Stacking components

Hi is it safe/okay to stack a Naim DAC V1 on top of a SN3?

Is it “safe”? Yes. Completely. Is it ideal for performance? No.

But at times even the most ridgidly dogmatic of audiophiles bumps up against the realities of available space and these things cannot be helped.

Do insert little bits of paper under the feet of the v1 otherwise they will mark the case of the SN3 forever as the rubber ages.

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Great advise. :ok_hand:

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If you must stack it, put the V1 on the left side of the Supernait and it will keep it further away from the big transformer in the amp.

In a warm room, keep an eye on the temperature and make sure there is some ventilation around the boxes so that the cases can dissipate heat if they need to.

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Or non-adhesive felt circles.

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I stack My SCDR on top of my 300PS, with isoAcoustics dampers in between them. When I had a Fraim rack they were on separate shelves. Now I have HRS EXR racks. The latter performs better, despite stacking the two PSUs.

I think the answer is, it depends. See for yourself which sounds better.

IME Isoacoustics kills most of the bass, and leaves a fake impression of pure mids and high. For Naim boxes being so sensitive to where they sit on it’s hard for me to stack this way as I treasure a more balanced sound.

At least as far as stacking my PSUs my experience doesn’t match yours at all. Since I moved on from Fraim to HRS EXR, even with atacking my SCDR/300PS with isoAcoustics in the mix the performance of my system is much better. I also use isoAcoustics Gaia Neo II under my speakers. The bass response in my system is really pretty amazing.

I say good riddance to Fraim with the conventional wisdom of each component on its own shelf. I had that for years, and since moving on from it there is more magic, more music in my playback.

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Personally I would never stack components. It can lead to thermal issues which may not be immediately apparent or indeed apparent at all until your components prematurely fail several years down the line. It can also lead to other performance degradation issues. It’s just not good practice at all. If I absolutely hadn’t got room for another shelf I would make a small platform with legs out of acrylic or wood to support the one component above the other. It’s not ideal but at least it allows for much better ventilation then direct stacking and also provides some useful mechanical isolation and minimises other interactions.

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Haha. Agree about isoacoustics albeit on speakers. Killed the bass and guess what’s left.

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That can be remedied with 6 massive subwoofers though :wink:

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I did get a Rel T5/x to help with a pair of PMC 20.26s. When I changed to twenty25.24is, and removed the iso things, I think i worked out where the problem was.

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Personally I wouldn’t stack components on amplifiers due to heat or other issues which may affect sound quality. I stack a streamer on top of a DAC and a linen placemat is between the components to prevent marks and scratches.

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Nothing better!!!

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And Ă  lamp.

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Probably need six of them, with proper resistive values, and Naim PowerLine cables of course.

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I’ve heard that an Atom just doesn’t come alive unless there is a lamp on the top shelf. Without lamp it’s just lacking something. But with a lamp it really sings. Apparently it might take 10 or 12 lamps on home demo to find the right one though.

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With Naim amps the SQ deterioration of stacking is truly audible. I bet it’s not so with other brands.

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Yes, I only stack Naim amps when they are not in use.

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So cutesy!

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