I’m in the market for a used Naim amp to drive my Audiovector SR3 Super speakers, with Cambridge Audio CXN v2 as main source for now. The options I currently have that are within my budget and available where I live are:
ex demo XS2 from a local store (with full warranty) + used FlatCap XS
used Supernait 1 - in this case FlatCap XS also will fit in the budget (will it make difference though?)
Supernait 2 (budget maxed out)
NAP 250.2, however it will max out my budget too and I would need to use CXN as preamp
Unfortunately I don’t have an option for comparing them directly. Would you recommend any of this options over the others? After searching through some forums, incl. this one, I’m mostly inclined to go the XS2+Flatcap way, but I’d love to hear your opinions. Cheers!
PS. My first post here, as I’m only entering the Naim world. Hi to you all!
I’ve just brought a mint, boxed, very late (Dec '16) Superuniti and I have to say I’m very impressed with it.
It cost me just under £1600 from a dealer (trade-in) so for that money I’ve got similar amplifier performance to a Supernait but with the additional functionality of a DAC and a 24/192 streamer for playing my tunes on Tidal. It’s the BT version so I can also stream via Bluetooth which is useful too.
So why not go for a Superuniti…a non Bluetooth 2015 model you’d pick up for circa £1400!
Just to let you know…I’ve got s Supernait 2 (which is superb) and an ND5XS streamer (2014 model) also in my main system and I’d say (to my ears) using the same speakers (AE1’s) they sound pretty much the same.
Much speaker to be Nait driven. There was a bloke using a SN1/NDX into big audiovectors on this forum in the past. I do remember a photo in the System Pic threat.
Weren’t the Audiovector SR3 Super designed to be driven actively?
I’d not discart the SN1 option, but only when a Hicap DR is included. This massively improves the SN1 and brings it at least on SN2 level. If you like, you then can run the digital out from the CXN into the SN1 using its own Dac.
Strongly agree. When I had an SN1 the HiCap transformed it. I actually bought the two together and would not have bought the SN1 on its own. Having the HC DR’d improved it by another major step.
You look as if you’re about to create what is known in these circles as a “mullet”. You have speakers which completely outclass the electronics. Not everyone thinks this is always a bad thing, but most here would suggest that as a long term system, your money is better spent on a more balanced setup. I assume you intend to hang on to your speakers, in which case a SN2 would be the absolute minimum on the amplifier front. A mid-range Naim pre/power such as 282/HiCap/250DR would be even more appropriate. Since that appears to be well outside your budget, a SN2 would seem to be the best of your choices. The problem is that the SN2 will then expose the limitations of your front end. So you really need to be saving for a better streamer eg. a Naim NDX2. There are not many on the second hand market at present, but that is likely to change soon.
Thank you guys for your tips! HiCap will not fit my budget together with SN1, so this gets out of the list for now.
The SR3s actually have an opinion to be quite easy to drive, I supposed XS2 should be ok here. On Audiovector forums Naim is usually named as one of top choices for electronics with some people even preferring integrated over separates. But thanks for pointing that out, I will check with some AV owners, too! However: https://forums.naimaudio.com/topic.php?oid=78019130993063609&coid=159503632588890
I currently drive them with Cambridge CXA60, which definitely doesn’t do them justice, but it’s not bad either.
Yeah, so I started from idea that my current setup is a “mullet” type situation (had no idea this is called that way!) and going up to Naim electronics I was hope to overcome that. I knew SR3s are quite a speaker, but didn’t expect that big of a ‘gap’ here. In Poland, where I live, brand new they cost about the same as XS3 or SN2, and way less than SN3. I actually bought them last year for 50% of MSRP during black friday sale at local dealer with the idea of upgrading electronics sometime in future (which came now). My understanding always was that it’s better to have “too good” speakers than “too good” amp.