The Atom HE seems like a brilliant product , I wonder how it compres with 5 or so years evolution to a 272 ?
Has anyone had the opportunity to listen to both ?
Assuming you want an analogue preamp, there are two choices. Top of the range is Vega G2 (2.1 now). With more facilities, such as WiFi, phono, internal server, but less sophisticated streamer/DAC, there is the new and cheaper Altair G2.1, which has the same preamp.
The 272 is a brilliant piece and I’m content to wait out the next gen replacement. I have no interest in going back to a stack of boxes and quite content with my current 3 boxes and SQ they afford.
The 282/SCDR is awesome, hard to put into words what a great pre amp this combo is, fed by the ND5XS2 / MScaler/ Qutest the depth of the music is something I haven’t experienced before, simply stunning.
The ND5XS2/202 is about £5000 and the NDX2/282 is over £10000. If we assume that cost and SQ go together then where would it sit, I wonder? Perhaps somewhere in the middle, with the addition of a PS taking it to the next level.
Outside of the Naim world there is there is the dCS Bartok at around £12500 or even the Chord Dave at £9000 could be a competitor as most people at this level of geekiness have servers which could provide it with the necessary input.
I wonder where the 272 sat in the product line before the new line of streamers was launched and wether it makes senses to add a replacement of the 272 to the current lineup? The 272 looked really like a bargain as it was priced the same as the NDX.
So basically the replacement modell could be designed to the NDX2 pricepoint, but of course this is only possible if the streamer/dac sits below the NDX2. I think that i’d love it to be at the NDX2 level, but that would make it just a NDX2 with an added volume knob…Not sure if Naim will go down that route even if it would be the perfect product for me.
I doubt it, there is a hierarchy to be maintained.
The last time I checked the Porsche sports car line up you could draw a ‘dead straight line’ through a performance/cost comparison between the Boxster/Cayman/911. Cynical Moi? (‘Miss Piggy’ Emoji required here.)