My happy place
Plans for the next upgrade?
A second 555PS?
I’m planning to add another PS, but first need to change the rack. I’ll probably design it myself.
Sold our house last year and now on to the next project but here’s the main system pic. Had a good opportunity with a new room to build a custom unit with power distribution, cable access, cooling and internal racks with decoupled shelves so everything is child-proof! There’s membrane bass absorption built in the rear wall and the cabinet behind the L/R speakers. System is N-272, XPSDR, 300DR, ATC SCM40+C1. TT is a Denon DP59L. There’s a Denon AVRX4400 in there too with in-wall/ceiling KEF Ci series for 7.1.4. Will post pics of the new one when its done, and aim to make space for some of the vintage gear in various rooms.
Very nice - lovely Denon TT too !
What’ wrong with Fraim Tom? Cheers -
Lovely! Reminds me of my Previous Supernait and NDX - beautiful combo and probably the best two box solution from Naim.
Best. George.
Lovely system…congratulations !
May I ask if you found the HiCap DR expendable…
ie it didn’t do much for you… ?
I see from the posts that there is a plan to but a new one at a later stage as you felt your 5 year HiCap DR got you a better deal currently.
Thanks - had LP12, Gyro SE, Logic DM101 and Rega P3 in the past but the Denon is the one we’ve kept. It really belongs with our 1980s 32.5/HiCap/NAT01/135 system, but that needs some TLC and I haven’t resurrected that fully yet!
Yes @anon93526344, the decision was purely economic on this occasion.
I have an open dialogue with my dealer who i’ve been buying kit from for well over a decade and always came back to as they are realistic and honest and have always been super supportive.
He had another customer who had expressed an interest in an ND5 and that was the start of me negotiating letting me have his demo NDX2 at a price that worked for both of us. To make it all work out I added my HiCap DR to my offer and we did some adjustments on the values and cash amounts to a point where I could live with the outlay!
Lets be honest here, even with a decent income and a hobby kitty, these black boxes are a massive outlay and with a young family and priorities sometimes hard to justify! Thankfully we all have a love of music and it’s a key part of our family shared time, the kids call my home office the “Disco Room” for some reason…
If I could have done, I’d have kept the HiCap for now, I’ve owned that almost from new, that was an ex demo one as well and I know it’ll improve the SN3, however having now almost completely replaced my system with new kit I found the SN3 + NDX2 as a two box system gave me enough to satisfy my needs for now and later as
funds allow I’ll get a new HiCap and eventually an XPS DR, maybe an ex demo one for example.
I did kick off a seperate thread on this specific topic as I was keen to understand from others moving from a SN2 to a SN3 if the HiCap was as essential an addition as it had been with my previous NAIT’s. I’d used my HiCap on a XS-2, SN1, XS 2, and a SN2 for reference. It did improve those NAIT’s and proved to be a valuable addition to those systems. I felt the best combo for me was the SN2 + HiCap DR.
I’ll likely have this 2 box system for a while now as it settles in over the coming months. I’ve added a Fraim rack, both boxes are using Powerline mains and I have a Hi-Line IC. I may well move to a SL IC if I can get one at a favourable price, I’d not pay full retail for one personally.
I’ve got my eye on a pair of demo Kanta 1’s but that’s just a tweaking urge, my PMC’s do a very good job in my view and I enjoy their sound.
Lovely…
Much thanks for the lucid and clear response.
Living where I am and with no chance for audition…I was mulling or fancying the HCDR to go with my SN2 …which is ex demo by the way.
I picked it up at a dealers in Munich in 2018 . I was to go to the trade show this year too but alas…We are all in this terrible scenario.
Take care…njoi the music and stay safe…
Kids give us a different perspective and we all value it very much
Best wishes.
They (kids) certainly tamed my aspirations and box count when they arrived!
I’d say if you can get a decent demo/used HiCap DR that’s less than 5 years old and aim to pay around €800, you’ll find it will give your SN2 a nice improvement, bottom end frequencies will be tighter and more controlled with better timing and decay and the midrange soundstage opens up a bit making it more airy. I think once you add one in you’ll not want to take it out again!
I deliberately didn’t connect mine to my SN3 as I knew it would make the decision to let it go more difficult!
The positive is that they do come up used fairly often and for me are great value and benefit almost anything you power them with, certainly a perfect companion for the NAIT’s especially the Supernaits.
Found the picture quite nice for some reason and am bored out of my… working as a teacher I Stayed at home for 2 weeks because of a cough. Returned and worked almost a week, then my youngest woke up with a cough this morning.
cheers, your rack looks really good, and bet it cost a fair bit more than my diy effort at around £350.
Welcome Danblakemore. After 30 years with Arcam I joined Naim family last year. First with cd5si then xs3 amp. Hope to get nd5xs2 when things get back to normal.
Nothing wrong at all. The Fraim is a well-designed solution in terms of taming vibrations.
I like the design of the rack I have, to which I made some simple mods. It offers some basic isolation and can easily be moved, which is great considering the whole things weighs around 260 Kg.
I’ll probably build something equivalent in terms of design but with better vibration control.
Hope you’re doing well.
How are your upgrade plans? A NAP500DR ?
I suppose everything’s stalled at the moment…
Nice…you certainly don’t hang about. How are you finding it compared to the Nd5?
Music room
Slight alteration to previous post but still enjoying it. Great place to hibernate, in these strange times.
Perhaps too early to say as both the NDX2 and the SN3 it’s feeding are new and still running in.
Initial comments from a short listening session last night is that it’s more composed and open compared to the ND5. I’d expect it to be at its best with an XPS powering it, that’ll come later, but as a two box system and considering it’s not run in, it’s sounding more analogue and musical than the short listening time I had with the ND5 on the SN3.
I mainly got the ND5 (almost a year to the day) to establish if it was the right streaming platform for me. I also spent the last year evaluating Roon as well as Qobuz and Tidal integration. Overall I think the current Naim ND range does a good job and gives a well integrated user experience. I had prior to this gone through a cycle using a mix of iFi and Chord DAC’s driven by Audirvana and a Mac and some basic experimentation with Raspberry Pi based setups.
My requirement was to reduce clutter and system footprint and if required to add in external PSU’s to refine the performance. I’d still say my end game with this system will be a 4 box setup with the addition of a HiCap and an XPS, I don’t see me adding more to it beyond that. I may look at SL IC or speaker runs eventually as a finishing touch!
I’ve now managed to trade in all my previous systems apart from my CD5 XS and build up a new system from scratch.
I didn’t try it myself but I imagine the ND5 would pair more favourably with the XS NAIT’s, I did at times find the ND5 congested in the mid range and somewhat digital in it’s sound signature at times, it was mostly pretty good and easy to setup and use but I did find myself hitting its limitations fairly often, nothing major but enough to make you think a move to an NDX2 would help to resolve that to an extent, I think that’s likely the case here and I still have a year or two ahead of settling the system in and optimising it.
Beware - it’s a slippery slope!