In Praise of the Supernait 2

Hi-Fi Corner
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I recently bought a UQ2 (my third or fourth) from HH for our holiday flat and so much did I enjoy it and the Naim sound after a couple of years away that I decided to try one of the Naim integrated amps that I’d not heard before the Supernait. Not needing a Dac or a phono stage I went for the Supernait 2 a 2018 vintage for a bargain £1,700 and I have to say I’m loving it, yes it has a bit too much gain for my system and no I can’t turn it up to ear bleeding levels with my speakers but if I can tame the bass a little with a Hicap DR then it could oust the excellent Hegel H190.

I say could because the Hegel though not as exciting as the Supernait does get a hold of the bass in a way that the SN cannot and in the long term that will be a problem. The volume issue isn’t as much of an issue because we have new neighbours with better hearing so blasting it out isn’t possible anymore.

So I’m prepared to give the Supernait every chance a Hicap DR and perhaps some Gaia footers for the speakers because it is such a lovely sounding amp.

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A HI-CAP dr will bring some more control and open it up nicely

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Years ago I had an SN2/Highcap DR with Dynaudio Focus 160’s. What a great combo that was, wish I never moved on sometimes.

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I enjoy my SN2 so much - it does so many things well. It is often hard to contemplate moving on from it - which is a wonderful thing.

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Couldn’t agree more, @Bobthebuilder! Funny you say it cannot get a hold of the bass. Even before I added a HiCap DR, the bass is what amazed me; the control it had over the XS2, the only other Naim Integrated I owned. Room interaction, I suspect, has a lot to do with this. Running a SN2/HiCap DR and Spendor D7s—what a combo.
BTW, your Hegel is indeed a nice amp! Oh, and I do have the Gaia footers on the Spendors and cannot recommend them highly enough.

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I’ll echo that my SN3 gained even deeper and more controlled bass with the HiCap DR as well. Not an SN2, but hopefully helpful.

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Thanks everyone for your help. The Supernait’s lack of control over the bass in my system could be completely individual to me due to the combination of amp, speaker and my room in my house and could be repeated nowhere else.

Things as mundane as floor and wall construction of sofa and rug placements can all play a part.

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My apologies if you answered this up thread, but what speaker cables are you using?

I found using speaker cables that comply with Naim’s rated specs had an enormous effect on bass control and resolution.

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I love mine, never thought in upgrading amp ever since I bought it like 3 years ago… well, actually sometimes I fancy a Nait 2, but that’s about it.

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I’m using Witch Hat Phantom but still have some Nac A5 around which I could slot in.

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Phantom is good to go. Leave it in.

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Take care! I was running a bare SN2 18months ago and was loving it. Adding a HiCap during lockdown boredom was a real wow moment though and has led to a (nearly finished I hope) significant upgrade journey. Great fun, but expensive in both time and money :slight_smile:

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Believe me @stevot I’ve been there before and don’t intend on doing it again I’d rather spend my hard earned on records.

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If it’s any consolation I found the HCDR robbed the SN2 of ‘musicality’. The balance of it was altered in a way that when I removed it the toe-tapping returned.

G

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Hi @Bobthebuilder , an extremely happy SN2 owner for many years, just like to add as per your original post, that the addition of Gaia’s should help with your bass issues. Always had decent bass control, but when i added Gaia’s this was improved, along with the absence of bass bloom, smearing the other frequencies. Shame these little beauties were not around a few years earlier.

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+1 for the Gaias. I have Gaia IIs on Kanta 2s driven by SN 2 and have experienced the same thing. The bass is tighter, cleaner, and more impactful. The whole frequency range seems to gain in clarity. They also improve soundstaging in my setup, especially in terms of depth. For a relatively modest investment they have had a beneficial effect in my system and room.

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I’m still waiting for a decent used Hicap DR but today bought a 2Qute to go with my Auralic Aries Mini as I used this Dac back when I had Naim amps and loved what they did a tad too much gain from the 2Qute so I’ve just just bought a used specially made 2 RCA-5 Pin Din cable that’s attenuated to drop the gain by 15db I’m aware that lots of people believe this can suck a bit of life out of the music but it’s an inexpensive trial and the cable was custom made by Flashback Cables especially for use with Naim.

Still very happy with the Nait and looking very much forward to getting that Hicap DR.

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My supernait 2 is one of two Naim items I wish I’d kept, along with my little unitiqute. I liked it even more with a hicap Dr attached

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I agree with you in regard of the UQ I’ve owned a few since they first came out excellent little all in ones and I’m beginning to think that the SN2 is also a Naim classic and at £1800 used a real bargain.

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Well I’ve not added a Hicap DR but have added the Gaia footers and I’m happy to say that the Supernait 2 is staying for good it still has the same issues IN MY ROOM AND WITH MY SET UP when played low and very loud but the Gaia’s have sorted out the Bass and it sounds just right at moderate to loud levels.

It’s funny looking back over the many Naim amps I’ve had my fondest memory is for the 102/Napsc/Hicap/180 perhaps I just got and exceptional set but it was just so musical.

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