I own SN3 for 7-8 months already. I added used Hicap (non DR) and improvement was significant.
My question, since the beginning of this thread, was - will I hear any additional improvement if I replace the HiCap by HiCap DR.
My configuration is -
SN3 plus Hicap connected by Tellurium Black cables to Monitor Audio PLii 100 speakers
Sources are IFI PRO IDSD streaming DAC , REGA P3 turntable, OPPO 205 as CD.
Interesting question @haimsh. It’s interesting that you describe the Non DR HiCap as being a significant improvement. Is your main point of comparison on the SN3 with/without your current HiCap?
The advice I’ve always been given is to avoid Non DR and DR components in the same system and given what the Discrete Regulator components are actually doing within the PSU, the expectation would be that a DR enabled PSU will have a lower noise floor and cleaner DC voltage vs a Non DR equivalent.
So the answer “should” be that it will be a better PSU with DR and that you would hear the benefits. By how much and if it was worth the financial outlay is down to your ears and wallet mostly.
You can have your HiCap serviced and DR upgraded at the same time, it’ll likely benefit from a service anyway given its likely age from manufacturing.
To quote Naim: Significant as it is, the Naim Discrete Regulator is just one part of a Naim power supply, so we have reviewed and optimised every aspect of the products into which it has been incorporated. Transformer mounting, wire gauge, wire routing, mechanical decoupling, internal layout and reservoir capacitors have all been scrutinised to ensure that the Naim Discrete Regulator’s benefits are fully realised. The result is a demonstrable upgrade in sound quality.
At a cost of £1,000 for DR and service it really cannot be worth doing this - better to sell and buy a DR one, ex den or something lightly used and the overall cost would be less for something that many would perceive as better because newer (even though in reality it prob wouldn’t be). I need to try my non-DR hicap on my SN3 to see if I like what it does. Think I need to run it all in a bit more first (only turned SN3 and NDX on yesterday)
Thanks for this - will give it a try - was the Hicap added recently or early on?
Good insight from both of you and all valid points. I think the service vs replacement consideration will depend in part on where you are in the world and availability of used/demo units. Here in the UK we’re pretty lucky that we can find used/nearly new/ ex demo examples relatively easily which may not be the case in some locations.
Be keen to see what you find Tim with your evaluation of your HiCap, if you have it sitting idle no harm finding a use for it after all!
I added HiCap 2 months after I got the SN3 and noticed the improvement.
I live in Israel, so I cannot service the HiCap to make it DR.
I can replace the used HiCap with new HiCap DR with cost of around 700 pounds
What do you think?
You are absolutely correct with that and I did make a rather silly assumption without realising it! In the UK the service and DR-ing cost is £1,000 but with a non dr hicap being worth around £500, the net cost of getting a new one is also £1000 (1500 new cost less trade in 500). With a 5-yr warranty on a new one, why would you service and DR the old one? Alternatively, an ex dem / used DR at maybe around £1,200 would be a net cost of £700 to make the move rather than £1,000
Thanks for the info - it has encouraged me to have a go, though as I mentioned i am going to allow a bit more running in time before doing so
I cannot help with that - many others have said the improvement is worthwhile, I haven’t tried DR with hicap (when I heard the launch demonstration around 8 or 9 years ago it was certainly a different sound with DR than without but that was not on a SN3 which didn’t exist then) - and although I went from non-DR 555, supercap and a pair of 300s to DR’d versions in my main system, so much was changed at the same time (not just that, but went from hicap on snaxo to supercap and got a 552 in place of 52 which freed up the supercap) and it was a few weeks from send off to return so I was not able to identify the changes in any describable way (this was just before the dr-ing price increases happened)
Naim have come up with a crazy pricing structure for DR upgrades where you have to have the unit serviced, regardless of whether or not it’s needed, at the same time as you have the DR upgrade done. The UK price for a Hicap DR upgrade and compulsory service is £999. So it’s pretty much guaranteed that selling your old Hicap and buying a HCDR is more cost effective than getting a service.
Good point on the costs relative to replacement, I guess in the case of enabling DR and servicing, apart from the case and connectors there’s not a lot that isn’t swapped out hence the cost which of course includes the labour.
There’s a few interesting non DR HiCap experiments evolving here as well in parallel, my expectation is that the DR version of the HiCap would bring the greater benefits having said that but if you happened to have an older Non DR unit lying around looking for something to do it’s no harm hooking it in to try it out I guess.
I love it. Mine won’t be going anywhere soon. The SN3 bare is good but with a HiCap DR it sounds more like a pre-power amplifier to me. The decoupling of the onboard supply is not subtle at all and i think this quite rightly reflects it in the additional price for one off board PSU (HiCap DR). Enjoy.
I’m sure a 282/250 is great! I gave up a 250 for the Supernait and there’s definitely less drive. I’m determined to resist a pre power as long as possible. I have imposed a strict three box limit, but a HiCap is 0.5 boxes and I decided that I can round halves down.
My system, my rules! I think the taxman rounds down? Anyway I was never top of the class at maths, so for my purposes 3.5=3. Makes perfect sense to me anyway, but at the moment it’s all academic anyway as Naim aren’t exactly playing ball. Maybe they take my three box limit more technically?
…if you put a political spin on it, ‘If you understood me, what I was saying is I would never go to 4 full size boxes.’ Please listen a little closer in the future, lets move on to the next question…
I had a strict three box limit but then bought the 300. Oops! Whether your ND555/555PS, SN3, Hicap (four boxes if rounding up) or my 272/555PS, 300 (four boxes whichever way you look at it), it’s such a shame that to get better it means six, SIX, boxes. It’s too many. And the 300 is such a wonderful thing and I wouldn’t want to be without it.
Yes, that’s how I feel too. There has to be a limit. Really stunned at the performance of the system, especially what an ND555 brings, even though I don’t hear everything it can do. If I hadn’t been a SN2/HiCap owner in the past, I’d probably not be hankering after that fourth box now.