Love the 272 please update - 1 click like post

And which is better?

Has anyone compared them?

(Speculations are not that helpful if you have not had both in your house, preferably at the same time.)

That’s a sensible stance, and exactly what I thought until very recently.

You’ve said that for years, Timmo.

I’m not by any means trying to persuade you to do otherwise, just wondering how many owners have tried it.

Had 272 and 282 at same time … is that helpful?

Yes.

But did you ever switch off everything on the 272 except the preamp and add an external psu?

No, I used a very poor power chord on the 272, sit it on the floor, hit it with a rubber mallet (a few times) and placed a running bread maker on top of it. Then I compared with the 282 and hc dr fed by a power line, all nicely positioned on the isoblue.

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Surreal image.

If I had that gear I’d enjoy making those comparisons.

And the 272 won handsomely, playing your favourite music as you ate some delicious bread.

.sjb

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So much love/hate for the poor old 272, what on earth did it ever do to polarise so many.

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Just bought a preloved 272 to replace my trusty old AV2 and allow the NDS to get back to residing with my 500 system. I know its now a’ legacy product’ but just for stereo skytv,apple tv,Iradio,blu-ray,tidal,its fabulous.Seems to have a lovely synergy with the DR250,its a bit of a gem,love it.

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My 272 is setup this way Jim using the 272/555DR as just a preamp with everything on the 272 turned off with a Qutest feeding the only enabled input Analogue 1 DIN.
Also I have removed the Ethernet lead from the 272 and back to using the supplied remote control.
Now before people start stating there too much waste or redundancy lets face on the used market the 272 go for around £2000 and when I first purchased the 272 everything was in use, DAC, Streamer etc
The quest to explore Qobuz, Radio Paradise FLAC service and better DACs is moving at a fast pace so for now using the 272 in this way is appealing and sounds excellent, no urge to try the 282 or 252 and this allows me to save for a 552.

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I would tend to agree that using the 272 as just a preamp seems rather to waste its capabilities. The integration of streamer Dac and preamp brings real benefits. If used as just a preamp a 282. /Hicap makes so much more sense.

I must say that having lived with the NDX2 for a week now, the functionality is amazing. Inbuilt Qobuz is great, the ability to play catch up programmes from BBC sounds is amazing and you even get the picture of the show on the NDX display. While there are some ongoing software issues it’s a heck of an achievement for Naim and they really deserve credit for something so user friendly.

It’s certainly brought home to me what the new platform can do, which makes it all the more exciting that (in all probability) a new platform 272 is around the corner. Who really wants a streamer, a dac and a largely unused 272 as preamp when a 272.2 could do it all, and if the NDX2 is anything to go by, with a big step forward in sound quality to ice the proverbial cake.

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Yes but still no word on it’s replacement, I’m beginning to think it may not materialise.

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Yes, me too. My “temporary” Hugo2+2Go is starting to look more permanent. The lack of information coming out was kind of suspense building initially, now it is just annoying. If you take the temperature of a bunch of threads here (like the Mscaler TT2/Dave, or DCS ones for example) there has been a definite shift of late to one of resignation that it is time to move on. Disappointing really, and all the issues with the Naim streamer software do not help either. Great amps and preamps but the digital source is becoming more important and people like DCS are showing the way more than Naim. Its almost too late…

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Couldn’t agree more, all of Naims major competitors have a streaming per amps. While it’s true some here aren’t interested in reducing boxes I’d say there’s as many are.

Naim make excellent world class new generation streamers to be fair, as many on the forum attest to. It’s just that the 272 hasn’t caught up with the new technology unfortunately, maybe it will, maybe not.

The current 272 is never going to catch up as it’s already out dated, however it was current when it was released and one would hope that a replacement (if any) would be at least current. There’s lot of manufacturers making excellent streaming pre amps, seems odd for Naim not to cash in on that segment or simply dismiss it altogether.

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@Pete_the_painter @davidhendon

Guys,

Hence my saying it’s a matter of opinion and my qualification of broadly. True I haven’t heard the 272 up against the 202 but 2x up against the NDX/SN and once against ND5XS/SN. Funnily enough it was the latter that left the greatest impression, hugely impressed. But different speakers, different environment each time so it’s all subjective.

Regards,

Lindsay

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That’s the problem for all of us I guess it’s all subject. :+1:

With a fair smattering of self-justification thrown in! It always brings a wry smile to my face when I read the predictable ‘what I’ve got now is just so much better than what I had’ remarks.

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