NAP200 recomended upgrade?

Picked up a new Uniti Star today, the Naim website lists the NAP200 as the ideal upgrade. The power of the Star is the same as the Nap200, would it really be a noticeable upgrade?

Content enjoying the Star over my old Qute/NAP100 but interested for future, would have thought the NAP250 was more applicable? Thoughts please…

I put a 200 on my Superuniti a while back. Did it sound better? Definitely. Was it worth £2k? Absolutely not. If you can get a good deal on a used one (remembering to factor in servicing costs if it’s old) then maybe it’s worthwhile.
I think you’ll find a 250 has a much bigger impact, albeit at a higher cost, and then you might want to consider if some of that cash would be better spent on a source upgrade.

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Thoughts? Why are you thinking of an upgrade on the day you bought the thing? Why did you buy an all in one if you then want to upgrade it? Wouldn’t an ND5xs2 and Nait XS have been more sensible?

Try a Powerline mains cable and Quadraspire isolation feet.
I’ve a Nova and they made a considerable improvement to the sound.

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Im not, just noticed thats what Naim put on the website, they put it for all items. Just seemed a odd choice to me

On a similar note, has anyone followed Naim’s suggested upgrade for the SN2 by adding a NAP200 to biamp suitable speakers with effective results? Mine are B&W805 D3’s and I’m considering a home demo. Experience of others would be appreciated. Cheers.

It depends. If the Star has enough power to control the B&W, then biamping provides little, if any, benefit.

But, if the speakers could really use more power to control them, then biamping would offer a major improvement.

Most Naim users will advocate making sure the amp you have is suitably matched to the demands of the speaker, and therefore to avoid biamping. That’s nice in theory but not always cost effective or practical.

I’d say, those particular 805 D3 shouldn’t need more power than a Star to drive well but I could be wrong.

As to upgrading Uniti with a power amp… a power amp is only as good as the preamp that feeds it. I’d be greatly inclined to keep any Uniti product to a one box system and only think about power amps if you need to solve a speaker handling problem. You won’t get the full benefit of how great a NAP200 really is without a suitably matched preamp.

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I think Halibut is right here. Certainly you can put a NAP200 on your Uniti but there would be better ways to achieve a better musical experience. If I already had a Uniti then I might go down the Poweamp road as an interim particularly if my speakers were more demanding. But I wouldn’t start from that position.

Regards,

Lindsay

When i have a demo normally try the upgrades at the same time and factor this in to my purchase decision.

If you want to have upgrade options, don’t start with the Uniti range.

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I dont, it was Naim that suggested it. I suspect for one reason only…

Let’s imagine a new updated 272 appears. Someone buys a Star. They want to upgrade. They can do that in two steps. First they add a power amp to the Star. Then they sell the Star and get the 272. Or 282 or whatever. It’s all logical and in the Naim tradition of step by step upgrades.

The responses you have received, including mine, are because you phrased your post as if you want to upgrade, rather than as a theoretical question.

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Why request thoughts on an upgrade if you don’t consider a change in any case? I guess I am a dinosaur seeing no point in pointless questions… Hey ho…

Sorry for wasting your time and not being clear in the question I was asking.

This is a discussion forum, and lots of people waste time on here! So I don’t think you need to apologise - in fact I thought it was a perfectly reasonable question.

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Every question has a point – it occurred to the person asking it, so that’s the point of it. We might deride it for various reasons, but we also might just move on to the next thread. Bona fide intent to buy something is not a prerequisite to asking a question.

Naim’s “recommended upgrades” CAN be head-scratchers once in a while. I think it’s wonderful that Naim provide a forum for people to come ask about them. In this case I agree with the sentiment that adding a NAP 200 to a Uniti Star, per se, is not a well-valued change or “upgrade.”

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Not comparable, but I added a NAP200 to my Unit Atom and I was very happy with the result. More flow, more dynamics and more effortless. Not sure if it will be similar with the Star but the NAP200 is very fine sounding amp, which many people prefer over the NAP250 and even NAP300. There are multiple threads about it on this forum, but guess it all comes down to personal taste.

So the only thing that I can say is: give it a try, I don’t regret it for one moment that I added the NAP200.

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