Hi-Cap wear and tear

[Alley_Cat]

I have two olive Hi-Caps, one from early 90’s, one a little newer with serial numbers in the 70k and high 80 k range. First one was for use with NAC 72 and NAP 250.

The second was I think bought when I went active with SBLs in the late 90’s - I thought I got the second Hi-Cap at that time but serial number doesn’t fit, maybe I got a deal on a pre-owned one/ex demo one, or maybe it’s another Hi-Cap I got with a Naim CD player at some stage - incredible but I honestly cannot remember now! Then again it’s over 20 years ago.

The 3rd Hi-Cap must be in storage, it could even be a chrome bumper one as the Naxo I got was chrome bumper as I preferred the sound to the Olive Naxo I tried.

Anyhow the power supply for NAC 282 query got me tinkering.

The older Hi-Cap sounds better to me when used as a single PSU and probably also when as a pair, but I’m not convinced it’s much of an upgrade.

So presumably if these Hi-Caps are in need of servicing they may actually be making the 282 sound bad.

In the old forum I could have sworn I’d read that powering a NAXO was a big stress on a Hi-Cap compared to a NAC - could it be the Hi-Cap which powered the NAXO is newer but has had a more stressful life?

Perhaps I’m getting the power/signal paths mixed up and it’s all a collaborative effort from the PSUs, not one powering NAC, the other the NAXO.

Any thoughts?

[Richard.Dane]

AC, no idea about wear and tear, but a Hicap in need of servicing can definitely make a pre-amp sound worse - for example I had a Hicap that when added to a NAC42.5 and NAP110 definitely made it sound dull, and plodding compared to when the NAC42.5 was powered from the NAP110 - a classic case of the Hicap needing a service.

[Alley_Cat]

Thanks Richard, I suspect they’re both in need of a proper service, something I really need to do in coming months. I’m in that quandary where I have older equipment I’m fond of, but want to upgrade some items, though have a sneaking suspicion just servicing a few items will give a big boost. By wear and tear I simply meant they’ve been used a lot over the years and that components are no longer working to specification.