@Mike_S Hi Mike, a good question you pose there. The back story in my case is I had a chance to offload a Naim CD player a few years back and in the process ended up with a almost new HiCap DR PSU.
The reasoning at the time was that I could use it on the NAIT XS I had at that time and then keep it as I swapped that out and moved ultimately towards a NAC282. It certainly added a level of refinement and control to the NAIT XS however it also lost a little of it’s musicality and sparkle. It sounded more controlled but less fun I guess!
I swapped out the NAIT XS and that was replaced by the current Supernait 2 which has always had the HiCap DR looped in to it. In terms of comparison against a bare SN2 it adds a little more control to the bottom end and some improvement to the timing, having said that the bare SN2 sounds very good and given it has a DR enabled internal PSU the benefits compared to the uplift I found with using it on the NAIT XS were more subtle.
If you don’t have an upgrade plan beyond the SN2 you’d probably not find a major uplift by adding the HiCap DR, the SN2 works very well as is, despite being able to add a PSU as I have. I’m actually now thinking I may trade in the HiCap DR and a few other bits including the NAIT XS and get a SuperCap DR, use that on the SN2 for the time being then move the SN2 as a bare amp to another system in another room later.
So summing up, I didn’t really add it with the goal of performance improvements to the SN2 in mind it’s been a good fit across multiple upgrade paths and has potential value across the NAIT XS, SN2 and NAC282 path I had in mind!
If you can I’d try and demo adding a XPS DR to your NDX 2, it’s of course more cost than a HiCap DR but you may well find if your NDX 2 is your main source that you’d get a better uplift in performance overall with that vs adding a HiCap DR to your SN2.
That sounds like good advice thanks. The next challenge would be fitting a XPS DR in my set up. I think I could jimmy up a glass shelve above the NDX2, or hide it around the back somehow, not sure how long the leads are?
As much I value the DAC and output stage of my NDX2, it simply is not in the same league in my opinion as a CD555… do audition carefully.
If the CD555 is your reference and you want to use Naim DACs then I suspects it’s either a used NDS or a ND555 for you.
BTW the Naim technology has matured quite nicely with the new streamers which has allowed Naim to focus on significant sonic refinements over the first generation streamers…
I would say the most leading edge technology in the new streamers is the Zigbee remote control and low noise colour display, the other technology is fairly well established, but refined.
