The SN3 provides a nice uplift over the Nova but it’s not night and day different and the Nova holds up very well in fact but the SN3 is definitely an upgrade. I have a feeling that the amp is the weak link in the Nova and the streamer is probably pretty good so I’m not expecting my jaw to hit the floor when I get the NDX2! It remains to be seen if the overall investment was worth it in monetary / sonic terms over the Nova,
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I think you will be pleasantly surprised with the NDX2, even better with an xps power supply.
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I heard the NDX2 played with a SN2 at Audio East Show last year and was impressed with the sound, which is why I’m keen to hear what the SN3 NDX2 sound like.
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A lot of people swear by the S40’s but they dident do it for me in my room
I recently went from 5si to sn2 and you are right up to a certain point, it is flat, very flat, does is lack bass, well, it’s up to personal preference and speakers as well. It certainly is missing a very small amount of low end, although I cannot tell for certain as I have it for 2 weeks now, somewhere around 50+ hours in listening, so it might not be fully settled yet, but it was obvious right after I changed them, that sn2 has a lighter touch in the bass region, but everything else is absolute joy.
I was testing how its pre amp section is compared to the one in v1 dac and I noticed a slightly bigger body when in av bypass mode, but it loses a bit resolution. I hope after burn in sn2’s pre amp gets better, as it is evident that even with v1’s pre, sn2’s power amp is stunning.
I still don’t know what SN3 sounds like, certainly, but I don’t find the SN2 missing anything in the bass region, at least with the K6; and I have other well-tuned systems as a counterpoint. That said with almost over 500 hours of operation already, so I think it can still settle something, but I don’t think much more.
At first, in the first few weeks, 50h.-100h. running, I even opened a thread, quite worried because I found it to sound pulling bright and, yes, with the bass a little loose, and thinking I could have made a wrong decision buying it and I was going to need more reinforcement; but, as I point out, none of that now, after the tuning and settlement of the system, only a really terrific integrated very capable to filling the 144 cubic meters of the room with balanced and coherent sound, in all honesty too…
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Thanks for sharing your experience with sn2, most people that bought it went through same stages in the beginning, based on the comments I have been reading in the past few years. Looks like I am somewhere there currently as far as settling is concerned. Out the box it sounds light in the bass, or it could be just a matter of initial perception and getting used to the power and control of sn2.
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As much as I believe that the SN2 is like this for your ears and preferences (I really do), I have to partially disagree here.
Agile, homogeneous and able to show dynamic nuances: yes.
Sensitive, refined and capable of presenting tonal nuances: not so much.
The SN2 isn’t bad with these, but there is more to be had. Anyway, I still like mine 
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I agree, of course. Although, of course, it all depends on tastes and, above all, personal references; most of our planetary contemporaries would be more than blissful with a simple Dacia or Tata, while many will either never have enough or will not be happy with a high-end Mercedes.
For my part, completely satisfied with the sensitivity, refinement and capability of SN2 to present the tonal nuances; aware that more could still be reached, but feeling absolutely privileged to enjoy something that only a few have access to.
Cheers.
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You are welcome.
For me, one of its best strengths is its great dynamic ability and its absolute bass control. It is also quite possible that the associated speakers make a difference; with the floorstanders I had previously, my previous Exposure combo sounded brilliant, while the same Exposure combo with the K6 was unbearably warm and colored; and the K6, which from what I see are very balanced and very complete in the entire frequency range to let you listen to the electronics and the rest of the chain, with the SN2 are in their sauce, with phenomenal and very articulated bass.
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When I had an SN2 I did not notice great improvement with time/run in but then again, it sounded so good out of the box that it didn’t Need to.
My SN3 is a decent improvement over the SN2 - transients seem better controlled. The improvement in transients manifests itself as better control. The bass sounds a little bit lighter which probably means the notes start and stop a bit quicker.
The differences are by no means night and day but are noticeable.
I used Neat Motive SX1 speakers with both and prefer the SN3’s lighter touch on the bass. As the volume increases so does the punch. An excellent amp in my humble opinion!
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I assume that what you write is a personal experience of a sn2 owner but it is not clear to me if you have an ext psu or not. Psu is a game changer in naim config and what you describe as not strong point let me suppose that ext psu is not in your config
Hi,
you guessed right, these are my impressions after listening and owning a bare SN2 for three or four years. The SN2 is already a better amplifier than several older ones when it comes to tonal resolution and quite colorful. But there is more to be had in this regard. The ones I know to be better can’t match the SN2 in other regions. As often, know what’s important to you and decide accordingly.
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Agree but imho tonal resolution and richer color rendition are preamp game and this is why I think that final verdict has to come after hicap audition. It is a game changer in terms of delicacy, low end control, tonal and spatial resolution
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Hi Piebla, my observations described in one of my previous posts when switching pre amps from the one in sn2 and the one in dac v1, lead to a contradiction with your assumptions – when I use v1’s pre amp and sn2 in av bypass, resolution is reduced, but somehow tones are richer. So I guess these might not be characteristics corresponding solely to a pre amp. Again, I may be wrong, due to the early days of my sn2 burn in period though.
I found my SN2 to be rather sensitive to the power it gets fed. I recently upgraded my power cord from a Shunyata Delta EF to a Shunyata Alpha EF the SN2 just keeps getting better. Everything I’ve done has improved the system… Power block, speaker cables so far the weak link hasn’t been the SN2
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next step, the Betha?
What’s a “betha” ?
sorry, bad joke and bad written: alpha beta gamma…
Sigma is next in the Shunyata line: Delta, Alpha, Sigma.
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