I bought my 222/250 in early March and the second I played it I knew it has a huge improvement over the NDX2/Supernait 3/HiCapDR that I had been using for the past couple of years.
Prior to that, I had a ND555/555/552/300DR system that was on loan for shows and musical evenings and had used it for about four or five years. That was a very special system and obviously, you get used to a system at that level and anything less begins to sound very ordinary indeed… so when I actually had to buy a system (I couldn’t afford a 500 level system in one go, even with the 300DR instead of the 500), I ended up with the NDX2 based system with the Supernait 3.
I added a HiCap fairly early on, and it was a nice improvement, but didn’t really change the world much…
Then I borrowed an XPSDR for the NDX2 for a long weekend and that made a substantial difference to the whole system… it meant I could listen without getting frustrated with it. Had I kept the Supernait system I would have certainly added an XPSDR or even a 555 because the addition of the power supply for the NDX2 was so significant musically I would consider it an essential upgrade.
Anyway, as I said, this was all replaced with the 222/250 I bought in March this year and instantly I was taken back to a performance very close to the system I had got so used to a couple of years before…
It was much closer than I was expecting. I kind of thought it was going to be about ‘half-way there’… if I was lucky.
But it wasn’t.
At all.
In fact, there are some aspects that were actually better. Much more defined pitch accuracy and much cleaner…
It’s also much more stable in terms of absolute sound quality. Previously, the big system would have good and bad days… it didn’t bother me because there weren’t many ‘bad’ days and the good days were sublime… there was many a night when I found myself still listening at 4.00am, conscious that I had a flight to catch or an early drive that morning!
So I knew already that this new classic was something special and after a few weeks of this I was really wondering what the NPX300 would actually bring to the party.
Obviously, I had had a demonstration of the system with and without at both Signals and other shops I deal with, I’m lucky in that it’s part of my job, and every time the NPX300 made an obvious improvement.
However, I had always known I would have the PS as soon as I could afford it, so picked one up a day or two before the Signals show to test it and make sure everything in the system was working well as I would be using it on our Confidence 30’s in a couple of days time.
When I got home with it, I played a couple of tracks on the basic system to just get a quick reference point, thinking all the time, this is sounding very good as it is, will this actually make the improvements I’ve heard before or was it just expectation/conditioning I was experiencing on those short dems.
I needn’t have worried!
The second I connected it and played that first track I just swore out loud to myself… It just took the entire system to a different level again.
The next morning, I packed the system up and took it over to Signals in preparation for the show the next day.
So to sum up… the 222/250 is a system I could use as a final system (and I am VERY fussy). I would have no hesitation in recommending it, as is.
If you can afford the NPX300 there and then, then go for it, it’s that big an improvement. But if you can’t, get the basic system first and then add it on later. But you may find that you are enjoying the 222/250 so much, you use the money to take the family on a decent holiday instead!
For me, who is used to very fast, uncoloured, monitor quality loudspeakers, the source and amplification has to be right… there is simply no room for error. Especially when you are playing to a mixed audience who have high expectations.
The 222/300/250 will be my system for both home and event use for the foreseeable future. I’m that confident in it. For home use only, I’d have been ok with just the 222/250, knowing I could make a really significant improvement by adding just one box.
I hope that answers your question.
And sorry it took so long… I just wanted to paint an accurate picture of my experience.