See what you think… they do need some good running in as with all speakers and electronics… and I found their dedicated stands worked best over my other stands… finally I have found the balanced input preferable to the unbalanced input… I prefer the sound of my Naim NAC 552 as opposed to not using… that 552 really does bring something to the enjoyment and feel department and gives that Naim sound. But do use good quality UnBal transformers to convert the 552 outputs to balanced…
I use Canford inline transformers… they only sell to trade and not consumer, but if you talk to them nicely you can sort that out
One of the things that hits you is the clarity, definition and musical feel in busy complex recordings… I am sure that is the benefit of actives…
The timing and phase seems good, along with the sound space/stereo image, no doubt helped by their diminutive size.
I do find they need good rear space however with their rear facing reflex port and significant low end energy when present in audio.
Does the 272 sound better with Roon?
Are you streaming Tidal via Roon?
Did you originally get a Small Green Computer box as an endpoint and then replace it with an RPi?
In due course I replaced it with an EAR868PL, but all these things exist in a context. The ear worked superbly with my EAR534, but also with my 300DR …as does my Townshend Allegri.
How the Pre3 would work in your system I couldn’t say. I picked up the Pre3 with VBS for a good price and used it for a couple of years, but I found the Bel Canto hardware was NOT the easiest to shift.
Is the VBS in the Belcanto a power supply a-la-Naim?
I’ve seen a Belcanto DAC pre, the 2.7? the BC taxonomy is totally new to me and I’m struggling to make sense of it (eg the 2.7 is a newer than the 3.0?)
I wouldn’t say the 272 sounds any better via Roon, if there is a difference it is negligible. I don’t currently use Tidal, but I did have Qobuz running via Roon last year. It worked pretty well.
Well spotted! I did try a Small Green Computer earlier. This SGC used a different approach whereby Roon “pushed” audio to a regular network endpoint on the 272. From the 272’s perspective, it does regular streaming but you can use Roon’s UI. I had a lot of technical issues such as the 272 suddenly increasing volume to 100%! I was unable to resolve the problems and so gave up.
The RPI with Allo Digi One Signature is fantastic. Very stable and sounds great.
How close to the rear wall are yours?
I’ve seen reviews say 1.5M is good!
But that suggests a very small speaker in a large room.
How far apart are yours?
And what length and make/model XLR cables are you using?
To even test a pair of these speakers with my 272 I’d need a good balun or unbal converter box and very long XLR cables, but that’s not easy to achieve when there’s a fair chance they might not sound good.
Hi Jim,
The ATCs are about 70cm from the rear wall, its not possible to pull them out much further without tripping over them. They are about 3m away from each as I am from them (equilateral triangle).
I’m using a DIN to XLR from Witch Hat. You don’t need a converter box to go balanced to unbalanced.
Yes the VBS is the PSU and can power up to three devices. The power cables come in two flavours, the more expensive being better.
The 3 series is better than the 2 from memory. I had the 3.1/VBS as I wanted to experiment with removing the pre-amp, which lasted all of a week. At the time I was using the EAR864 which has no remote functionality, which is a pain when streaming.
Overall I thought the 3.1/VBS may be a tad better than the nDAC/XPS, but I would hate to have to put money on that, and no doubt system dependant.
Naim is a LOT easier to sell on than Bel Canto, and suffers less depreciation. BUT, the Pre3 is very flexible and sounded very good in my system with both my Naim and EAR power amps.
That said, system dependancy is such a MAJOR factor. I would say that with a selection of speakers I always preferred my EAR534 to my CB250s, but with the SBLs they were on a par. You need to try for yourself in your system to know.
You do need for optimum performance a converter to go from unbalanced to balanced (the grounds and levels are wrong otherwise). I have found with Naim NACs there is significant performance boost and a lower noise floor using the correct converter such as a high quality UnBal transformer of the correct impedance - especially in my case with with the NAC552.
As a kludge you can wire directly certainly for temporary connection as you will get audio through - but you won’t be getting your true Naim performance.
Vendors of specialist leads like from Flashback explain this on their sites for example, as well as professional audio equipment manufacturers - and of course you can see this technically as well if you don’t want to take anybody else’s word for it.
Think of it like putting a Yagi connecting to a Coax lead for FM without a BalUn. It will work - but the gain and field strength pattern of your Yagi will be compromised, as well as you will couple increased noise from the Coax shield into your tuner (ie higher noise floor - and noisier less accurate stereo).
Before ordering my 40 actives, I demoed 19A at home for over two weeks. At the same time I had about half a dozen dac-preamps in home demo. Mytek Brooklyn, Naim 272, some Bryston pre with dac-card, EAR DAC4, Metrum Acoustics Jade, PSAudio DirectStream and Linn ADSM. I’ve written about the results in previous ATC-threads here but in short: 272 didn’t impress me after coming from Naim DAC + SN2 setup. It sounded somehow… raw and lacking. Mytek Brooklyn was probably the weakest sounding of the bunch with flat and boring sound signature. I mean, ok for the price but nothing to grab your attention. I actually bought the Jade but ended up returning it. Extremely revealing and clear sound but maybe even too much so. PSAudio DS and Linn ADSM were clearly the best of the bunch. Would’ve probably gone with the DS but ended up needing the Space Optimisation of Linn and got a good deal for second hand unit. Couldn’t be happier now, extremely good one box setup with active speakers.
The NAC-N 272 is an excellent all rounder and in the main over the last five years had been our go to pre amp with and without an XPS-DR or a 555 PS DR with ATC’s SCM19ASL’s, SCM20ASL’s, SCM40ASL’s, SCM50ASL’s, SCM100ASL Professional monitors, AE AE1A’s, Kii 3’s and D&D 8c’s.
