Supercap and 282

If the Supercap only utilises four channels to. of

If the Supercap only uses four channels to power the 282, would someone be able to explain the benefit over dual HiCaps which I believe offer a similar supply. Is it that the Supercap offers a stepping stone to the 252? Many thanks Gary.

Proper Naim earthing (*), bigger PS - and - yes- a potential route to a 252 or 52.

[* With the twin HC’s the earthing arrangement is slightly compromised - compared with using a single PS - either HC or SC - I understand.]

However… I have two HiCaps on my 82… :sunglasses:

Cheers pal.

I’m not sure that the PS of a SC is bigger than that of 2 HCs.

I’d like to see the va rating of the sc transformer and how much capacitance it has. Then compare that with 2 HCs.
I don’t have access to an SC otherwise I’d be able to work it out myself. And yes, I get the slightly compromised earthing. But how would I hear what that means?

When I owned an 82, back in the day, I added a second Hicap and it made virtually no difference. I then swapped to a Supercap and it was much better, and you also lose a mains lead. The Supercap is just a better power supply, irrespective of the size of its transformers.

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Thank you.

Fairly sure that the Transformer is bigger…

As to the Earthing real world effects - I could not say. But that’s what NaimLore says… :thinking:

The transformer in the HC is 500va from memory. If the SC is more than 1000va then I can start to see it!

I think that the argument may be that a single, bigger transformer is ‘better’ than 2 smaller ones…

My NaimMemory does not know what size the various transformers are… sorry… :expressionless:

One factor that has not yet been mentioned is Naim’s long-standing practice of selecting components based on their performance tolerance to specification. In the pre-DR days, Naim measured each voltage regulator (among many other components) and saved the best ones for the Supercaps, using the good-but-not-quite-as-good ones in Hicaps etc. This really does make a difference to sound quality.

So while product specifications do help, Naim is careful not to publish information on all of the specifications that really matter to sound quality, as this is part of the company’s secret sauce.

Transformer size alone doesn’t explain why a Supercap makes an 82 or 282 outperform one with Hicaps.

Hope this helps, BF

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And in practice it really doesn’t matter. The proof of the pudding is, as ever, in the listening.

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On my 82 I found that adding the second Hicap made a significant improvement to SQ. Moving from 2 x HC to a Supercap may have a small improvement, but I also had a plan involving the SC, and anyway, I needed the HCs to power other units.

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I really hate the SC talk. It gets me thinking about trying one. Each time my dealer lends me something, it tends not to go back. He has had enough money from me this year. Most recently for RB3000, which is excellent.
Fortunately this is one move my dealer has not pushed. His view is stick with 2 HCs. The only reason to get a SC is if a 252 is on the cards. I’ve already told him if I move from a 282 it would be for a 552. Something that is unlikely right now.

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I found a second Hicap a worthwhile addition on the 282 when I had one. The Supercap was better again but at a price.

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Same here, with a 82. Adding a 2nd HiCap was relatively inexpensive, for me. An affordable step.

I am happy with that. Not planning on looking towards a Supercap.

Adding the SupercapDR to my 282 was a massive upgrade. It made going from a 272 to 282/HicapDR seem minor by comparison.

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Adding a Supercap to my 82 was one of the most significant upgrades I did. But I went from Flatcap to Supercap. Obviously I ended up with a 52 so it’s clearly a gateway drug

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I had an 82 with one HiCap and it didn’t really work for me (in my system and my room). That was a strange and very rare event in my long Naim history. I had the opportunity very soon thereafter to get an olive Supercap and that was one of the biggest improvements to my system I had heard in a long time. Absolutely changed the sound of the 82 and the system as a whole. Since then, a lot of small, regular changes and I now have a 282 and SuperCap DR and it sounds great.

It did make a difference for me as well.

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