Hello
I am actually using a naim nova with dynaudio contour 2.8 which are power hungry speakers.
I am looking to upgrade the power section of the nova considering my speaker.
I don’t want to spend so much money on an additional power amp considering the nova as already an integrated power amp.
I can find, for a good price, an nap 180 or looking to go to 250 olive for more money. There will be a real improvement considering this two amps ?
I put a 200 in my Superuniti, and it was a nice uplift, but nowhere near enough to justify the cost, and I only did it as a step towards a complete system upgrade. I’m pretty sure you would find the same with a 180 on your Nova, and you’d really want a 250 to make a real improvement.
I did a 250 and then 300, both dr on a Nova, both will give a uplift. I ever intended to keep my Nova and that’s important…you need to decide where you are going long term.
Thanks for your reply. I really want to keep the nova, it’s a nice all in one, better than my previous 202/HC/200 and it’s also the only streamer/dac/preamplifier of the new line at this price point. I don’t want to go back with service integration (full iPad control, integrated streamer, upnp, web radio, etc)
Considering dynaudio are power hungry, a 250 is the way to go or an 180/200 will be as good for this speakers ?
To keep costs low, I will go for the olive range or black but not the DR one.
Maybe consider changing your speakers ?
No. There are really great speakers and I love the sound. Just need more grip and speed.
Fair enough, seems a waste to have a redundant amp in the Nova, maybe sell the Nova and go down a different route, value should be fairly high on trade/selling at the moment.
Adding a power amp to an all in one is maybe a good interim solution as others have said.
I’ve had both Atom and Nova, and as I had old Naim kit I added an olive NAP 250 to both quite early.
The Nova is very very good, but the external NAPs for me just add boogie factor and musical cohesiveness - perhaps to some extent it’s partly new vs old Naim sound but I know what I prefer.
While I’ve never heard the NAP 180 with the Nova, I’d be surprised if it were much better and personally wouldn’t ant less than the NAP 250, though in fairness my NAP 250 is due a service so I may not be getting optimum enjoyment currently.
At present I’m using the Nova simply as a source into NAC 282/Hi-CAP/NAP 250 and would aim to go for a dedicated streamer, but the box count will escalate, but I’m used to that.
Ideally I’d try to demo your Nova with the NAP 180 or NAP 250, as they may or may not bring the improvements you expect.
Also fair to say that the Nova will acquit itself extremely well with a lot of music, but other music sometimes seem to lack something with the internal power amp - switching to the NAP 250 usually brings things into place for me, but again we all have different sound preferences and I’d really recommend you try to demo rather than simply purchase blind as synergy with your speakers is also an element which is hard to predict.
This is exactly what I’m feeling with the nova. Some records are beautiful but other are lacking dynamics and soundstage (but indeed really good). It seems is lacking control with complex music.
In fact, the only way to upgrade and have the new streamer line is NDX2/SN2 which will be much more coster than adding a power amp to the nova. I have already looking to NDX with SN2 or 282/250 but really want to keep the benefit of the new line.
So Nap 180 will not be a great improvement considering Nova output specs are similar to nap 250. I will probably wait for a nap 250.
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