In the old forum there was a number of discussion regarding upgrading a NAC272 by changing the power supply from a XPS DR to a 555 PS DR…
I finally found the funds to potentially do the swap and went into my dealer to listen to hear how big an improvement the upgrade would give…
The setup the dealer provided was a NAC272 + NAP250 driving Kenta 1 - listened with the XPS and then with the 555PS and I must admit that while I heard improvement these were not as large as I thought they would be… I went ahead with the purchase anyway, since I would be looking to upgrade to a NDX2 (or the replace to the NAC272 if Naim ever announce this) and I wanted even the small improvement that the 555PS appeared to provide…
However once my 555PS was delivered, the improve in my home system was a major improvement… I can only think that the Kanta was not able to do justice to all the improvements that the 555PS offered… The improvements I heard was right away from cold… and I was told that the 555PS would improve as it was run in over the next month or so.
The improvements was across the board, deeper better controlled bass, improved detail, and vocals become even more ‘real’.
Very happy with the improvements delivered by the 555PS - (although this is an expensive upgrade - especially when you consider that the power supply is more costly than the NAC272 itself).
One question to anyone who has also purchased a 555PS - just how long does it take to fully ‘run-in’?
I did that last year in hops - started with a bare 272, added the XPS then swapped it for a 555PS in early December. In each case the improvement was noticeable and worthwhile.
I can’t say how long it took or if it’s still improving after 3 months as I don’t listen with that in mind - it’s enough that it sounds superb, and I’m not hankering for the upgrade from XPS to 555.
I have 272 into 150x into Chord Epics into Arivas.
Very nice sound, carefully tuned.
I have around £2.5k that I may be able to use for an upgrade.
Things on the list include:
Radial
Power amp
File storage device (e.g. QNAP?)
XP5XS or 555PS non-DR
Or just wait for 372? Will it ever emerge? Would I need more than that to get it part exchange for my 272?
Interesting thread as I’m thinking the same way. I have 272/250dr/xpsdr Spendor D7. May go to NDX2 or maybe one day s/h 555 so same thought to buy ex demo 555ps dr for now
The more I think about this, the more I think that there is a case for Naim to produce a substantial upgrade from the existing 272, and it’s very likely that it would be possible for them to do it.
However I don’t think a 272-2 with the new steaming board but otherwise the same configuration is a viable proposition as the internal power supply takes too much room and is too great a source of interference. What I do think is a possibility is a 372 (to go with a 300DR) with the new steaming board but requiring an XPSDR or 555PSDR to power it.
It’s largely a matter of electrical isolation to prevent interference between the various subsystems. Even when powered by an external power supply (including the 555), the SQ of the current 272 is limited by two factors:
Firstly, the lack of space means that subsystems are placed a lot closer than is ideal (removal of the internal PSU reduces this problem).
Secondly, there is significant electrical noise conducted out from the DAC circuitry and the old style streaming board (there is are electrical design techniques used in the latest streamers that alleviate this problem).
Unlike pursuing just one of these (i.e. an external PSU alone, analogous to the NDS; or the new streamer board alone), the combination of both these factors may give sufficient uplift in performance to justify production of a 372.
Theres bound to be some *72 upgrade coming this year given the current Roon-craze going on. And if they are smart it should have a classic design tempting us current 272 owners to upgrade
Thats fine by me, I just spent my upgrade budget on a 555DR and Super Lumina speaker cables so I’m out of he upgrade game for a while now … and the tech on the 272 covers my needs.
That’s what I’ve said previously: that what would be good is a power supply free 372, with the ability to take both feeds from a 555PS. The issue for Naim is that it would give two parallel upgrade paths of streamer and preamp and streaming preamp, which is very likely somewhere they won’t want to go. It would cause confusion and leach sales as the separate boxes. But then again, there are lots of people with 272, 555 and 300 who would go for such a box but won’t go to a six box setup.
One advantage of the 272 being the end of the line is that if the multi box approach has been ruled out, then the only thing to do is just to enjoy what you have. And that’s probably the best place to be anyway.
