Tone Color Nova

Ah, but you’re not trying to drive T&A speakers with a Nova - you have a lot of fine electronics and more modest speakers. That’s exactly what I was getting at in my first reply.

Sure, I cannot say anything about how that sounds. Was more meant to inform that it doesn’t seem to be caused by the recording as such being particularly poor/compressed (at least the Qobuz version). (To my ears - of course there’s nearly always some compression going on)

Edit: BTW how great is it that it’s possible to quickly check it on a streaming service. In the past it would have been like correspondence chess - “I’ll tell you in 3 weeks, my shop has to order the album first” :smiley:

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My system is well documented on this forum, but to make it easy:
Star, B&W 702s2, Ampearl RE-2030, Perpetuum Ebner PE-1010 mk2 with Ortofon 2M Bronze, Technics SL-1210GAE with Nagaoka JT-1210.

Not sure what that tells anyone in relation to this thread.

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Thanks for your great feedback.

I’ll try to provide some more information.

The Nova is 4 days old. It took a big involvement after the first 24 hours of continuous use.

Yesterday I listened a couple of LP’s (ATR, Ortofon SPU, ST-7, Goldnote PH-10). Current and also old records. Great sound, nothing to complain about. Beautiful bodies with voices and instruments, great stage in breadth and depth.

The other sources are Tidal via WLAN (WLAN to the repeater and from the repeater via cable to the Nova). The second source is the Uniti Star hard drive, also via WLAN. Well-known and good recordings are great (Tool – fear inoculum, Keb ‘Mo’, Young Marble Giants, Donald Fagon, …), but many things are a bit musty and overcast. A good example: Chris Rea, he stands in front of me when he sings, lively and impressive. Heard an old UB40 LP yesterday and loved it. Nothing came across with tidal stream. In this case thin and small room. Often the deep bass range is inflated a bit and that might ruin the sound.

To the speakers. At that time I had also heard the B&W 702 and the smaller T + A 2000, both speakers from a different price range concerning the 2100. The T + A 2100 were better for my taste, they sounded natural and had volume. Sure, I can hang electronics on the speakers for 15k € and it will make a huge difference. But I cannot imagine that such a loudspeaker should not sound on a Nova.

Then it could be an extension stage for me. NAP250DR in bi amping. Then there should be enough power. If a new 272 should come then that would be the next step. Or another pre-stage with NDX2. Financially, that is a long way off.

I have SSC Absorber Netpoint 300 under the speakers. They brought a little more deep bass to the star. I’ll take them away today. then I have the power strip HMS Energia MK II on it. I’ll take them out too.

Could it be that the streamer needs more burn-in time or has a defect?

Perhaps it is also the case that the plus in deep bass I have to get used to it first. The star was friendlier and more overt.

4 days! :joy:

With new Naim kit, my experience is you normally get a couple of initial tracks sounding good then it falls off a cliff and gradually comes back over a period of weeks, depending on how much music you put through it!

It’s a shame you didn’t say in your opening post that it was only four days old. New equipment often sounds constrained and undynamic for a while. Just play lots of music, leave the Nova switched on, and see how it sounds in a couple of weeks. Hopefully it will be much better.

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The Nova takes time to bed in, i’m on month 4 and its still improving (more subtle now, but still discernible). Give it 100 Hrs and then judge. Could be that a NAP250DR will improve things. I know some have found little improvement with a NAP250DR on the Nova and others have found it to be highly beneficial. I have Shahinian Obelisks and the NAP250DR on my Nova was a big improvement, possibly because of the Obelisks being difficult to drive and the combination of both relieving the Nova of the task of providing the power amplification, combined with the NAP250DR spaced well away from the sensitive electronics in the Nova works with my particular choice of speakers.

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Sorry for the late information. Hope you are right with the burn-in phase

It’s still my view that the Nova isn’t enough for your speakers, but once it’s run in you’ll know if it’s good enough for you to live with long term.

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Stereophile (www magazine review) tests show
Nova - Naim spec - 80W into 8 ohms & 155W into 4 ohms
Stereophile test - 103W into 8 ohms & 160W into 4 ohms

They have not tested SN3

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Just to offer a different perspective, I use a Nova into PMC Twenty5.23 speakers. When I’m in that room listening to music I’m enthralled. I really rate the Nova, it’s musical and involving with pretty good quality speakers on the end. Yep the ND555 fronted system in the main lounge is significantly better, but it should be for the size and price. In my experience living with one the Nova is a fantastic music player that gives me a lot of musical pleasure, hopefully a bit more running in gets you the same pleasure.

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lent me the naca5 from my dealer today and have been listening all evening. the often existing dull overall tone is somehow gone. it sounds more analytical but still with grove. details are more present, the stage is still good. it would be if everything were done with the speaker cable.
there are minimal differences but exactly the few things that were missing.
got about 4m. I need 3m. should I go to 3.5m with the naim?

The Nova won’t mind the 0.5 meters, but on the other hand it’s most likely also easy to add one 25 cm loop.

I am currently testing the nap250.2 on the nova. clear improvement. bass and middle are more grippy, more punch. clearer details. sound pattern a little darker due to more volume in the bass. biamping made no big audible difference. could be a good way, first a used 250.2 and later a DR upgrade. have just missed a cheap used DR.

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If you want a 250DR it’s usually more cost effective to buy one rather than having a 250.2 converted. With a little patience you should be able to find one sooner or later.

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