I’m after some upgrade advice, as demoing isn’t always that easy and good prices can be found from dealers if you’re willing to buy nationally. It’s all a balance of 1) what’s available 2) what’s the price 3) what’s close to demo.
The obvious next steps are XPSDR, NAP250 or Supercap.
If I had the money to buy two of the above boxes, I could be looking at a NAP300 or 555PS instead?
Ideally I would love to find a dealer who had all 5 boxes to demo at home and all at exdemo prices. Unfortunately, this is the real world.
I’m just after a generally consensus. I’m sure some think the power amp is not sufficient and that upgrade is a must, others that all the money should go into the best source you can buy (so 555PS and keep the NAP200).
All comments welcome. I haven’t listened to any of the above boxes so I’m very interested to here what you all have to say.
Rich
P.s I will get round to a mains treatment in the next year or so.
I would go for the xpsdr, it makes a big difference on the ndx2 imo.
A more outlandish thought is you have those naughty speakers which can easily go active with a couple more ex demo or second hand 200;s😁
I will rock the boat… and noting your speakers are Kudos 606’s, say - NAP250 first. Any version will do - see what you can find. CB, Olive, 250.2, 250DR - any of these will give you a big jump, IMO.
NB. If the 250 you get has not been serviced in the last 8 to 10 years, by Naim or an approved agent, get it serviced. Makes a big difference to any of the regulated NAP’s, like the 250.
First I would say that you should never assume that any such changes to your system will be upgrades until you have heard them and decided that you like the changes, and that they are worth the large sums of money involved. To my ears it is by no means guaranteed.
Having said that, I would start with the NDX2 power supply upgrade first. Only you can decide if it should be XPS or 555. Then try the Supercap (unlike some, I preferred the Hicap on a 282) and lastly the power amp.
Convention would say XPSDR and 250DR first then take it from there. If you have longer term aspirations to upgrade further then skipping the XPSDR and going straight for a 555PS does make sense…
I agree that adding XPSDR to NDX2 is a significant step, but that 200 to 250DR is a bigger one.
Having been down the 1 Hicap- 2 Hicaps/ 1 Supercap road, I’d suggest spending your money elsewhere (though a DR-ed Hicap is better than non-DR).
The Supercap is good value imho only if you are going to jump from 282 to 252 (or old 52) imho. However, a NDX2/XPSDR and 250 can certainly justify that extra step if the cash is available.
I now have NDX2/ XPSDR and 52/ Supercap feeding 300DR, but until recently that 300DR was my ancient 250 - they are that good. I wouldn’t change my old 250 for a new one or for a 300 - it was the DR that made the difference.
Getting an electrician to put in a dedicated radial mains supply was cheaper than any of those of course, and had a not-dissimilar scale of effect.
I’d agree that the 282 and the Titans would really benefit from the addition of a 250 DR.
That’s not to minimise the benefit of a separate PS on the NDX2. I just think the Titans really need a 250 or 300 to perform at their best. Go for a recent model secondhand at a bargain price!
Interesting thoughts on the 250 vs 300? I would love to just sit down and compare the 200 vs 250 vs 300. One of the things I read about the 300 that appeals is it’s ability to sound good at low volumes? Do you find that true?
Lots of good advise here, I’ve never owned the NDX2 so I can’t say how much adding a PS on that would be vs an amp upgrade but I can say as someone who once had a 282/HCDR/200 & swapped to the 250DR, the amp will be a significant upgrade. I found the 250DR to be a much fuller sound vs the 200 (which is generally regarded as leaner sounding), it brought forward far more details while at the same time sounding far more refined/removed a layer of harshness. If the speakers are revealing enough, its like you just upgraded your speakers.
As for 250DR vs 300DR, guess that depends on what your budget allows, where you want to end up & how many steps you want to take in doing so. As a current 300DR owner, yes its better than the 250DR, but at ~twice the cost it should be.
As for the SCDR upgrade, I personally wouldn’t make that a first priority. I too ran this on the 282 & for VFM I don’t think its normally the best choice. If you plan on going the 252 route at some point, it does make sense (which is why I did it) or if you have everything else sorted in your system, the 282 is your end game & you just want to get the very best out of it, then a SCDR might be worth looking at.
We’ve recently been running an NDX2 into nDAC/555PSDR and this has slightly changed our view of the world on how important digital source is. Reason being we’re using a SuperUniti since 250DR has been traded in. At low volume the performance is excellent. Higher volumes we desperate miss our amp.
We’d say adding the best PSU to the NDX2 will let loads more details out. The performance of our digital chain into a SU has been an eye opener.
However, we know when moving from SuperUniti to 250DR that this was a colossal difference with our Sonus Faber, the amp having so much more grip on the bassline whilst providing far greater separation between musical threads.
In your position we’d suspect the 200DR might be doing a disservice to those fabulous speakers. However, if you’re a very low volume listener perhaps a 200DR is adequate.
We think you’d absolutely be in heaven with both a 555 and 300. Maybe lightly used XPSDR&250DR would make a change quicker…
Hey DiggyGun, thanks for the offer, but it’s a long way. Much appreciated though. 2x 250s vs 1x300 is seriously on the cards though. If I thought I might go active, 1x250 in the near term would be an easy decision. More insights on the active system please
For two boxes, the XPS DR and 250 DR in that order. I’d forget the SC and 300 DR unless a 252 features in future plans, in which case I’d rank the 252/250 over a 282/300.
My experience is that 300DR at low volume is more…satisfying…than 250DR (at least, with my standmounts). Lower frequencies are more ‘present’ and I found there is a moreish sense of ‘solidity’ that makes listening more…more. For me.
There is a lot more detail and depth to the music. The bass is deeper but well controlled, definition of the bass notes is very clear.
The top end is very detailed. We listen to a lot of Jazz and for example, you can hear the wire brushes scratching on the drums along with the reverberation on the Kalimba and some slightly out of tune tines.
We are very pleased with it and it is on all day. Either as background music from Jazz24 radio, or if we are having a listening session, we use Qobuz via the Linn Klimax streamer.
The external crossover is the Naim 242 tuned for the T606s. Speaker wire is two runs of Naim NAC A5.
