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HackerNap Comparisons

B

batjodel

pfm Member
Has anyone tried comparing the Hackernap with commercial offerings?

I ask because I had cause to put my old Naim 135's in the main system yesterday and it was like night and day. The 135's were flat, no atmosphere, flat soundstage, no detail. To be honest - no comparison.

My HackerNaps now have the Fetlington mod. So how good is the HackerNap v commercial offerings? My guess its very very good. I suspect better than say a modern Naim 250.2 retailing over £3000?

Dave

I am using Linn LP12/Alphason HR100S/Dynavector XX/Lehmann Black Cube S/ or Linn Klimax DS as source
B4 into HackerNap into rebuilt Quad 57.
 
I would soooooooo love to hear what people say about this - it is always hard with DIY to know how good it is (or isn't) partly because we, the builders, are prejudiced and partly because opportunities are limited and partly because of the faff factor of dragging kit around. I really enjoyed doing a test of borrowed Hypex NC400s and making an LM4780 amp for somebody else ( the Hypex wasn't as good as the hype (sorry) and was very little different to the HN except in size, the LM4780 was surprisingly good and not far short of the HN)
 
My hackernaps before the fetlington mod sounded better than a serviced NAP250 much better.

Pete
 
Well I used to have some mcbride 135 clones with front end separately regulated by a tpr and a cascode type tweak thing on one part of the amp circuit, separate traffos and cap boards and the hacker naps are better detailed, more tuneful, more bass slam
Tim
 
This would be interesting to hear. I suppose one needs to take account of the fact that a Hackernap is not a single thing. People use different transformers, different caps, resistors, etc. Maybe those things make differences only at the margins. But maybe not. So to be (more) meaningful it might help for people to describe the ingredients of the Hackernap they are using (as well as the ancillary equipment used).

Also, I guess build quality is a factor too. Some are more talented than others. No idea how to assess that though.
 
stackowax said:
So to be (more) meaningful it might help for people to describe the ingredients of the Hackernap they are using (as well as the ancillary equipment used).
Click to expand...

Well I would but…

LP12, Sole, DIY Geddon, Ittok, DL103; Bugle phono board with STR'd R-core cap supply

Arcam A5 CD NOS with TDA1541A S2 and separate power supply for DAC.

B4 no output caps, Multicap RTX 3.0uF inputs;

HackerNaps with RCore traffos, Nichicon KG Front end cap board, 47r resistors, Kendiel 6800uf + Elna Cerafine 10000uF output cap board, no inductors; HN boards tricked out with 10uF SMR inputs, 2x47uF MMK feedback, 47uf + 22uF MMK bias caps, 1uF polystyrene to Fetlington modded filter circuit. 47uF MMK output tranny bypass caps

all driving plain vanilla SBLs

:D
 
I should say my mono Hackernaps are built from my 135 clones so they have 40V transformers giving +-56V to the output stages and have 2x 47Uf film caps for the feedback cap and no input caps.

Pete
 
Fellow Pinkfishers

I welcomed the Thread Heading "HackerNap Comparisions" opening question about comparing the built HackerNap with commercial offerings ...... great question ( for me at least ).

At this stage in the Thread I would venture to suggest that it is getting derailed into a HackerNap Build thread.

Whilst the variations in build may release different "tones" to an individual's finished HackerNap the question remains as to how the HackerNap compares to what is offered by commercial products.

I confess to not having completed a HackerNap build - but hope to do so as I have most of the components - and would like to compare my completed product to the Naim NAP300.

Sorry guys but I would love to hear how the HN compares .... with the prospect of PMing to enquire about the build specification.

John
 
I would not be at all surprised if a hackernap were to be close to an NAP 300. It certainly beats a 250.
 
Well, I've used a NAP250.2 in the same system that my HackerNAP resides in and the latter certainly sounds better, but then I doubt if it's up to NAP300 quality. I used the latter in my main system for a while before moving up to 500s.

The HN's halfway between 250 & 300 I would estimate.
 
I'm not so familiar with the current NAP range but back in the day 135s were the next step up from a 250 and the HackerNAPs are significantly better than my tricked out McBride 135 clones
 
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