Mixed Emotions - Goodbye SN1, Hello 252

This evening my dealer is delivering a brand new 252 to replace my SN1. Given the improvement, why do I have mixed emotions? The simple answer is that the SN1 is the first thing I ever purchased from Naim. For nearly a decade it has worked flawlessly, bringing the joy of music each day. My journey continued with a HiCap DR, an NDX and then a 250DR. The NDX became an NDX2 and the HiCap became a SuperCap DR, but throughout this the SN1 has been at the heart of the music. I know the 252 will be fantastic, but a little bit of my musical soul will leave with the SN1.

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Were you using the SN1 as a pre-amp powered by the SuperCap?

Be interested to hear how you get on. The SN1 always had a great ‘boogie’ factor to my ears.

Will you be using the 252 bare or will you supercap it straight away? Looking forward to hearing further updates from you.

You can’t use the 252 bare

Yes, once I had the 250 the SN1 has been purely a pre amp. When the HiCap was added it took the SN1 up a level and the SCDR improved that further.

Oops, I need to familiarise myself with products before asking daft questions! :joy:

Please don’t come back and start a thread ‘252 a bit underwhelming?’ I don’t think I could take it.

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Crispy, I would politely suggest you need to ‘move on’. OK there might be some nostalgia at play here but the 252/SuperCapDR/250DR should/will blow your old SN1 away.

Now sit down, put on some music, forget the SN1 and lose yourself in an entirely new experience.

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I am sure everyone has a Naim Love, mine is the CDi, I have never missed any part of my various Naim systems than the CDi.

I nearly bought a clapped out unit for art/display, for me the Olive range at night, lights dim, glowing :hugs:

Interesting that you skipped the 282 to avoid a mid-step upgrade.

Just fired up the 252. Few songs in and SN1 is a distant memory. The sound is HUGE in comparison.

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@Crispy Enjoy your new 252, it’s an awesome pre. I have the same setup as you and followed a similar upgrade path, albeit starting with the SN2. The 252/SCDR/250DR is a great system - the SN1 (or SN2 for that matter) doesn’t come anywhere close

The SN1 was the worst sounding Naim amp I’ve ever owned. I was very happy to send it packing and move on to a 252.

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well the 252/SCDR/250DR is a new version of that old Naim classic 52/SC/250.

Congratulations !

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Well it certainly sounds very ‘Naim’ in its presentation. Looking,forward to how the sound develops over time as out of the box it is pretty special.

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Enjoy I was fond of my 252… do take care with support, Fraim if you can, and cable dressing… it seems really sensitive, other than that it’s plain sailing and allows you to enjoy a wide range of varying quality sources… they don’t all have to be top notch to enjoy them with the 252

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Thanks for the advice Simon. Always appreciate your posts on the forum. Did a lot of cable dressing after taking out the SN1 and losing a power cable helped. Currently have Hifi Racks stand with everything on Isoacoustics Orea feet. The feet have made a huge difference since I got them along with GAIA for my speakers. Fraim is under consideration but will need to do some measuring and saving first. There is also SL to get, a 555PS for the NDX2, I also need to get a headphone amp / DAC…

The 252 is coming into its own after a couple of days. The thing I love about it is the way it presents all music genres without fuss, from Metallica to Mozart. My dealer summed it up well by saying it is more what it doesn’t do than what it does do.

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Crispy i have the same system as you with a 555PS DR on the NDX 2, i bought the 252 + Supercap non DR second hand and then sent both away to Naim for them to work their magic and service the 252 and DR + service the Supercap.
The sound now is absolutely beautiful and has really come into its own, but i can safely say that this was a left on continuously with a 4 month process of ups and downs before it really sounded sweet, so be prepared for your system to keep improving and eventually settle in.
This does sound like a long period of time i know, but trust me when i say you will know when its properly run in as the sound just all comes together with the sweetest extended bass and sweetest mids and treble you will get for the price imo.

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Hello.

At the moment with the bare SN2 driving ProAc K6, but i am considering a configuration similar to yours, although probably with HI-CAP for the SN2 preamplifier stage and the 250DR to bi-amplifie the boxes.

Did you ever consider, or did, test the SN+250DR in bi-amp mode…?

Thank you in advance and greetings.

No I didn’t. I went from SN1 driving speakers to 250DR. Was quite a step up.