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DAC Pre with NAP250

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pfm Member
this has probably been answered or discussed before and I will suck and see....but, if I tried a DAC Pre such as from Eximus or Weiss straight in to my NAP250, how might that be?

Might I be better off selling all the Naim and trying something else with balanced inputs and if so, what should I try, that may keep some of what I like in the NAP250?
 
MDAC straight into my Avondale S100 sounds at least as good as the 72/Hi-Cap it replaced and I get remote volume control. Win!
 
jagdesign....is that line in? wondering on the benefits of balanced, if any with interconnects being 1m?
 
You could stick with Naim and get one of these:
http://www.naimaudio.com/hifi-products/nac-n-172-xs

The downside is that it costs £1650, which is hefty £££. On the plus side though, it is completely compatible with your 250, has multiple digital and analogue inputs, network streaming, internet radio and can take a tuner card for FM/DAB. Unlike all the other Naim pre-amps, it plugs into the wall, so no additional power supply is necessary or possible (good if you are prone to upgrades for the sake of upgrading).

I've had a serious play with one of these and can attest to the quality of the product driving a NAP250-2 into a pair of Neats (Motive 2 SEs from memory).
 
I can't comment on your particular choices of DAC but I've found that my BM dac1 (original version) isn't too hot driving Naim power amps (or for that matter ATC actives) terribly well when set up to run direct rather than via a preamp.

It does, however, do extremely well into an expo power amp I have.

I think it's just a suck and see thing.
 
I think it's just a suck and see thing
think it may have to be this methodology.....just that, it may sound good into the NAP but perhaps further benefits from trying another amp and I'm not sure where to start, being with Naim for 15 years or so!
 
I have tried Mdac and Weiss 202 into my 250

I know Mdac gets alot of good reviews - but it just didnt do it for me (kept it for 3 months)

Weiss was a massive upgrade (probably due the the Pre)- sounded very good indeed , more natural analogue DAc

Ultimately both Dacs could not deliver on Musicality or soundstage that my Naim cd player with Naim Pre can

Home Dem is a must - one day i will go the Dac or streaming route , but for now i happy to stay with cds
 
this has probably been answered or discussed before and I will suck and see....but, if I tried a DAC Pre such as from Eximus or Weiss straight in to my NAP250, how might that be?

Might I be better off selling all the Naim and trying something else with balanced inputs and if so, what should I try, that may keep some of what I like in the NAP250?

From someone who has gone the Naim route I would say a definite yes.

You don't mention your speakers but thats the first thing to get right as without the speakers you won't know what amp to get. FYI I've had a 250, a pair of 135s and then had the 135s modified by Avondale each step was an improvement but these amps just couldn't drive my Shahinian Obelisk to their best. Changing from an 82 to a Grad1 was a big improvement. However I had to move away from Naim as they just couldn't provide the necessary drive.

I now plug both my Weiss DAC202 and my Brinkmann phono stage directly into my power amps via a two way switch for outstanding performance. I can't emphasize how important the speaker/amp combo is to let you get the best out of any front end. I wouldn't worry about balanced connections for home use.

Cheers,

DV
 
I've tried the dacs I've had directly into my mono110's, I've been stuck to using the volume control on iTunes, so not ideal, but the Meridian can be used fixed, or variable output.

I prefer the sound through my Avondale 102 in every case.

For the price of a cable though, worth a try with your own kit :)
 
I had read that Naim pre-amps restrict the frequency range that their power amps have to cope with, i.e. the high frequencies that the ear cannot easily detect. Perhaps this only applied to their earlier series. If so Naim the suggestion was that pre-amps can be used with other brand power amps, but the reverse wasn't advisable.
 


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