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Witch Hat Naim NAC82 "Superlink" Upgrade

M

Mu5icman

Music never really dies
I thought it would be worthy of a mention in the PFM "Audio" section that it would appear new life can be given to the existing Naim NAC82 by a retrofit upgrade available from our friends at Witch Hat Audio.

Historically the Naim NAC82 has been sonically compromised by the internal configuration and those who own, or have owned one in the past, were aware that the "hidden" benefits of the NAC82 could not be accessed by the full output of the SuperCap ....... directly because of the internal layout. Witch Hat appear to have come up with a solution to that issue?

I use the question mark because what MarK describes in the "Trade Announcement" section follows, and would appear to improve, on from a number of previous commercial ventures into "upgrading" the NAC82.

It is believed that the Witch Hat modification takes the NAC82 sonic output to around 80% of the NAC52 ....... and possibly on par with the NAC252?

It is early days in this venture and I feel sure that recipiants of the upgrade will share their understanding of the changes (improvements) made by applying this upgrade ....... not a DIY activity ........ but has all the hallmarks of a Very Good Value "upgrade".

Look forward to hearing inputs from those who have enjoyed the upgrade.

I am not associated with Witch Hat and have no connection with the company ..... just an enthusiast who upgraded from the Naim NAC82 in frustration ......... and who may look around for one should the inputs from PFMer confirm that it is justified.
 
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terrycym said:
I find it inconceivable that a 3rd party can improve on what Naim have achieved
Click to expand...

We have merely applied more rails from Naim's own flagship power supply to one of Naim's own pre-amplifiers, just as they did with the leap from the NAC82 to the 52 (or should I say the downconversion from 52 to 82)

As many will know the 52 can take advantage of the 12 separate analogue audio supplies in the supercap. The 82 can use 4 at most, by design. All we've done is found a way to get a load of extra rails into an 82 without butchering it. We have even added a couple of rails in places that the NAC252 uses for example. Not only that but it's backwards compatible with every previous method of powering it, so we can do the mod, and you still power it from a single amp, one hicap, two hicaps or a supercap, so you don't need the big power supply straight away. It's all done through clever link plugs that I designed. We supply the cable that unlocks all 10 rails. And it keeps the power and signal entirely separate.

And it's completely reversible should you want to revert to factory spec.

This will work with the NAC32 and 72 as well (if we lose the 4 pin DIN) so watch this space.
 
So why didn't Naim do that in the 1st place?
I find that these "improvements" sound different, sometimes, but not always better
 
^^^Given that MJS used to work for Naim it's fair to say he knows Naim products inside and out. He is a rather creative audio engineer with decades of experience; yet you terry seem to be critical of something you appear not to have heard.

An open mind is a great quality.
 
Hi-fi has a lot of "smoke and mirrors" and I'm naturally sceptical of foo and such magical fixes a lot of which either degrades reliability of makes no sound difference..
I remember the days of Peter Belt and his stuff.
I didn't know that MJS was ex-Naim.
 
There is a world of difference between sticking bits of multicoloured foil tape to your hi-fI (Peter Belt) and modifying an amp to make better use of a power supply (like Witch Hat Audio). To compare the two is simply ridiculous.
 
I am certainly intrigued by this mod, although I no longer have an 82. But in the quest to ensure my wife's son has a half decent hi-fi system it might be intriguing to look out an old 82 for him and see what WH could do for it.
 
The marketing fact is MJS is spot on [and he knows better than many on here for sure] Naim needed the amps to sonically move up a step with each model. The only way with the 82 to end up mid way between 72 and 52 and aid dealers with decent and clearly audible steps while demoing was to hold it back. Goodness the rear of the case had plenty of space for a burndy connection. If the 82 had been fully powered by the supercap, its unlikely a 52 would have made sense in a demo and hence not sold as well. Pure marketing over sound potential.
 
terrycym said:
So why didn't Naim do that in the 1st place?
I find that these "improvements" sound different, sometimes, but not always better
Click to expand...


Naim need to maintain the sound quality difference between products, thats why they don't do upgrades.


Think of as gelding the cheaper stuff.


Pete
 
I seem to remember the 52's release was held back as they thought the LP12 of the time wasn't good enough, they needed the 82 to fill the upgrade path rather than to move forward sonically.

I'll bet MJS could work wonders with a 102 too :)
 
divedeepdog said:
But the name would suggest it was developed before the 72?

Anyhoo, teenage magazine memories for me :D
Click to expand...

Development started on the 52 before the 72 (hence the names, as you point out), but the 72 was finalised and released before the 52, with the 82 coming later - 1989, 90 & 92, IIRC.
 
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