Thank you Stephen.
Thanks!
I got my Hicap DR today, along with a Powerline and an additional Snaic cable to plug it into my SN2. Impressions to follow in the following days.
Might take a month.
Is it worth buying Powerline for HiCap / XPS? Or is it better to choose a better DIN cable between SN2 / SN3 and NDX2 instead?
If someone has such experience, could you share your impression of the comparison:
- SN vs SN + PowerLine vs SN + HiCap vs SN + HiCap + Powerlines
- NDX2 vs NDX2 + Powerline vs NDX2 + XPS vs NDX2 + XPS + Powerline
My advice would be don’t even think about upgrading cables until you have the PSU upgrades in place. Even then, try the expensive cables before you buy them. There has never been a consensus here as to whether or not they improve anything.
I’ve been down this road with a SN2, so I would say my preferred order for improvement versus costs is:
- Add XPS DR to NDX2
- Upgrade the DIN between the NDX2 and SN2
- Add Hicap to SN2 (don’t know about the SN3 though)
- Add powerlines to everything at once
Please forgive me for asking the question I always ask: do you already have dedicated mains? This, in my view, come before Powerlines. Nice clean quiet mains makes a real difference.
The other question I always ask is whether you have a decent stand for the system to sit on? This generally makes far more difference than fancy cables.
^^^
Amen. Dedicated mains will improve just about every aspect over any cable(s), IMO, and it’ll cost a lot less. Mitigating noise is the key I’m coming to believe. It isn’t as glamorous or exciting as new cables or tweaks, but it is effective and accomplishes getting a huge leap closer to what we’re all setting out to achieve in the first place.
Absolutely. It’s quite often we read of people with £100k systems running off the ring main. Dedicated mains is rather dull, but it’s one of the foundations for good performance.
Here’s the Official Katzky2021 “All Naim” Upgrade Path
Starting with SNx & NDX2
- Dedicated circuit for hifi
- Powerlines
- SL Din → Din
- XPS
- Hicap
- 282
- 250
- Fraim
- 555 PS
- Supercap
- ND555
- 252
- 300
- SL Din → xlr
- 552
- SL speaker wire
- 500
This is the one true path.
I like your #1!
It is cheaper to just get a
- Nait 1/2/3/5
- Rob a child blind
- Rossini
What? This is the official “all Naim” upgrade path.
The right answer like any addiction is not to start at all. Live in ignorance.
How are you finding things since the HiCap DR installation Daniel H?
Thanks for asking Stephen. For lack of a better word, I find the sound more solid.
There seems to be better controlled bass, and the voices in the center are much better defined. A word comes to mind: palpable. I feel like I can almost reach out and touch the voices, as they are much more present in the room.
The music just sounds more realistic. I feel the sound has improved in every way, without any drawbacks. The XPS-DR on the NDX 2 was a more significant improvement, but I would say the Hicap-DR on the SN2 (although less) is also significant.
I am very happy with the upgrade!
Glad to hear it! Thanks for reporting on the change the HiCap DR brings. Enjoy!
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