SN2 vs SN3

I guess we need to wait for WHF to review it… I know that many absolutely disregard what they have to say or their reviews and awards, but looking at the past decade or so, the only Naim amp they awarded was 5si, (apart from unity range) and it came out at the same time with sn2. Now owner of both myself, I would definitely affirm that this award was more than deserved, for its price range certainly. SN2 got their 5 stars, but the review was boring with no meaningful content, no award. Later they included it in the top British amps of all time… What I am trying to say is that their reviews compared with other well known media are a piece of crap, but the ratings are accurate and awards are going really to the products that truly deserve those. At least from my perspective and gear I owned, which was reviewed by them.

My point with is that 5si is still a top piece of amp, in its price range of course, and well thought to be sold to the masses, it is well accepted still nowadays and many people are pretty happy with it, including myself for many years, until i decided to move to sn2, mainly due to its reduced price (20% off), probably due to release of sn3, so could not resist. Same cannot be said about sn2 though, it is truly a magnificent piece of gear, but definitely not for the masses and rather eccentric I might say, probably that’s why WHF included it in that GOAT list, and they actually might be correct. So I am now kind of curious what they have to say about sn3, or actually how are they going to rate it.

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You are right, I personally disregard WHF completely. Opinions on this forum are far more accurate/useful.

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Problem is it seems like you are the only one in the world that has purchased a SN3 so far :upside_down_face: Where are all SN3 owners??

I’m hearing the SN3 next week…and, assuming the best, hope to have one in a couple of months.
With some other new bits :smiley:

I’m more and more thinking of keeping to the integrated option…

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Hi, I have had SN3 from first day of release,and think it’s great,but I never owned SN2 so can’t compare.There have been quite a few postings by SN3 owners across several threads,I don’t know how you haven’t seen any?

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You must add a Supercap DR to your SN2 to get the best out of it. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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It’s amazing :wink: had a few weeks now. With NDX2. Simply sublime. Every day gets better… honestly don’t think I’ll need to upgrade to separates ever, the sound is fantastic. XPSDR due to be delivered today too… actually excited to see how it can sound better. Anyone used a hicap dr yet? Considering down the line but thinking maybe totally unnecessary.

So, any potential SN3 owners that are at present SN2 users, you will need to be running an ND555 and 555 power supply as source to truly notice and benefit from the change. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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At least NDX3 is needed as a source since it would be the natural partner.

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Seems a well made amp. I’m tempted to go have a listen, but I don’t think it can beat my nac72/HiCapDR/250DR combo. :-):innocent:

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Using a Nova as a streaming front-end for an SN3 seems to be quite an inefficient use of funds. If it were me I’d repurpose the Nova in another room, or sell it off.

You’ll note from my post that I was waiting on an NDX2 and was using the Nova as a front end in the meantime.

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Hollow,

I took your remarks (It remains to be seen if the overall investment was worth it in monetary / sonic terms over the Nova,) in this context, and remain interested in your thoughts on the overall upgrade from Nova to SN3 + NDX2.

Of interest is your level of uncertainty as to how this is playing out thus far. As a (happy but curious) Nova owner, and noting it is now a long journey to demo at a dealer and impossible to demo at home, living vicariously on this one is the best (only) approach. The reviews of SN3, particularly Andrew Everard, which describe it as very close to the next step of separates, and your own similar experience that the Nova is very close to the next step of streamer plus integrated, are very useful to armchair shoppers and dreamers like me!

Thanks.

Regards alan

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Yes, the HiCAP will give more refinement and has been worthwhile for me with a SN2. The XPS DR will give more to the NDX2 though, it’s quite a significant life and the improvement will be immediate. I suspect you will have quite a broad-smile moment - enjoy!

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Hi Alan it’s too early to tell as I only got the NDX2 today, the SN3 is definitely a step up amp wise on the Nova but I’ll have to give it more time to judge whether the streamer is better, the Nova feeding the SN3 in AV bypass was actually very impressive which says a lot for it’s pre and streamer. I had wondered about keeping the Nova as a front end and buying a 250dr to give it some oomph, anyway I’m hoping the NDX2 & SN3 will shine in a few weeks

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I’m confident this is going to work out well for you.

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I had intended to swap my SN2 for an SN3 but my dealer said they are backordered into November (in the U.S.). There is no way for me to demo an SN3 so I’m sticking with the SN2. I didn’t want to wait for it.

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The SN3 has a better transistor insulation than the SN2. A technology originally created for the mighty statement amp and trickled down to the DR amps

Now down the SN3.

It’s the new ceramic insulation

As such lower noise floor and more lower bass grunt

This is also in SN2 & XS2

That’s interesting. Is there any article that says this ?