Update:
I recently had a demo session. I took my NAP200 to get a baseline sound. Interestingly the/my system sounded more laid back in the demo room. Could have been the room acoustics, the NACA5 vs. my KS1 cable or the fact their HiCap was DR’d?
Anyway, started with the NAP250 and you could here the difference, but it wasn’t “oh wow”. More controlled base etc.
Moved to the NAP300 and this was a big jump. Drums just sounded so real, lovely weighted presentation, more open soundstage and better separation between instruments. It was nice to hear more detail.
Moved back to the NAP200 and tried an 555PS. This was very much an “oh wow” moment as we all turned toward the speakers. Just more of everything! A detail and clarity that was amazing. However, after more listening I started to miss those lovely bass tones and control of the NAP300.
Added the NAP300 and 555ps together and well, that’s obviously the end goal now - superb
Issue is I can’t afford both at the moment. So which to go for first? There seams to be a fire sale on NAP300s at the moment and 555ps’s in classic finish are like hens teeth? I’d hate to buy a NAP300 then find a 555ps a week later and not have the cash
Either way, I’m definitely going for “the one box” instead of two cheaper one
Yes - any or all of those. Shows how difficult it can be to do comparisons.
(Many years ago, I did something similar. System was LP12 - A&R A60 - Tangent RS2’s . The ‘difference’ was only Naim A4 leads, which were ‘new’ - and cost £1 per metre. Of course I bought a set of NAC A4 leads - which I still have…)
Hi Richard.
You are going through exactly what I started going through a couple of years ago, you actually replied to my cry for help back then!
Anyway, my 200dr went and was replaced by a 250dr with still no ps on my NDX2. Difference was obvious with a punch to the base that was missing with the 200. Everything just sounded better.
A couple of months later and a 12 month old 300dr appeared on our favourite auction site from a well known Naim dealer, I clicked the buy it now button and a couple of days later I was listening to music that was as good low volume as the 250 was at high volume. The music had grown up, powerful and exciting.
Next came the Supercap dr, another almost new purchase that was seen as a tool to allow the upgrade of my 282 to a 252 in the future. To be honest the Supercap didn’t show much of an improvement over my HiCap dr.
Last week, a 12month old XPS dr came up on the auction site at a great price and the button was again pressed. This was soon installed.
Result:
***** Wow.*****
All of a sudden everything seems to have knitted together. Yes we had the fabulous punch before but now the sound is hugely exciting, the stereo separation is wide. My Twenty5 23’s are giving far more than I thought them capable of. I am listening to music that I have never listened to before, just because it sounds so good.
So what can I pass on to you.
If nothing else, put a XPSdr on your NDX2. You won’t regret it!
Thanks Colin. Now I’m back home listening to my system, i still don’t know which way to go.
It sounds great, but I keep thinking about how much more “grown up” as you put, the 300 will make it sound. Then I think about the detail the 555PS will bring, but the 200 won’t do it justice and it won’t have the base control.
Then I just think, why not get both a 250 and XPS for the same money, and have a little bit of both worlds.
But then you think, I’ve now heard a 300 and 555PS and can’t got back
Naim really suck you in don’t they.
I think the next step is to try and home demo them both and make a decision over a week and not a few hours. I’m sure my journey will end up with both anyway. I will have to wait a while though, hence the angst of which one first?
I loved my nap 300 but having gone down the active ATC route it’s pretty clear to me that a lot of performance is lost in traditional speakers with cross overs.
Streaming pre into active speakers is well worth exploring.
We may be drifting from topic, but you raise a really interesting point.
It has been suggested that SCM40As are at least as good as passive equivalents powered by a 250 or a 300. It has also been suggested that their biggest disadvantage versus passive only really applies if you want to go to 500 level (or equivalent). That’s easy with passive speakers but means starting again if you have the active SCM40As. Does that look right to you?
To me the SCM40 driven by a 300DR sounded significantly better than the active version. Both fronted by NDX2/XPSDR/252. The extra grip and control at all volumes that are the streagths of the 300 were very much in evidence here. In the end I decided against the ATCs but if I had chosen them, for me the considerable extra expense of the 300 would have been well worth it.
As ever, listen and decide for yourself.
This is certainly where some parts of the loudspeaker industry are looking, it adds value to their product and seeks to overcome some of the issues with passive loudspeakers and the room in which they sit and has led to a steady growth in active speaker models, equipped with DSP crossovers and room compensation processing plus separate power amplifiers per driver.
Not popular with the traditional HiFi world of box swappers and amateur tinkerers who know better but gaining a place in the industry never the less.
I have always thought that in a demo would i choose an ATC amp over a Naim one………probably not, so active ATC’s are a moot point for me. But as you say, best listen and decide on your own, preferably at home.
In my room the active 40’s outshone passive 40’s with superlumina speaker cable / Nap 300 dr (552/NDS/555dr) by some margin. I suspect room acoustics must come into it so with speakers a home demo is essential.
Gary
I don’t think so, it is easy enough to add an analogue to digital converter (ADC) in the signal chain and I believe that Linn have been doing just this for their LP 12 for some years.
In fact some companies specialise in implementing the RIAA EQ correction in DSP because it allows for more accurate correction, tailored to suit the chosen cartridge.
After a home demo of the NAP300 vs. 555PS it became pretty obvious which way to go.
My NAP300 is wonderful!
The NAP300 transformed my system and gave it a real ‘Naim’ sound. The base is now just amazing.
The 555ps adds so much detail, but the lower end was still “floppy round the edges” and there was no cohesion. It’s funny, because I thought I would go for “more detail” because it’s easy to hear that upgrade. However, it’s the overall sound and impression that the NAP300 gave, and I was won over
No problem. The more I listen, the more everything sounds just so musical. Foot tapping . I’m sure I’m missing a level of detail, but it’s big smiles all around with the NAP300
