I’ve actually had some success moving my turntable from the top of the rack and restacking putting some space between the SN3 and the XPSDR that was close by before… sounds much better. Thank you though. Will look at alternate cartridges but after the amount I’ve spent over the last 8 months attempting to keep costs down keep thinking about that 252 which is annoying should let it go!!
I am finding the new update has changed how fast I see the NDX 2 in Naim app on my iPad. It seems much faster and stable. In past I would see Qb almost immediately, but others took time, now they seem instant. We are moving in positive direction.
Wonderful thread, thank you. I currently run an NDX 2 -> PrimaLuna Dialog Premium Preamp (just rolls off the tongue doesn’t it) -> Nap 300DR -> Focal Sopra 2s (in red, because that sounds better).
But I’m tired of all the boxes, I want to add a turntable, and have no room, and I’d like better system integration. Integration is solved by getting a 202 (but that’s three boxes, and may sound worse), or a 282 (still three boxes), or a 252 (plenty of room for the two additional boxes in the apartment I’ll be living in after my wife throws me out on seeing the cost). But I wan’t a smaller system!
I’ve been going round this for over a year. I’m tired. So I traded in preamp and 300DR for a SN3, which arrives on Thursday (hopefully), and a VPI Super Prime Scout turntable, and a few thousand dollars in my pocket. Keeping the NDX2 and Sopras.
Let’s hope I didn’t get it all wrong…
I’m looking forward to reading about your system change. Keep us posted.
I got my SN2 in October of 2019. It may have even been the last production run. About a month or so after I got it Naim announced the SN3… but being in the US supplies are still a bit short. Sooo I decided to add a HCDR recently and Holy Cow big improvement. It’s an across the board upgrade! Better bass, mids and top end. Focus is better, images more solid.highly recommended
Just got my SN3 today and it’s been running all day. I love it in combination with my NDX2, fabulous. Rather than hijack this thread, I posted my (long-winded) initial impressions over here:
Does it have a different gain then the NOVA ?
Is it possible that Naim change the gain output ? Or you can instal an attenuator to get less signal in your power amp part.
I believe the gain on the SN3 is higher and they may changed the output. Perhaps it is due to the difference between the Nova’s digitally controlled volume control and the SN3 Alps Blue Velvet volume control.
I became frustrated and sold both. Have since moved on to another brand. Much happier sonically even though my box count increased.
Hey @perizoqui, that’s great to hear and nice to see you are enjoying the thread. Before I purchased my SN 2 and NDX 2 I was convinced that my set-up was going to mirror your PrimaLuna set-up. I linked so many people to you informative thread on pre-amps. It will be interesting to see how your experience of SN 3 develops over time.
Feeling a bit sheepish about some of my former thoughts. I clearly am very much on the steep part of the learning curve. Glad you got the SN+NDX combo. It’s far better than what I had. And cheaper. And simpler. What’s not to love?
Another NDX2/SN3 owner here, running them both bare and after 6 months they’re sounding pretty darn good, the way the world has gone in the past few weeks I suspect I’ll always be running them bare unfortunately but that’s ok. Yesterday I removed my Cisco 2960 and Ethernet cables and now running the NDX2 on WiFi and it’s sounding just great and I’m glad to have removed all the paraphernalia and kept it simple, if anything it sounds better and definitely no worse. My Zen mini which I rarely use since getting Qobuz is now on the other side of the room wired directly to my router. All good.
Naim did a fantastic job with the new streaming boards. WiFi works like a charm now.
Yes, timing was everything for my upgrades last year too. Future black boxes look very unlikely now for me now too, glad to have got to where I am before everything tanked.
@perizoqui There is a lot of performance that’s lurking in your system. When you have the SN3 run in try borrowing a couple of Shunyata power cords, and maybe different interconnects I think you’ll be quite surprised.
Piece by piece I have converted my old mixed system to Naim. The last issue are the speakers and I would appreciate any advice from you experts.
I have an NDX 2/XPS DR, Supernait 3/HiCap and my 8 year old MBL 126 omnidirectional speakers supported by a small Focal sub. The rooms is quite large and the distribution of the MBL’s is wonderful. However, they are quite small and hard to drive and don’t really sound relaxed enough. Any ideas?
If you wanted to keep the MBL’s then you need more power. The MBL’s are very inefficient. 80wpc really isn’t enough in a big room. Your choice is keep the MBL’s and get more power like a 300dr or different speakers. The ProAc D20R is available in White. They sound great and the SN3 would drive them fine.
…the Naim Ovator S400 and
the ProAc D30RS
will work well with your “NDX 2/XPS DR, Supernait 3/HiCap.”
Good luck with your search and decision…
I’m loving my Spendor D7.2 with the SN3/NDX 2 combination.
That’s what I feared. Thank you!
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.