I haven’t read this very long thread recently, but you are bound to find some useful info about using the SN3 with and without the HCDR. Enjoy!
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I hate to keep using songs as examples, but as an example of the “thicker” sound I have always heard from the HCDR, “I’ll Be Over You” from Toto’s Fahrenheit album. I use these examples because they are universally known to be pristine audiophile recordings…
Anyway Jeff Porcaro’s rim shots and hi hat work in the first verse right as the song comes in. With the HCDR, those hi hats and rim shots always have a thicker, beefier sound that has always bothered me a little. Without the HCDR they are very clean and have the proper transients and more “studio-like.”
I did not buy the HCDR from that dealer unfortunately, I bought it used from Audiogon. But it is very difficult to make an 8 hour round trip to debug the HiCap. I don’t even know if they have any service in-house, they are a very small boutique retailer that does most business online these days due to Covid.
Anyway I am happy that I have tracked down my current problem and will deal with the HiCap service in time… for now I am happy to go without the HCDR as the sound finally is not noisy and distorted.
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Good on you! I’d just box up Hicap and send it off to Naim. That way when you get it back (send the snanics back with it) you can listen and determine if it’s better or worse with it or without, and you can move it on with a clear conscience that it’s ok.
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Glad you have made progress - which seems to be logical, too.
Either you just don’t like what the HiCap does to your system - or maybe something is wrong with the HiCap or the SNAIC connecting it. Both really need to be checked, IMO. Service only once problems understood.
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Thanks for everyone’s help over this weekend getting to the bottom of my woes…
It seems I am cautiously ready to say mission accomplished here, even to fixing the possible issue with the HiCap that was causing the distortion in the first place.
I did carefully do a full reconnection of the HiCap last night. When I unplugged it earlier I noticed that it was screwed down super-tight and almost at a bit of a cockeyed twist when I removed the SNAIC from the back of the Supernait.
While experimenting last night I did a real easy connection with the DIN and left the screw-down nuts completely loose. And the difference is pretty much night and day - the “thickening” of that intro to the Toto song is completely fixed now and the HiCap appears to be behaving as expected.
So it could be this entire fiasco revolved around a faulty connection with the HiCap. I did completely tear down this system when I acquired my Fraim back in November. It is very likely that when putting the Fraim together and reconnecting the HiCap into the system, because it is a little hard to connect from the back of the Fraim I did a faulty connection and that is what I have been hearing for the past 3 months that has been driving me mad.
At any rate, everything appears to be working wonderfully at this point so I will cross my fingers and hope for the best.
Thanks again to all for your assistance!
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“Check your SNAIC’s…” 
Perhaps yours may still need to go in the SNAIC Shaker… 
(you couldn’t make this up…)
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Hi I have a supernait 2 dr which is bedroom kit but I had it attached to klipsch Rf 7.11 speakers and also tried with b@w cm9 s2 speakers and like u a few songs I knew very well had a more scratchy sound on a certain guitar part that I had never heard before n tried on both sets of speakers and it turned out I tried different speaker cable… N that problem was rectified… Try switching Ur cables over n see if it is a dodgy cable hopefully it’s an easy fix for u
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Sorry just read Ur v last post glad all is good 
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Hi,
Couple days ago when I was trying to reconnect my system, I accidentally unplugged one of the SNAIC cables off from the SN3(off) while the HICAP DR was still on, and I heard a thump from the speakers.
Is is going the cause any damage to the system? @Richard.Dane
Probably not. But maybe. I’d suggest you listen. Sounds good, then it’s all good.
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Thanks for the reply!
Btw, according to this topic, should I leave the SNAIC cables loosely connected to the SN3 as well?
Some advocate for that. I had mine snug. Just snugged up. Not gorilla tight
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Did you use the lock-ring at all?
Also, should I loosen the connect to the streamer as well?
Many people prefer all three Supernaits with a HC and an equal amount preferred them without a HC it seems you’re one of the latter. Glad you sorted it out though and good to see the forum working to help out again.
Unplugging SNAICs when the system is powered up is definitely something you want to try to avoid as it can damage speakers, usually the tweeters being most vulnerable.
I always do up the collars on SNAICs for this reason as otherwise it’s possible to accidentally unplug them when trying to re-route or remove other leads.
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Thank You Richard!
I did it by accident and I hope it’s gonna be OK 
You quickly know if its not, jut by playing the system.
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Reading most of this thread… I have experienced something slightly similar in the past… for me it was coupling from other cables including Ethernet and mains into my NACA5 speaker cable. The resolution was to route the NACA5 cables away as best I could… the sound improved, and it resolved my distortion issues. For me it was more in the bass area.
Might not be relevant for you… but thought I’d share just in case it helps.
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I was surprised to see this topic blow back up in my email notifications overnight (in the US), but it was interesting to read back through this, given where I ended up over the past 6 weeks.
Just to do one last follow up on this post, the “last word” was not my final post on Jan 18, as I continued to have issues with that mid-range distortion though it would come and go. I was at my wit’s end chasing down the typical Naim gremlins such as tightening or loosening SNAICs, making sure my cables were hanging properly, that my speaker cables were lined up properly… It just became madness for me because I came to the conclusion NOTHING like that could be having that much of an effect on the sound of the system that I was experiencing or no one would ever buy Naim.
Long story short, I borrowed a PrimaLuna valve integrated from my local dealer to see if the problem persisted. It cleaned up the distortion right away, it was like it never existed. But also at this time I was experimenting with my IsoTek Corvus - whereas before I had always plugged the amps directly into my wall I plugged them into the Corvus this time and the sound was also cleaner and more relaxed. It did not affect dynamics or detail in any way that I had feared.
So sadly I determined that (A) the Supernait 3 was not a match with my speakers impedance-wise. The Nova seemed to have had a much better-matched profile than the Supernait 3. But the Prima Luna seems to be an excellent match. I have sold the SN3 and replaced it with a PrimaLuna Evo 300 preamp and 2 Evo 300 amps in mono configuration.
Additionally (B) I upgraded to an IsoTek Sigmas power conditioner. I live in a small town with an electrical co-op and they do funny things with voltage at different times of the day. The Sigmas has a meter readout which shows the amount of distortion on the line - remarkably during my primary listening times in the evening, I am showing upwards of 4% distortion on the line - so that also played a major factor in what I was hearing.
So overall I am at a place where I am very happy with how everything has turned out. I am still very much in the Naim world as I love my NDX2/XPS DR combo and my Muso 2/Muso QBs around the house. In fact my next upgrade somewhere down the line may be replacing the XPS DR with a 555 PS. But for the short term I am very much enjoying my system where it is.
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Can you explain what you mean by this. Are you talking noise on your mains or are you talking power factor… which is where the current and voltage vectors vary from being 90 degrees out of phase… a common form of mains distortion, sometimes caused by highly reactive loads, but unlikely to have any effect on audio.