Morning all,
Can anyone shed a bit of light on buying used Hicap2’s?
I’m looking to buy one to power my N line / Lingo1/ LP12 CYMBIOSIS.
I’ve found a couple which are 18-22 years old since manufacture. With a service, are they likely to last a good while longer?
Any thoughts ?
Cheers Simon
Anything with a service has a percentage chance of lasting longer on those replaced parts at least.
Thanks. I’m just trying weigh up if it’s worth spending the money to start with…
In theory they will last indefinitely as long as service facilities exist. They might need some attention every 10 to 15 years to keep them sounding at their best. Ask the dealer if they can tell you the service history, or get the serial numbers and ask Naim yourself. It may be worth having a service organised before you install them if it hasn’t been done.
I often wonder why Marantz, Sony, Kenwood, Technics, etc can go 50 years without being touched while NAIM gear must have an expensive “service” every 10-15 years. Yes, I know this question has been asked before but I’ve yet to hear a convincing answer.
It often doesn’t ‘need’ a service it just sounds like new with one and preserves the kit. Sometimes a service is more than what the kit is worth.
Naim uses different parts, different capicitors, which are the main things to be done on a service. It’s effectively a re-cap and check over!
Other stuff just dies and is worthless such as a 40 year old Marantz CD player, which can be bought used on eBay for £50 for lower but good models.
Get a Hicap DR as new as possible is my advice.
Yes, a Hicap 2 can be serviced for £200 or so at Darran at Class A.
Naim will charge more.
Or just buy it and don’t get it serviced and see what happens? They are pretty robust but service every 10 years recommended.
It will be like new when it comes back. And be good for another 10 years.
If you refer to Stageline N ?
Then you can power Stageline up via AUX2 from your preamp.
However a Hicap would be quite an upgrade for your entire amp combo.
(Well, I don’t think a 40 year old NAIM CD player would fare much better!)
Naim don’t service CD players anymore apart from failures to CD555 and CD5Si as far as I know.
The amps, pre amps and power supplies if serviced will go on forever as far as I know!
The CDIs, CDS2s and CDSs are still going and have held strong used values!
I loved my 2 x CDS2s, although didn’t have thwm for long. Was worried on 2nd one about it going wrong.
But Naim HiCaps, Supercaps, and other power supplies, integrated amps, preamps and power amps can all be serviced without issue.
No routine servicing just now just selected repairs “ temp hopefully “ 
I recall Nac 112 and early Uniti’s can’t be fully serviced, along with a few tuners as well.
Maybe Naim have a list to get a clear overview ?
Yes, they have had issues before as already established by @Richard.Dane. it will all happen in due course.
It was the unavailability of such components that stopped the manufacture of Supernait 3 so any DR box needing repaired is a hopefully temporary door stop.