What is your earth connection like? From a brief skim it would appear not very good what with all the popping you’ve been complaining of. If you have an electrician in get him to check the quality of your earth.
I’ve been struggling with this myself, starting with EDF ENR cutting the cable to my earth rod but even after it was restored there were still problems. A later visit from the electrician revealed that the earth resistance had gone up again and though he brought it back within the legal limit there were still issues with my system, until recently when we’ve had a few days of substantial rain after not very much for well over a year. Seems the moisture has improved soil conductivity enough for the system to ground effectively again, It’s even lost the tendency to motorboat if I connect the Korf arm’s ground wire to the superline.
A poor earth has more subtle effects on sound quality too and a full Naim system with its star earthing scheme could well suffer more than when there’s a foreign pre in the middle.
Is it worth trying a 332 with the 250? Things have changed alot with Naim preamps. The 332 and 250 NC share a synergy.
If you prefer the Ear 912 with the 250 then all good. As others have said it would be interesting to see if you hear any interference with a different pre.
When I changed my phonostage to MC not long ago I heard little noises up close to speakers with no volume through the speakers. I am 8 feet from my speakers and hear nothing so it’s not an issue for me. Nor is slight transformer hum. If you are up closer against your speakers then you will hear more interference.
This could be so many things. And once you tune into it, it can become an obsession.
It’s sounds to me like the 250NC is what you want. It will all work out very soon!
I agree, it was a bit of obsession, but now much less.
The Ear certainly gives nicer tones vs the 332. The 300 dr sounds nicer and fuller vs the NC 250, but is slower and fatter, and doesn’t work so well in my system and room.
No problem at all. Apart the little noises I have to resolve and choose the amp between Ear and Naim. The later is quite resolved.
I was messing around with grounding and kept going up to speakers, moving phono stage around between different shelves. I resolved things quite well. Then with space between speakers and enjoying the music, completely forgot about the problem!
Did you have the 332 at home, or just at your dealers? If you can have one at home you would have a full Naim system I believe, with NDS/332/250? At least then you could be sure that you have a correctly grounded system (assuming that your home mains supply has a properly functioning earth installed). It would also give you a chance to properly assess the 332/250 as for me, a dealer demo can only tell you so much.
Nothing is predictable, my EAR 859SE worked quite happily for 20 years, then a few crackles, so I sent it for service. The volume pot, selector switch and a capacitor were replaced. Within months, a popping noise at switch on. Returned again, a resistor and capacitor out of spec and replaced. Again within months, a pop and puff of smoke, one channel silent. This time a bias resistor. But when returned, despite a test report, there was still a silent channel. I found a dry joint where an output cable meets a speaker terminal. I am reasonably sure too many courier trips had not helped. EAR were always helpful, bills totalled less than £500.
I don’t know how old your 912 is, but I had this feeling that a component failing stressed the next one along. I have faith in EAR, one of the consistents is that their equipment is designed for longevity, but we all wear out as we get older. Having checked the other components, it might just be the 912 needs a check.
I don’t want to have a full Naim system….i would already had it since many years, if I wanted to. Before 2010 I had full Naim systems. Something was always lacking. The 300 series are not my cup of tea neither, I spent 2 hours listening to them with similar speakers as mine, at dealer place.
But I will borrow another pre, be it Naim or not, to see if my pre had developed a fault.
I also think it’s not a ground problem for some reasons I have shared above.
Maybe, I will know soon. But I feel it’s not that, because these noises are not constant, sometimes they are quite insignificant, and at other moments in the day they may be more present. I don’t think they impact sound quality also, but can’t be sure. I hear nothing from my sitting position, only if my ear is very very close to the speaker.
This is my feeling with some top end Audio Note and SW1X compared to the 552DR. The tube amps have a huge soundstage. Amazing rich and textured sound with a noise floor that is surprising low, providing your tubes are in good health. However I always prefer the 552DR. It’s that god damn PRAT I tell ya.
I’ve followed your posts over the years. In fact you were an inspiration on me pursuing a tube setup but eventually Naim was my preference.
For source source components I’ve always preferred tube alternatives.
Yes, I was thinking of using a 332 simply to ensure that the whole system was operating as designed, to rule out any compatibility or grounding issues as it seems you are having problems finding the cause.
If you prefer a mixed or non-Naim system, who am I to argue?
Didn’t knew I inspired you a bit. I am glad to know that.
You choose finally a similar path, Naim with tubes. You with a tube dac, I with a tube pre. In both case you have a richer sound than just all Naim.
And we both can’t live without prat
I have various Naim systems. The main setup in the living is Atom HE into hicap/snaxo into 2x NAP 200 into Ovators. I use the Atom HE a lot with my headphones (Meze Classics) but the Ovators are quite a bit better.
Most music sounds fantastic, but sometimes the colour / timbre is a bit off. It sounds just a bit too cool. This is best noticeable with solo voices and piano.
That’s not my main interest of music though and I’m quite satisfied actually. This topic has reminded me of the old conondrum of speed versus colour.
