I think it’s the lack of “updatability” rather than “upgradability” that bothers quite a few 272 owners.
Everybody sort of understood that the Dac and the Preamp are given and probably noone expect a free lunch upgrades (except.maybe those PS Audio owner who gets got used to free update/upgrades every 6 months allegedly?)
My guess is that if there is a update program so 272 owner can update their streamer software, even for a cost, there will be lots of 272 happy clams and noone will ask the same 272 question every other week…
But this probably is not in the best business interest for Naim. Upgrade by replacing everything creates sales…
Naim have tweaked and refined the old streaming platform a lot over its lifespan, and you can be pretty sure there is very little scope for further changes without a significant hardware change. Realistically, that means releasing a new model, not modifying the old one.
By owner I probably should have said “prospective owners”.
The ones who have already bought in are already bought in, there is very little they would or could do.
And of course, 272 is sounding as fantastic as they were the day they were bought. There is NOTHING wrong with them, indeed it is quite good! I have a 272, if it comes across as I am defamating 272, I am not…
The Uniti 1 streaming and Dac board had been replaced and factory/local dealer upgradeable several times. It is not impossible, it is just that is.no longer their business model.
You don’t. I am not saying there is anything wrong with 272 or their owner. I just couldn’t find a better word for the phenomenon that this 272 question is being raised every other week or so, and long before the new streaming platform even exists as I recall…
I guess I should say clearly. I think it is because 272 is so good that created these questions
If 272’s Dac is just a 200pound add on board like the phono cards, people will just forget about it.
But the fact that half of the perceived value comes from the streaming Dac, people are thinking twice over whether this would fit into their system, especially the streamer support is going to be next to non-existent.
The only hardware upgrade was a 192 capable streaming board quite a few years ago. The new Unitis have extensive changes to virtually all major components, which after ten years, you could say was somewhat overdue. If you tried to apply all those changes to an old model, there would be nothing left.
Yes you are correct English is not my first language.
Perhaps the term “inherent unstable” has caused a lot of reaction because it sounds negative.
I am going to take that phase back. By its nature Nac-272 is a component that may have a shorter time of staying in a Naim based system as compared to other preamplifiers.
I can imagine a statement/252/282/202.being used till the end of my life or even pass on, if I am happy with its sound (and happy to it serviced!). For 272 (or any of 272-2 372 etc), it is highly unlikely due to the rapid change of streaming and dac technologies.
When someone with a 202/282/252 system, updating a new streamer/Dac probably will be less likely to trigger him to change the 202 (unless of course he is upgrading it too). Here the most likely only motivation is upgrade, if he is happy with it, the idea of swapping the preamp will not likely cross his mind much.
For the 272, even when you are happy with the sound, when you need to update the streamer because it doesn’t support the services to replay music, you begin by looking for a streamer that does. When that 2 box system becoming 3 boxes ( streamer+preamp+amp), you start to question yourself why shouldn’t you swap the 272 to a 202 or 282 or even something else, because half of the value you put in the 272 is just sitting there. All of these can be triggered not by a desire to upgrade the sound, but from desire to continue to use the system.
I agree with what you are saying, as a former 272 owner I felt like I was kind of cornered with regards to upgrades. I used an XPSDR with my 272, and Superlumina Din to XLR cable with Superlumina speaker cables. I felt the ONLY upgrade I had left was the 555DR, but I simply could not afford one, they are 13-14 k in Canada. I also own a very good Home theatre Pre/processor (Cary Audio Cinema 12) that was not being put to use nearly enough for the money I invested in it. One day I hooked up the 272 (Bnc out) to the Cary, using it as my Preamp and the 272 as a streamer only. To my ears it actually sounded better than using the 272’s own Preamp, less forward sounding, smoother, and took a little brightness I was getting on some music with my Sopra 1’s. At that point I decided to move on, and found a dealer who would trade my 272/250 DR on a 2016 (mint condition) NDS, so I did the deal. Now I have a better streamer, and am using my Cary a lot more, since I listen to music more than watching movies. I also have active Dynaudio XD 600’s that I run off the NDS. Now I feel like I have many more options for upgrade, instead of one path, which I have already started with a Chord TT2 DAC and an Mscaler up next. Whether I stick with the Cary or not is unknown right now, but I now have many options…
I have been listening DVD video throug Denon 2830 + nac282 +2 Hicaps. I sold nac 282 due to financial issues. Now I want to buy 272 and I wonder if Denon 2830 with nac 272 will sound better due to better DAC in 272.
That’s a difficult one; for sure I believe the DAC in the NAC-N 272 will outperform the DAC in the Denon, but it will be hard to beat the 282 with 2 HiCap’s
Hard to say. I mean, if you use full surround via the Denon, you may get more continuity by leaving AV listening to it rather than the 272.
I will say that decent stereo is massively better than poor surround sound. But the Denon AV receivers are no slouch and if you have a full surround setup, it may be simpler to just let the two be separate. FWIW (not much), this is what I do. I have a Denon AVR-X4000 and a DBT-1300UD (their top end Blue Ray transport only). I do not have any link from this system to the Naim system. Yes I could pipe stereo LPCM to the NDX instead but it’s so much simpler not to. Mainly due to HDMI ARC integration, there is one remote for the TV, BRD, Amazon Fire, and AV processor and everything switches over seamlessly that everyone in the house can use it. They can also use the Naim easily too. If I combined the two in any way there would be additional input switching and for sure people would get confused and frustrated.
You might want to consider this before even pondering whether the 272 is better or not.
The 272 and 282 are different things. The latter is a traditional preamp of very high quality. The former is an integrated streaming source and preamp. If you only want a preamp that will allow you to connect other sources the 282 will be the more sensible option. It would not be sensible to get a 272 just to use as a preamp, as its streamer, dac and iRadio would be unused.
