HiCap vs HiCap DR

Well this idea of a minimalist system has well and truly gone out of the window. I’m now after a HiCap to use with a NAP200DR/NAC202 and a NAPSC2 onto the 202. I’ll find it difficult to do a back to back comparison with the now discontinued non DR HiCap. However, I’m sure many on here have listened to both. The question is, is the HiCap DR a worthwhile improvement over the non DR HiCap. What does the DR bring to the party. I realise it’s largely subjective but a consensus of opinion my swing my decision one way or the other. I’m looking to source a used unit and there’s a big difference in price of the 2 variants.

I’ve got one but have always thought it a bit of an oddity compared to my original HC. The noise floor drops so you notice much more detail. However, along with that, for me, reverb tails are fairly dry and the sound has less air around it. It sounds like you’re in a dead room. I certainly wouldn’t downgrade but like a lot of these things it’s different but not necessarily better for everyone.

The only way I could do this I suppose is to buy both and decide which I like the sound of best and then sell the other one without too much of a financial hit I suppose. If the DR was a clear cut improvement for most people (or not) I might just go with that recommendation.

@Devil_20, whilst I have not compared the 2 I did own a HiCap DR on a 202 for a while and felt the sound did not differ in presentation with the additional PS added. It did however improve my engagement with the music so I put that down as a success! The noise floor will be lowered a bit also. I figured it was worth the money at just over the cost of 2 powerlines. A powerline further improved the 202 when added to both the HiCap and NAPSC.

I’d think most people would say “improvement” but for me it’s about perhaps improving one set of attributes but trading off some others. Each of us have different priorities. On balance it works for me but it took some getting used to.

They are both good but I upgraded to DR and was very happy with the change.

Having said this though if you are still using a UnitiQute as a source then you should look to upgrading this first, A used NDX will cost less than a Hicap DR and give you a much more significant upgrade.

I’m not really sure what you mean by the noise floor being lowered. Should be much noise in these amps should there?

Hi TD. Yes I’ve already decided to bin off this idea of a minimalist system fronted with a Unitiqute2 front end. I’ll either keep that and the NAP100 as a 2nd minimalist bedroom system or maybe the DAC-V1. Until I can source a dedicated Naim streamer I’ll dig my Linn Akurate streamer out of mothballs and use that for a bit. I realise that the streamer will give a better improvement before the HiCap but it largely depend which units come up first. I know what I want to end up with medium term as I may be buying units I cannot yet commision straight away.

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