What was the last bit of gear you bought in 2022?

Early in the “solstice” thread there was a comment about when naim first went to clearaudio and top of list was to change power supply to turntable. A wall wart on this level of turntable does seem a bit …… weird. Anyway I have bought an mcru jobbie now. Hard to say if makes a difference as hifi is in a different room now and with different speakers … I will leave it a while then go back to the wall wart and see if I can tell any difference.

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Have you tried Clearaudio’s battery power supply for the Innovation? I’m wondering if it really does provide improvements for the money.

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@fdm short answer is no I have not … when I asked about them the wait time was 6 month plus and when I got my turntable I ended up waiting nearly a year. Couldn’t face that again. When the whole supply chain issue calms down I will try and demo the battery and the smart power and see what I think.

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Naim DC1. Found a good deal on stock clearing, to connect my ND5XS2 to the nDAC, which will be added in a few months from now.

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I have the Smart Power battery supply for the Concept Active (no Innovation chez moi!) and I think it was a nice upgrade … on this table, it’s like two upgrades in one, since it also supplies the built-in to phono stage.

It has a “charging” idiosyncrasy that you may want to check out prior to getting the (more expensive) version for the Innovation. There is an audible click as the charge relay closes, which is fine. But sometimes when it automatically starts charging during playing, it seems to repeatedly cross the threshold for “I need to charge” and “no, I’m charged enough to play”… resulting in an unpleasant series of clicks as it enters and exits charge-while-playing mode. It’s sufficiently loud and annoying that I sometimes just switch off the LP, then turn off the supply, and turn it on manually into the “charge” mode to let it top itself up. I asked the manufacturer via web contact page, but was told there is no issue…

That said, I’m still very happy with both the Concept Active and the Smart Power.

Best wishes with your ClearAudio rig!

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If I don’t have the linn organik streamer, I would get iFi Can with hqplayer.

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We have ordered a 555PSDR for our nDAC. Trading up from XPSDR.

We’ve read all the threads about 555PS vs DR on nDAC, but ultimately if we don’t like it we can try on NDX2.

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I used my old Technics CD player as a transport into my NDS. Listening to a few of my favourite albums and comparing CD transport versus Tidal stream and the CD won out every time. Enjoy!

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Replacing my quickfix. Cable (mogami 2497) connecting the old Linn Klimax DSM and the 135s. Nice job to order by audiocables.eu in Greece, I just sent them a picture of the schema at the back of a Naim 135.

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Interesting… you run the DSM straight into the 135s. Did you initially have a Naim preamp in the system or have always run it this way ?

Time to replace the vega g2 with a hugo tt2 from chord!
While not as immediately impressive, its calmer and nicer to listen to. Less hifi, more music. It may be full of annoying led’s, but the silver casing matches the nagra better.

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Just added a bare ndac to my system (taking out a nad d1050 dac) connecting bluesound node. Always felt my system was lacking something when streaming, but adding ndac made it suddenly spring to life. Very happy with result. Now playing arround with cables nd ordered a Gotham rca-bcn interconnect to repace AQ cinnamon. Also considering to change standard ethernet cable connecting node by blue jeans cable, but not sure this will make a difference without a separate switch. Any experience to share regarding cabling? Adding a power supply and/or a better streamer will be along term aspiration

Lots of threads on the forums about network cables and switches!

We have upgraded from very basic cables to Melco C1AE which suited our old 272 system combined with a Cisco 2960. We will revisit switch and cabling once new system is racked and burnt in, so will be a while as 555PS needs to arrive and then settle. Can’t see any networky changes until 2023.

Gotham digital interconnect is used by others on these forums with success.

We were going to use a Superlumina DIN-DIN between nDAC and 252 but funds have been diverted to the 555PSDR so that will be another 2023 change now I reckon.

Thanks, did you do something regarding power cables as well.

My experience of running a DAC separate from the streamer is that it makes it pretty much immune from any effects of network setup, switches, cables etc. once you have cast aside any expectations about the benefits of spending lots if money in that area. I found it quite liberating in a way.

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Powerlines seem to make an appreciable difference to all naim boxes.

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We are kinda hoping to find the same. With new system the proposal would be to cable directly with a basic cable from BT Hub to NDX2. Then we can get to understand how that sounds before trying a switch/cable “upgrade”. If we can ditch the switch so much the better.

Previous comments on how a Cisco 2960 would compare to an EE8 are why we’ve held off on this area for now. Will probably keep the Melco C1AE cabling now we have it.

After a dealer demo and home demo I have just ordered a pair of ATC SCM7 speakers to go with my Unitilite, which will be replaced at some future point.

Just have to wait two weeks or so for them to be built (timescale from ATC today).

They will replace my Linn 109s which are lovely but the ATCs seem to have a bit more joy about them.

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A bit different from lolo?

:+1: great choice

I demoed the SCM7’s this weekend as I am interested in the HTS7’s which are fundamentally the same speakers…
Wow!, the sound was amazingly good, great soundstage, sweet sound, bass not bad at all depending where you have them…very impressed.

Ordered a pair of HTS7’s…

Enjoy them when they arrive.

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