Whats next after SUPERNAIT 1

Curious to know other supernait 1 owners and what came next?

Ive owned this 12 yrs or so, started with sonos coax into supernait, then migrated to bluesound node2i.

I do only digital music streaming tidal hifi, or pulling flac from files stored on a mac mini.

I have a pair of Audiophysic Tempo 6, and those arent going anywhere. Love them. Room is 3m x 4m (3m high).

Ive thought of adding hicap, but also of selling it all and “starting over”. How did others deal with this dilemma when faced? and what was the best bang for the buck.

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Hi M,

That’s a pretty open question. I think the normal upgrade from a SN would be a 282/HC/250 but I’m guessing that you might use the internal DAC on the SN?, in which case you’ll need a DAC as well. I’m wondering if you might wait a little while as the much awaited 272 replacement is anticipated and this might be the answer for you.

If however you went 2nd hand I would suggest a Naim nDAC/282 with either NAP 200 or HC250.

Whatever you consider you need to set your budget and demo some options.

Regards,

Lindsay

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I’m a long long standing Supernait 1 owner, bought in Dec 2008.
It was serviced by Naim in August & very happy with that.
As my plans are right now, I probably won’t change it until Naim produce a 5 series level preamp/streamer that I will power a pair of active ATC speakers, or if that doesn’t happen I will move to Linn, any preamp/streamer will more than likely also be coupled with a house move.
The Supernait is partnered with a non naim HC, sources are from NDX & NAT05.
Streaming is only from my Synology NAS, plus iRadio.
I moved the TV input from Supernait DAC to NDX DAC as the Supernait DAC is not very good.

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Some very good suggestions here, mynaim. I might also suggest a move up to a pre-owned or new SN3. I own an SN2, and I have not actually heard the SN1, but from what I have read and analysed on this forum, there’s a good step up from the SN1 to the SN3 as it it 2 build designs up.
I believe the SN3 is an end-game amp for many here, so maybe worth a thought.

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I was a happy sn1 owner, nice and worthwhile improvement with a hicap. Replaced the inbuilt dac with an nDac and then finally swapped it out when i got my 252/sc/250 combo.

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I agree with the suggestion to improve your source first. You might be surprised at how good the SN1 can sound with a better source.

I have heard all three Supernait models and actually prefer SN1 - to my ears the later models are just different not necessarily better. I recently tried an ND555 with a SN1 and was very impressed with the result.

If you were to improve your amplification first then it would only further highlight the limitations of your current sources.

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I agree the SN1 sound, I’ve tried the 2 & 3, different, nice, but not convinced better.
And yes your source is most important,

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Adding a HC to the SN1 is a very worthwhile investment-perhaps not so much with the SN2,3. I found that the HC really fleshed things out and added some additional heft…Buying a second hand HC or even HC-DR won’t break the bank and should leave some dosh for an improved source. That’s where I would be investing my $ with your set. Good fun!

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All great suggestions and I’m definitely comfortable going the route of hicap and source.

With respect to source, what part of the chain would folks recommend. Current flow is:

Tidal Hifi subscription (SOURCE FILE) → Bluesound NODE2i (STREAMER) → Coax into SUPERNAIT → SUPERNAIT (onboard DAC).

THanks all.

With respect to source, what part of the chain would folks recommend.

Tidal or whatever streaming service, plus ( & better ) your own high res audio from your own NAS.
via a pukka sensibly priced ethernet LAN
Into any Naim streamer
via a sensibly priced DIN-DIN cable into Supernait

I was thinking what would the next jump be from a SuperNait 1. Mine is 15 years old and needs a service so I’ll get that done early in the new year as I feel it will get a nice boost from that. I have a HiCap DR on it and I really like the internal DAC. Currently it’s driving some ATC SCM 19’s so I feel it’s a little under powered.

Obviously I could add a 250 to it, but would maybe like to try out an ATC integrated.

Tim

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I would suggest two options for staying with the SN1 in order of preference

  1. Try a Chord Qutest DAC
  2. Add a HCDR

I have both in my system and both were significant upgrades.

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Using the onboard DAC of the Supernait will be the weakest link in the chain.

I agree with the earlier suggestion - if your budget can stretch to it a used ND5XS2 for around £2k would provide a big improvement and you would be able to sell the Bluesound. Otherwise a used nDAC at around £1k fed from the digital output from the Bluesound will also give a noticeable improvement.

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Thank you to all for the guidance from this post. I picked up a dac that now takes the digital signal from the node 2i, feeds the dac via coax, and into the supernait via rca (awaiting a din cable). Sound is DRAMATICALLY improved over the onboard supernait dac. Im a bit stunned to be honest.

Appreciate the help from the membership. Thank you!

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And the dac is …?

I’m not at all surprised. When I had an SN1, I used it from the off with an external DAC. In my case this was an nDAC, subsequently upgraded with an XPS. But I also had a HiCap on the SN1, uprated to DR when that became available. TBH I would not have bought the SN without the HC and getting it changed to DR was another big step up in SQ. I would definitely put a HCDR in your upgrade plans.

Roger

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Denafrips Ares 12th

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Thanks. This is definitely in the plan.

Late to the party… but after reading through my thoughts would be to add a Naim ND5XS 2 or NDX 2 to the front end and add a HiCap DR along with having the SN 1 serviced.

I would also do a side by side comparison of Tidal and Qobuz. It does not sound like you are using MQA from Tidal and you may enjoy the HiRes files available on Qobuz vs the CD quality from Tidal. I did a side by side comparison years ago and chose Qobuz which was also less expensive.

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I love to get my hands on an ND but also have too many competing 5-figure ($$) hobbies right now :slight_smile:
I also want to move to qobuz but am in Canada. Currently this is not on offer.

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