I have spent a lot of time daydreaming about owning a Nap 300 or Nap 300DR. I have spent a lot of time thinking through the practicalities of owning one. I have read every review I could find on the internet about the 300DR and its predecessor. I have rationalized how the money could be better spent on something else. I have weighed up the pros and cons of listening to one in a dealers listening room to convince myself that my current system which is a Nap 250 is all that I needed to listen to my music.
And then all this dithering and procrastination over the last 3 - 4 years came to an abrupt halt on Friday when James and Henry at Tom Tom Audio left me in their listening room armed with the controller and some CDs that I had brought along to listen to a set up with the 250 and the 300DR. I have read so many Wow moments from other posters on this forum and without being cynical wondered whether the hype had got in the way of the actual facts. All those doubts vanished in a tenth of a moment when I heard the 300DR for the first time. As I am typing this at home Miles is putting my system through its paces with Bitches Brew! AND its going to get even better once it has fully burned in. Lost for words. Cannot praise James and Henry enough for their time. No pressure, just let the system do the talking and me to do the thinking. They played their two systems through the Kudos Titan 707 which have been discussed at various times on the forum. My speakers are much more humble but they have not coloured or diminished the sound that I am hearing thanks to the 300DR. Sadly work is going to get in the way of me listening to my collection of CDs for the āfirstā time again!
nap 300dr is better vs the 250dr. But if you have not a very big room, mine is 19m2, and easy load speakers ( mine are 92db in 8 ohm), the nap 300dr can overemphasize the bass.
My 250 dr works better than the 300 dr in my context.
At my dealer place, the 300dr worked better.
frenchrooster I was concerned that the 300DR might do the very thing that you highlighted but so far I have not heard this. Yes the sound is a little āthickerā than before but no base boom. Hungryhalibut the rest of my system is a 52/SuperCap, CDS3, Nat 02, and the speakers are ones that I made myself.
your room is well damped , with acoustics panels, and 35 m2.
I sold my 300dr. The 250dr is better balanced with my room and speakers. It is more agile and a bit faster. ( 19 m2 with wood moving floor).
The 300dr was too much in my case , the bass was too heavier and was hiding some frequencies.
I kept it one year, tried some acoustic panels, positions of the speakers.
I should not have bought it before trying in my room.
I demoded a 250DR vs 300DR - 250DR had a lovely presentation and focus, real musicality
300DR has just more, for me Ā£Ā£ for Ā£Ā£ it is the best AMP in the range IMO, and yes 500 is sublime but for me and my budget is it 13K more AMP than the 300? well I made my choice and my 300 is going now where
As one not prone to hyperbole, I can get pretty hyperbolic about the 300DR.
From SN2, to 250DR, to 300DR, the 300 really has solved quite a bit about what I thought was missing from my speakers (some of the lower bass octave). I actually committed to new speakers while I still owned the 250DR, and theyāll be wonderful with the 300, but I might not have, had I had the 300 in my system first!