I’m in a similar situation as I’m using an Atom with Harbeth 30.1 speakers and primarily use Tidal and Qobuz via Roon. I’m looking to move up the naim ladder so currently have a Nova on home demo. While the Nova is an improvement over the Atom I’m wondering if adding a 250DR onto the Atom would be a bigger step in performance because I’ve read that the Harbeths respond well with more power. While I like the simplicity of an all-in-one I’m not opposed to upgrading to a 2 or 3 box system over time. I know many members have already weighed in, but I’m hoping to get some further clarity as either path has similar financial outlay due to trade-in/pre-owned opportunities.
Now would be a good time to decide how far you want to go with this. To continue the upgrade path from Atom/250, you need to add a streamer, a preamp and a power supply. A well balanced system would mean NDX2/282/Hicap/250. That would be a great system, but if it’s further up the ladder than you want to go in the forseeable future, a Supernait or NaitXS might be a better option. Then you can add a streamer (NDX2 or ND5XS2) and you end up with a simple 2 box system.
That’s a fair point to start with the end in mind. Since I only stream I would probably eventually add a 272 and take the appropriate steps to enable it to become a Roon endpoint or wait to see if a successor ever comes to fruition. Unfortunately, I don’t have the ability to demo this type of setup so it’s really a matter of trying to understand what if anything could be gained with the atom/250dr or 272/250DR over the Nova with the Harbeth 30.1. I understand many are satisfied with the Nova replacing separates, but I’m concerned that my speakers aren’t efficient enough and could greatly benefit from a separate power amp to give them a stronger boogie factor. The Supernait/ndx combo could work well (and provide the modern streaming platform) but I still wonder if the Supernait amplifier is going to leave me wanting more as I am with the Nova.
In the back of my mind was the same question. I had only heard the Nova at dealers with 90db speakers though. Twice at separate dealers so maybe an indication of its best match? As an aside the Vienna acoustics Mozart SE was a magical combo with the Nova and the catalyst for me looking for more power to my speakers. In my limited experience the 250DR works in terms of bringing my 86db Harbeth’s to life. I’m really enjoying the pairing even though I see that in time a better pre would really kick the system on.
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