I am wanting to buy a used hicap DR or a Hicap with DR upgrades , I have read somewhere that the DR’d versions are less sort after and don’t maintain the same values on the used market or is that not the case?. Would I be better spending £800 on a hi cap DR 2013 without service or spending the same amount on a 2008 hicap 2 which upgrade to DR specs in 2020?.
Any advice on this topic please?.
Makes no sense, to me - but YMMV.
I would buy the most recently serviced one you can find, whether natively DR, or converted.
Or… save more money and just buy a pre-DR HiCap… 
Others will know better than I do, but my understanding is that a DR application makes a power supply or power amp exactly as good as one that was made with DR.
A service 10 years ago and a Hicap from 2013 should equally be good, and for a while longer, but the 2008 item has been serviced recently and will last longer before it needs doing again.
I am not sure how audible the difference is between DR and not DR on a Hicap, but at the margin this would encourage me to lean toward the 2008 Hicap.
I’d take the 2008 version upgraded to DR in 2020.
Deffo take the 2020 one. All dr conversion were done at naim so it’s a no brainier
I’d get the most recently serviced one
This surely is as broad as it’s long.
How so?, interested to find out both same price potentially , I don’t know if the version without upgraded parts has all identical parts in the Hicap 2.
Well I was more thinking about the difference in the sound would be very nuanced if noticeable at all?
I don’t expect any differences in sound quality between a HiCap manufactured with DR and a HiCap with a DR upgrade made at a later point
Thanks
It may depend on what it’s used with. When I had a HC on a SuoerNait 1, the option to have the DR upgrade became available, so I decided to have it done. For me it was transformative, bringing extra transparency and realism without losing the essential musicality I’d had before. It was, by far, the best VFM investment I’ve made in my system.
Roger
That’s my pick, every time.
A HC DR 2013 is about due for service.
I’ve decided to go for the serviced and upgraded hi cap , now I’m confused by the cabling between the SN1 and the Hi Cap DR ?. Looking at the instruction manual it mentions a 240 degree cable from this hi cap to the Supernait and a 4 pin to 4 pin return cable , please don’t tell me that I have to buy two cables
As the item is coming with a 5 pin snaic cable hopefully that’s one of them ….
Yes, you’ll also need a SNAIC4. Pre-amp signal goes from the Supernait to the HICAP via the SNAIC5 (and 2x24V DC power from the HICAP to the SN pre-amp via the same cable) and then from the HICAP back into the power amp section of the Supernait via the SNAIC4.
Can I ask do they upgrade the socket 4 when doing the hi cap DR conversion as it mentions in the manual 240 degree cable ( hi cap 2 ) or is this cable a snaic 5 and always has been?
The socketry on the HICAP remains the same; a DIN5 and three DIN4s. The 240 degree cable that’s referred to is a SNAIC5.
whenever aesthetically wise are equivalent - no scratches, chips etc. i’d go for the DR’d one. Either way both have gone through initial depreciation
Is the benefit of the hi cap it leaves the transformer in the Supernait powering the power amp section only rather than pre and power amp and the hi cap only powers the pre amplifier section leading I presume to an improvement in both departments
Yes, the preamp gets a better dedicated power supply and the power amp gets the internal transformer almost all to itself.