I’m thinking of giving up on waiting for Naim to replace the 272. Between the no comments and something is happening soon the reality is there’s nothing happening. I am a little annoyed with Naim as they’re allowed customers to follow them down what’s been a dead end, those that were looking to limit the number of boxes now seem to have been punished for their blind loyalty. Anyway time to move on. My current setup is a 272/XPSdr/250dr and I’m thinking of replacing the pre amp with a 252/scdr which means I’ll still need a streamer. One option is to keep the 272 (as streamer only) for a while until I’m ready to move up to the NDX2. Another option is to purchase a ND5 XS2 which is 1/2 the price and would suit as I’ve been considering replacing my Atom in my 2nd system (it’s only used as a streamer) with a streamer only. The down side to this option is I’ll have a redundant XPS.
I guess my question is, is the ND5 XS2 a suitable match (temporarily) with the 525.
It’ll probably be 2-3 years before I can purchase the NDX2.
PS, wasn’t sure if this should have posted in Hi Fi Corner or here.
Good morning. Do you mean a 252 or 552? Remember for a 252 you’ll need a SC PSU whereas the 552 comes with its own dedicated PSU. Neither is cheap! In any event as you say you could keep the 272 as a streamer only which means your XPS wouldn’t be redundant and then wait until you are ready to buy the NDX2. The ND5 is a great player but I doubt would give much of a uplift over the 272/XPS if any.
I think the only advantage of the ND5 XS2 over the 272 is the much more modern streaming system for Tidal, Qobuz and so on.
Personally I would wait a while longer before abandoning the 272 replacement. For example Clare recently said that the web designers are working on mission-critical web stuff and didn’t have time to update the serial number listing on the website. That sounds new product-like to me!
If you bought a 252/scdr then i think you would always be hankering after a Ndx2……and possibly a power supply for it. The entry level streamer is fine, but to do the 252 justice, it really needs the ndx2/xps imo…….and i did demo all 3 streamers with the 252/scdr.
Or as David mentions you could wait……but life is short. The 252/scdr/ndx2 is almost certainly going to be better than the 272 replacement……unless Naim take it up market by quite a price?
I’d run the 272 with the XPS DR as a streamer until you’re ready for the NDX2. A NDX2 with the XPS DR will be well ahead of the ND5 XS2 and is really the natural match with a 252.
If you go down this path, we’ll need to have a party with @Bevo
If it were me I’d be looking at an NDX2 with a 282 and Hicap DR. That would be a lovely well balanced setup. If going for the 252/Supercap I’d be upping the streamer’s PS to a 555DR to keep the whole thing in balance.
As you know, I went from 272/555/300 to NDX2/555/SN3. It’s considerably more communicative and involving and with suitable speakers I’d suggest it’s a very viable option, and one that won’t break the bank or take over the house.
For what it’s worth, based on what I’ve picked up, I’m 99.9% certain that a new platform streaming preamp is on its way. It’s very much a question of when rather than if.