I will start by saying that it has and continues to be an ongoing journey over the past 7 years since my introduction to Naim after purchasing a nova and there after catching the Naim bug. I no longer have the nova and keep moving on to greener pastures. Lol.
Just curious for your opinions. I started out this year with upgrading from a early model Nap 250-2 non-dr to a new Nap 300 dr (rest of system is Nac 282-2/SC non-dr/HDX/XPSdr/nDAC/Naim (full fat) PLs though out, SL loom/805d3/2 small Rel t-5i with naim bassline blues and recently purchased Rega P10. My next upgrade to be completed by the end of this year is a ND555&PS. Following the idea of source first & feeling the need to simplify the system with a better front end along with a little lessen box count.
My question & concern is do you think the Nac 282 will be good enough for the nd 555 & won’t affect the 555s peak performance too negatively within the system ??? The long-term plan is to find a rebuilt or pre-loved 552 dr hopefully in the coming year or 2. The 282 has served me well with the 250-2 & now the 300 dr in the present front end configuration up to this point but feel concern that moving forward to the nd555 the 282 may be totally out of its depth bottled necking performance and becoming the weakest link.
I agree that the 282 would become the weakest link in your proposal, but if the 552 DR is your end game, then I don’t think there is an issue in getting the ND555 first.
There is an alternative here though, and that would be to get an NDX2 and run it with your XPS DR, and then upgrade the pre-later. I run a NDX2/555PS DR with a 552 DR/300 DR and find that to be a very good and well balanced set up. It would certainly be a much lower cost option, for a top-end system.
So, I think, set the end goal/budget first and don’t worry too much which order to go in?
Yes, the end game is to get a 552 which don’t pop up here in the US super often used. Just feel at this stage the best move would be to go all out for performance with the ND 555, but just not sure how much the 282 can stand up to the challenge. But will find out soon.
The 555 will be absolutely fine, and there is no need for any concerns. Don’t forget that you also need the 555 PSDR to enable it to work. The 555 has the metal feet and internal suspension, so can be more finicky about supports. I assume you already have Fraim or some other good stand.
I ran my ND555 with a NAC282 for a year and thought it was wonderful. I now have a NAC552 and the system is more wonderful. I upgraded my system as opportunities presented themselves, before the 282 the 555 fronted a Supernait 3 with HiCap and that was great too. If you were building a system from scratch then getting a good balance between the relative performance is easier and allows you to get most value out of the spend, but I still enjoyed my unbalanced system whilst I was on my journey.
I have a similar set up but with an XPSDR. I am very happy with it. Although I would say that I found my 805D3s (good speakers though they are) did not really do the system justice and subsequently acquired Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 3s. Thats something you may want to think about in the future. Best of luck whatever you decide to do, and get a home demo if at all possible!
For years before the CD555 was available Naim’s top end system was a CDS3/XPS/552/500 and it was mighty fine. The OPs source whilst we might say legacy is still excellent. Whilst I live happily ever after with a 282/SC in my case if I were to upgrade it would be a 552 and if I were the OP I think I’d seek that 552 first.
I recently bought an nd555 for 52/135
I do Not know how the 282 compares to the 52. think the 52 is more (if not even slightly above) 252 range.
But nevertheless- it works perfect.
The ND555 is a very well-rounded source in that if offers-up the music quality that the rest of the system can handle without absolutely demanding they are excellent before it can shine.
I find it a sumptuous source of music information presented musically in a way that initially can sound unimpressive, but it has a clean low-level noisefloor that presents all tiny musical detail in the music-weave and the sense of timing beyound the basic PRaT stuff is excellent.
It is not an initially impressive but later leaves you cold product - it has depth to be mined out of it with system upgrades ahead, but will shine through any good Naim system IMO.
For sure the ND555 will sound vastly better as you improve other system parts, but it is so good a source that it can be a basline for the system as you in future decide to improve other things.
I have only owned b&w speakers and I have always liked there sonic signature, but will say In the long-term after upgrading the pre I was kinda guessing I may out grow the 805s and may need to move on to something else. So also my thoughts exactly.
I can agreed that after living with what I considered a very balanced, super magical, transparent, 3 dimensional and utterly engaging system (in the stated Naim pre dr classic system before I up graded to the new 300 dr 8 months ago) I can agree the system now does sound a bit unbalanced & and definitely more source dependent. But also sounds incredible when the source material is right. Sometimes adjusting to upgrades takes patience.
No, I haven’t tried a 252 in the this system. The long-term goal is to just skip the 252 and jump straight to the 552 and maybe get a superline & used the supercap for that. We’ll see.
