Stay where you are, you seem to have a very balanced system. The XPS-2 or DR may be a big upgrade to your Ndac and you should be quite content with your setup. I don t think the SN3 is big enough step upwards, unless you really want to add something as a NDX2 down the road.
Before going for any upgrade i would ask myself what you are really expecting. There is always something better out there and searching for it may spoil some of the enjoyment of what a systems purposed is supposed to be: the actual music.
Having just upgraded from a Nait XS2 to a SN3 I couldnāt disagree more, it is a huge step up. And with a HCDR even better though in my case the HCDR is going to have to wait a bit. Sources I use are ND5 XS2 and Michell Syncro turntable with DV 20X2L cart and Rega Aria phono. Both sound much better with the SN3
Yeah, maybe it is worth comparing after all. Selling the XS2 and the Flatcap would allow for a reasonably priced upgrade to a Supernait. There are people on the forum though who prefer the immediacy of the Nait XS over the Supernait so your best bet is to give it a listen. It will be also room and speaker dependent of course.
I had an XS2 and HCDR with a CdX2 / Rega Rp6 front end via a stage line. All into Guru Qm10 speakers. I heard the SN3 when listening to a potential speaker change (Russell K120).
The system they put together had a P6 turntable, via an Aria phono (purely because turntable couldnāt reach the inbuilt phono on SN3 so had to hop via Rega phono stage).
Anyway it sounded so good (I didnāt buy the speakers but they were also very convincing) but it did make me place the order for the SN3 and Rega Aria.
Iāve had it all for over a year and itās a stunning upgrade on the XS2 and HCDR (which I kept and use on the SN).
I could have saved on the Aria as Iāve tried the direct phono on SN3 and itās excellent, on MM Iād say itās more of a slightly different presentation as opposed to a night and day improvement.
In relation to the XS2 (which I also thought was superb) would just say it gives a jump in the realism and body to the sound, everything fills out a bit more with more dynamic swing.
You wouldnāt be disappointed. I would say it took longer to get to its level best than the xs2 on the running in front , was always very good itās just that suddenly you sit there and realise it has taken on a whole another level.
Thatās encouraging I had planned on selling on the Flatcap XS if I made the change from XS2 to SN3 but was not sure about keeping the Stageline as opposed to using the phono input on the Supernait.
I have an Adkit on my mark 1 Akito on the LP12 and am quite happy with that at the moment, so another box less and that would make some space on the rack for a future Hicap for the SN3.