circuits and new inductance networks on the output, that way it could be connected up to the BBCs balanced feeds and could drive any speaker cable of indeterminate characteristics and length without distress. One could argue that for out and to sound performance these were compromises over the standard NAP250, but it made it an ideal high performance power amp for long term, trouble-free studio use.
No… any gain stage ahead of the output stage of a poweramp is a preamp… in achain there are many such stages or pre amp stages … they critically buffer the signal between stages for each function and conditioning the signal for the next stage… now whether you have all stages in one box or various will depend on circumstance…
Now I agree having multiple NACs such as a 552 would be redundant… you only need one of those.
@Simon-in-Suffolk are you using ‘DR’ NAPs…If not then might this be accounting for why some of us find Chord DACs direct great, and others not so much?
Not asking from a position of technical know-how here. Merely speculating.
Naim_The_Dragon:
LOL:slight_smile: