First of all, it’s far more user friendly than my big system. The digital volume control has more granularity, it’s safer because you can set max volume, I can control all of it from my iMac, the remote does everything and is backlit. It doesn’t require line-of-sight operation.
It’s far more forgiving than my big system. I can put together a huge playlist with Roon and with my big system I’m constantly skipping tracks or changing volume. With the Atom HE I just sit down and enjoy the music and almost never have to do anything. I find myself singing out loud and beating time with the music.
I have no idea how bass would perform on bigger speakers because I’m not into bass. The NAP 250 DR should be capable of good bass reproduction.
I have Harbeth 30.2’s in a small apartment. I never play very loud and I almost never listen to music recommended by Tidal.
I’ve tried fronting the Atom HE from my ND555 by connecting it with a pair of RCA’s. If there is any difference, it isn’t much. Of course it may be masked because the HE converts analog to digital and then back again.
I don’t believe in free lunches so in a different space, different speakers and with different music my 2-box system might be a big disappointment. For me in my space, with my speakers and at my age and tastes it is extremely satisfying to me.
I don’t need the money so I don’t need to sell the big system. It was just a matter of that expensive resource sitting there unused.
The cost of the HE, a used 250 DR and a Chord cable was less than $10K. The Ansuz D2 DIN/DIN cable I use to connect the ND555 to the NAC 552 cost more than I’ve spent on the 2-box system.
I am keeping some expensive Ansuz ethernet cables and an Ansuz Power Switch along with Ansuz power components. So others may not experience what I’ve experienced.