I times’d £1900 x 6 (5 Din’s & speaker cable)
Micro-details and that nth are relative to your overall budget.
I set up my system from scratch a few years ago with that idea to get the best out of them.
For me that meant putting the lions share towards support and cables.
Then source, amps and speakers - with speakers the last of that budget. Many posts have been created and pondered over the relative expenditure merits of system building. But for that nth ? You should look at the backround behind the main items.
Indeed - the notion that any newer amp is better than any older amp is silly. Given how close the current 282 is to the older 82, the SN3 would also have to be able to beat that.
@Mr. Halibit your opinions are nice "I very much doubt " “From a personal perspective” but those aren’t what the OP wants. In my OPINION Naim has made Substantial improvements over the last 20 plus years ( as one would hope) and I’d extremely surprised if the SN3 did not handily out perform a NAC 82 and NAP180 I’d say a home trial would be helpful. The SN3 has a much improved Preamp and the SN3 has about the same power as a NAP 180…
You may want to check out the Sonore optical modules, essentially audiophile fiber media convertors. In my system it was one of the biggest upgrades I’ve made - I liken it to adding a sharpening filter in photoshop and/or using the clarity slider - microdetails in buckets. Unfortunately, they also sound best with a very good power supply (at least the closest module to the streamer). I know many on here don’t believe or recommend optical bridges, but these are in another realm from the consumer units.
@ricsimas Well it’s not “ANY” Newer amp it’s a freaking 20 years newer NAIM amp, and don’t forget the 20 plus year newer Preamp in a SN3… jeez FWIW a NS3 is in line with his ND5 XS.
To the OP: I’m going to give you my take on what I’d do if I were you. Then I will go in peace:
ND5 XS with some type of storage to store ripped CD’s and HIRES Downloads 24/192 and DSD Tidal is not a definitive high quality source.
Demo SuperNait 3… Then sell off old stuff to purchase HiCap DR for SN3
Lose the Home Brew power block and try a few Like IsoTek, Shunyata, or any of the others that get recommended here.
Maybe consider upgrade to different/ better speakers but not after trying SN3
Take a comprehensive look at you Cables and Power Cords. A truly good well matched system is just that a SYSTEM well matched. Good luck I leave you with my advise from 45 years of audio industry experience and being an Audio-Phool like the rest of us.
I’ve stuck with the same analog gear (DACV1, NAP 110, and Rega RX3’s) for around six-seven years now, and only worked on the source and network and whatever improvements I make there, the V1 and 110 just keep chugging along and spitting out the changes. Most recently a Sonore UltraSupply for the microRendu 1.4, and an Uptone LPS 1.2 for the opticalModule (which was a woah! change from the Uptone LPS-1 it had previously). There can be lots of electrical noise on ethernet cables and garbage in, garbage out as they. say No three figure power cable can do anything about the actual quality of the source.
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I started streaming with an ND5XS, tried a PS (XP5XS) but found it an expensive disappointment, and changed it for a Hugo DAC, fed by the ND5 - Ah, a significant step up, much more natural sound. I then changed the
ND5XS for a Mac Mini running Audirvana (fully optimised), and it improved further. Then I tried Dave: and Wow! The clarity; the naturalness, the detail! I just had to have it, and now do.
Naim sound devotees keep talking about boogie factor or toe tapping, neither of which have any resonance for me in terms of the emotional engagement with the music. But Dave gives me all the engagement I could ever wish for.
I’m confused. You say the OP doesn’t want my opinions (how do you know that?) and then proceed to give him yours. Are they more valid than mine? It’s all opinions at the end of the day. I’ve owned an 82, Hicap and 180 and heard the SN2 on many occasions. The former is much better. In my opinion. But then I don’t have 45 years experience in the industry, merely 36 years of Naim ownership and a basic food hygiene certificate.
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I’d be extremely surprised if it did!
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So Rick, which source are you recommending to the OP? I see criticism of his current source in your last post but may have missed your suggested changes (if any) to it.
Best regards, BF
Hopefully it’s enough to make the SN listenable in its latest iteration, as the previous ones were hardly inspiring.
Obviously we were talking about Naim amps. If an SN3 is much better than an 82, it would also be much better than a 282 and that doesn’t seem to be the case in Naim’s mind (unless they suddenly discontinue the 282 due to obsolescence in light of new integrateds).
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Listening to mojo pin, the version from Grace now streamed from my Core and I can’t hear smacking lips, I can hear plosives where the word starts with a b and a little sibilance, you can tell it’s close miked but smacking lips there are none. If they’re not there on an ND555/552/500…
@BF I think his Source Component (ND5XS) is fine, and would be an excellent match with a SN3… What I meant was Listening to non streamed files… something on a Local Drive… USB or NAS. I think steaming sounds fine, I just think I’ve heard inconsistencies.
@IB Of course the Dave rocks it’s freaking 8800.00 Pounds or in real money 
$10,000 dollars which I suspect is Waaaay out of the OP’s budget… It certainly is out of mine… FWIW I have a Qutest that I may add an M-Scaler too…
@charlesphoto Take a look at the utube video of the Shunyata NR (Noise Reduction) series cable… Alan SIrcom thought they were the Snizzel !
@ricsimas FYI I have an SN2 which when fetted out right sounds awesome…
I just listened (out of curiosity, I can’t stick that album) on my NDX2 282/HCDR 250DR Proac Tablette 10. Definite smacking of lips!
G
Just had a quick listen to Mojo Pin on my 272/555DR/250DR/SL2s and I hear the lip thing about 50 seconds in.
Now back to Radiohead.
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According to the OP, the budget is:
I have 2nd hand NAP500 money to devote to achieving my goal.
I interpreted this as £7-10k if taken from a UK perspective. DAVE sits right in the middle of that range.
Having said that, DAVE is pretty much at the extreme end of resolving the most micro or micro-details, which is why I suggested the more moderate approaches of a better streaming front end with an improved dac, i.e. ND5SX2 + Chord TT2 or NDX2 + XPS-DR.
Above all though, I think the best advice for the OP is to find a dealer that he/she feels comfortable with and then take their advice.
Best regards, BF
I tried listening on Tidal and there are some annoying clicky noises, whether it’s lips I’ve no idea. Tidal is a poor source if played directly into the legacy streamers so it’s no wonder things don’t sound that great. If the OP has a compatible nas, Bubble upnp would improve things considerably for no cost.
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Love them ProAc’s The Tablet Signatures were/are Fantastic… I owned D30R for a few years…Gotta love the Ribbons… I was considering the new D2 Ribbon but went with Dynaudio Special 40’s… My favorite system from back in the day was ProAc D2s, on those monster four pillar stands with aJanus w-1 Sub… Audio Reseach Classic 120 mono’s. ( 120 per ch of Triode power 8 6550’s per channel ) Audio Research LS-2,Theta Dac Audio Research Player and a Big Ass VPI TNT… Oh those were the days… LoL
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Poor OP, so many advices, too many :
ndx2, qtest, Dave, nds/555ps, shawline cable, vertere or chord cables, SN3, Sonore, Nd5xs2…