It has been a while since I have been lurking on these forums, but a lot has happened since the last time I posted. Have had some mixed reactions on the personal side of things, but great feedback on my speaker journey. Which ultimately led to a pair of Ovator S400 speakers. I have been enjoying my system thouroughly ever since and have even been able to add that long overdue HiCap to the Supernait, which proved to be another step in the right direction.
Speakers are still not really positioned optimally for soundstage, but do produce the best overal tone and bass response in my room to my ears the way they are placed currently. Compromises have been made particularly in width (just over 2m apart and somewhat short of 4m from the listening position, 5M11 wall tot wall) to free up space around the speakers. Soundstage extends past the speakers baffles but is in no way very wide. It’s pretty well defined albeit a little cluttered in the center space between the speakers. This factor could still use more experimentation, but the fact that i’ve not cared much for it and have been enjoying everything i put trough the system says a lot to me.
Ever since i’ve added the HiCap in December, the sound has gained in body and power without sounding overblown. Gains were made in the DAC department too. I use both TV and an original chromecast (using Spotify connect 320kbs) into the Supernait’s internal DAC to great satisfaction. I have read may a topic regarding the inferiority of the Snaits internal DAC and Spotify to many other external sources, but to me it was the internal DAC which led me to the original Supernait back in 2016 and am still very happy with it as a source. That being said. The CDX2 is superior to the DAC in terms of overal SQ, but only if you know what to listen for, and only with very well recorded stuff. While both sources are free of speaker boundaries, Eagles’ live performance of Hotel California is wider and bass is a tad more agile compared to the somewhat thicker low end of the DAC. Which i don’t dislike for the majority of music i listen to.
Fact of the matter is, ever since i’ve added the HiCap, The convenience of Spotify/Chromecast into Snait has been my primary source and my trusted CDX2 hasn’t been used all that much, if at all. Which has lead me to questioning many times if it’s time to sell/trade-in the CD player and go for a stand-alone Naim streamer. Discussing the topic with my dealer last year has made me doubt it at the time, for they felt there is no other player quite like the CDX2 in terms of fun factor.
So right now, i’m mostly curious of what other people think of this step in my situation, knowing that i’m perfectly happy with what i have today. I’m thinking pre-owned ND5XS or NDX both of which should be obtainable within a reasonable budget.
What i’d like to gain is:
-Less boxes/interfaces
-Better SQ from the DAC and also equal/better performace from TV, as opposed to the Snait DAC and preferably closer to CDX2 levels of performance.
-More flexibility in terms of connectivity. I order of importance: bluetooth pairing, Hi-res streaming services and maybe even a NAS but without loosing the convenience of casting/spotify connect.
-Remote control! I don’t like the idea of solely using a dedicated app to control everything.
-The option of eventually trade in the Snait for another Integrated for the DAC would be redundant.
Another route alltogether would be the NAC272+250 but that would render even more boxes useless and would for that matter be a step down in terms of upgrade ladder steps.