Great replies, many thanks.
Guinnless - thanks for the detail that only the Supercap 2 can be DRād.
Dan_M - thatās encouraging if Supercap 2 has improved on 2 olive HICAPs as thatās what I have, though in reality have gone down to 1 HICAP now that Iāve gone active again, at least until I can find the 3rd older HICAP.
Steve - Iāve borrowed several items from a dealer in recent months and I wasnāt bowled over by the difference the HICAP DR made vs the olives but it was undoubtedly a bit better. Also, from what you suggest a HICAP DR would be close to an original Supercap, but a Supercap 2 would be potentially better. Yes, could save for a Supercap DR, but I guess when you see come across older Supercaps on sale you wonder if itās worth the near Ā£5,000 outlay compared to an older model. The bottom line is a Supercap/Supercap 2 could be a bridge to partnering a NAC 252 earlier if I planned to go Supercap DR eventually (even upgrading a Supercap 2 if I found one).
JosquinDesPrez - I find myself in a similar position preferring vinyl - Iād like to get an NDX 2 (and itās definitely better than my Nova into the 282 as Iāve demoed one at home), but still prefer vinyl - preamp improvements should benefit (or reveal!) everything. Another thought is upgrading the LP12 and/or new cartridge seeing as Iām currently using an AT OC-9 MK II which is great value but possibly a weak link.
Allante93 - yes 2nd hand Supercap DRs are probably hard to find, in fact Supercaps seem to be, I suspect primarily as they are sold quite often with partnering equipment.
Steve - I demoed the 250DR/300DR last year (I have older olive 250s) and the grip the 300DR gave especially at low levels was amazing. Perhaps I tried too many components together as I plumped for a secondhand NAC 282 out of many components tested, mainly because my older NAC 72 seemed to have noise on one channel, though that could have been other olive components Iāve now serviced. As Iād been planning to get my SBLs active again 2xNAP300DRs would have been prohibitive when I already had 2 NAP 250s, but Iād imagine itād be a phenomenal combination. Another reason Iāve queried about NAXOs/SNAXOs - the SNAXO 242 allows different amps for HF and LF and I wonder if Iād get away with 300DR for LF and NAP 250 for HF, whereas my NAXO and SNAXO 2-4 would require identical power amps to avoid a completely schizophrenic unbalanced output. The SL interconnect is certainly on the radar as well as a Powerline (but where?) - is it logical that a SL interconnect should come before SL speaker cable, would certainly fit in the āsource firstā hierarchy. I tried some ex-demo SL speaker cable which I wish Iād bought at half price, but the length wasnāt quite right if Iād have cut it to go active but would have been fine passive - the reality here was it sounded a lot thinner than Iād expected though did do unusually positive things to the music.
Svetty - thanks, sounds as though the HICAP DRs are quite an improvement on my older olive HICAPs in this case, again I wonder if I need to address source first my upgrading the LP12 and replacing Nova (which could be relocated) with an NDX2.