Been using an HCDR with the Superline for a couple of months - a game of pluses and minuses with that. Never quite happy. Last night decided to unbox my Supercap2, which had been idle due to lack of rack space. I jury-rigged an arrangement so it could sit next to the Fraim - not ideal but it serves for now.
Long story short, bless you SC2. All the detail I liked with the HC, plus the musical coherence of Aux2…with a gorgeous sense of space, more room to breathe, more ease at higher volume…more everything in its place and playing together…bass is more integrated…you get the picture.
What a delight the Supercap2 is. So glad I didn’t sell it as I’d intended last year.
I had the same experience with the SuperLine. Via the 282’s Aux, it had a lovely natural presentation, but without the hi-fi fireworks. With a SuperCap, it had all the hi-fi attributes I could wish for, without sacrificing the natural quality. But with a HiCap, it seemed like it fell between two stools: the hi-fi side of things improved a few notches, but it was no longer as natural sounding, as if I had traded one set of attributes for another. It left me wanting more.
It was only after asking for advice here that I even considered putting the SuperCap on the SuperLine and the HiCap on the 282. That just sounded like it would be unbalanced, but I found it better overall.
Yes, you sum it up very well. My feelings with the HCDR on SL exactly - it sounded very good but after awhile I felt the music wasn’t as involving. It seemed detailed but not persuasive. I’d put a record on then realise I wasn’t enjoying listening so much. My attention would wander. At volume, I even started leaving the room as it was all a bit much.
Sounded better in the hall!
Happy to say that reintroducing the SC2 has brought the music back, in spades. Like those lens-changer things at opticians, you can see the letters but it’s fuzzy & hard to quite make it out, then click! and everything snaps magically into focus.
Ugrading Naim power supplies usually makes a large impact on performance of all components I have tried. Preamps, stageline, CD players all improved with an upgraded PS.
