Current system.
Sources
Moded Mac mini with external power supply running Audirvana
Cyrus CDi
Chord qutest DAC
Supernait 2
PMC twenty 24s
I am looking for more warmth of base and more “richer” sound.
Consideration is to sell the PMCs and buy Naim Avator S400
Any suggestions ?
forgotton to mention. I have a moded Naim PSU attached to the Supernait. This made a jump into the direction I am looking for.
Try and listen to some Kudos speakers if you can. I went on a similar quest a couple of years ago, and bought the X3s to partner my own SN2, and now Chord Qutest, after a disastrous year enduring the Proac D18s I’d taken a gamble on via popular auction site. Biggest improvement of any single change in the chain I’ve ever made. The problem I had was a lack of presence overall, the Proac speakers just had no guts. And I don’t mean in the bass department, although they didn’t extend particularly low, but they just had no real depth or weight in the mid-range, which leads to a thin sound lacking any kind of richness or warmth. Problem well and truly solved since X3s arrived, along with being vastly superior in many other ways.
For the record, I did wonder, being second hand and all, if something was wrong with Proacs. Bearing in mind the reviews being mostly positive, I found it hard to believe they should sound that bad. Then I demoed PMC 25.23s at my dealers, and they had the exact same problem. I’m not saying they sounded like to Proacs in every sense, but shared the main thing that annoyed me about them…no guts.
Presumably you have experimented with speaker positions?
Assuming you have I’d look at source options first with a view to perhaps changing the Chord DAC for a Naim source, maybe an NDX2. It may make the improvement you need as the PMC’s you have are hardly shabby!
Another consideration would be to try a Hicap DR on the Supernait.
Presumably you liked the speakers at he point of purchase? As trickydickie points out the front end could be improved…the new Naim streamers would be my suggestion, should be better than the Cyrus cdi…do you need a cd player, or a nas and streamer?
Though if you really like the Chord sound, they do better dacs.
Assuming you chose the PMCs because you liked the character of their sound, how about the twenty-26 or Twenty5-26, which will give better bass (and mid) performance, or (much) better still the Fact 12 or even MB2, or if budget is more limited than those last two the older EBIi crops up from time to time.
You might also try an amp with more power. I have experience speakers really coming to life in a big way when adding few hundred watts above the SN.
Thanks. I had an NDX and compared to the (modified) Mac mini fed into the NDX the sound was not as good as fed via the Qutest via either USB or other connections. The NDX sound got closest as a streaner with a highline. I decided that the NDX was expensive compared and the mac mini and hence I got rid of it and the Highline. The speakers I liked at the beginning and were “different” to my previous - KEF Q900 which had punch but not very subtile. Adding a hicap got more of the sound I was looking for. Maybe the supernait 2 is not punchy enough.
…late to the party and FWIW, I run a SuperNait 2 with NAIM Ovator S-400 and it is a sweet combination.
Good luck with your decision.
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