NAC-N272 vs NAC 202 & ND5-XS2

Many thanks for your help James
… and thanks to everyone else who has provided input.
SJ

Many thanks for your help, Nick … much appreciated.
SJ

One dealer who I respect 100% said to me, and I remember clearly, “the 272 is a great product particularly with a XPS or 555 but on it’s own it’s outperformed by a 202”. I’ve never put it to the test but have heard a direct comparison of 272/250 vs ND5/SN2 and the latter did a lot more, better soundstage, resolution etc.

I would agree entirely with your dealer. I spent a lot of time comparing various setups when the 272 was relatively new. I was fully expecting to buy one, but found that separates at any roughly equivalent price point trumped the 272 setup every time.
However, that is not to say that the 272 wasn’t worthy of a place in Naim’s range. Like the Uniti range, it provided a simpler setup than full separates with simpler cabling and an excellent volume control, and it did still sound very good. The wild exaggerations of its performance by a hard core of forum members was frankly embarrassing at times, but still, it’s a nice enough box.

1 Like

Listening to the 272 is more refined, more fluid than the 202 which is more raw, rock’n’roll even with its hicap… I had the 202 and the 272 at the same time and I compared them on several systems, for me there is no hesitation, the 272 nude is better than the 202 on jazz, vocal, blues, acoustic music…

1 Like

Thanks to all. Reckon I’ll most probably keep the ND5 XS2 & re-consider my options. It’s not as if I’m especially unhappy with my sound at the moment, anyway. Certainly - listening to good recording of, say, folk rock/predominately acoustic stuff, where not too much is going on … sounds great. It’s when, if there’s more happening, in a more full-on recording - that I start to get disappointed.
Perhaps I’ll get a used NAC 282 when funds permit. Seems could get (with NAPSC) @ £2k for circa 2006 one & around £2.5k for one from 2011 or so. How do the older models of the 282 (and 202, for that matter) hold up* compared to their modern counterparts ? Cheers, SJ.

  • Re. SQ

Between 272/250, 202/ Nd5xs2 and SN3/Ndx2 there are not night and day differences. They rely on the speakers you use and personal tastes too.
The next significant step, a real big step, is 282/hicap/ 250 with Ndx2/ Xpsdr. At a big cost too.

How would you rate uniti atom he with 250dr?

Badly :grin:. Unbalanced. Weak pre with the 250 dr.

J’ai comparé le HE avec le 272 sur 250.2 et le Focal 1028be, le 272 est mieux (sans puissance) sans hésitation seule la sortie casque HE est un cran au-dessus.

J’ai posté une comparaison sur le post HE il y a quelques mois.

Now, if both the regular pre-outs and the headphone amp use the same pre-amp, how is the difference caused?

Ever heard it?

When one just compares a pre, one hears nothing.

I read again the discussion and observed that I thought the OP was taking about the Atom, not the Atom HE. So I would not be so categorical now, even if my experience tells me that a pre and source must be the strong links in a system, more than a power amp.

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.