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Naim that tune...

Wow - they seem a good buy at that price. Would certainly be interesting to see how they compare with what I have.

It’s a cracking price for a throughly decent amp. If you want to stick with Naim, buy one before they disappear. No mucking about with power supplies and your Rega stage and deck will work a treat with it (I’m not a big fan of Naim phono stages). Although I’d buy a Yamaha RN803 and just listen to music...
 
It’s a cracking price for a throughly decent amp. If you want to stick with Naim, buy one before they disappear. No mucking about with power supplies and your Rega stage and deck will work a treat with it (I’m not a big fan of Naim phono stages). Although I’d buy a Yamaha RN803 and just listen to music...
I'm on my second Nait XS.
I think there's a slight sheen to female vocals, something which an external PSU fixed for me.
There are a good range of choices at that price point, not just Naim.
 
For the money the nait5i is not bad amp I felt yes later models that accept a power supply are better long term but I found the 5i not to be lacking
 
I will see how my thoughts develop with more listening.
If I was to go integrated I think I'd be looking in the £3k to £4k area. Very interested in hearing the Hegel H190 (not sure I can really stretch to the price of the H390) as a comparison to what I have - I have heard it said that the Hegels are a very good match for the KEFs.
My nearest dealer will have demo models in about 3 weeks for a home trial. It'll be fun to compare.
It would have to be a significant uplift though to make me spend that kind of £££ - I'd rather spend it on music!
 
For me, a few key components (Kans, pre-Cirkus LP12, etc.) really make me tick...

Yes, I agree, though the LP12 that I am using upstairs is now LP12/Kore/Norton AirPower or Lingo 1/Audiomods Classic/Metal bodied Denon 103. I can't help wondering sometimes how that would have compared to it's original pre-Cirkus format of LP12/Ittok LVII/Asak T!
 
Yes, I agree, though the LP12 that I am using upstairs is now LP12/Kore/Norton AirPower or Lingo 1/Audiomods Classic/Metal bodied Denon 103. I can't help wondering sometimes how that would have compared to it's original pre-Cirkus format of LP12/Ittok LVII/Asak T!
Is that an itch that needs a scratch?

Still not heard the Norton. I did try a Geddon recently but not for me. I do like the Lingo 1 though (with filter removed) - better than late Lingo 2 to my ears.
 
Interesting. I wonder how that compares to a NAC 52? It's certainly a lot cheaper!
Edit: the number of analogue inputs would be the problem for me; the 102 has six and I use all of them.

I'd say the preamp section of a N272 is far far from a Nac 52.
I think somewhere between a Nac 92 and 122 maybe closer to Nac 102/202 but certainly not near a 52.
You can however put a XPS/555 psu on N272, making it very expensive.

Reason for N272 good prices is old streaming platform and discontinued product.
Could have display issues too, my SU with same display doesn't btw.
 
Sean is one of the good guys and certainly worth taking seriously.

Are you getting Witch Hat speaker cable or only interconnects. I'd certainly wait for them to arrive and burn in before forming too many conclusions. My first thought is to sort your speaker cables. Will you be replacing them WH?
 
Is that an itch that needs a scratch?

Still not heard the Norton. I did try a Geddon recently but not for me. I do like the Lingo 1 though (with filter removed) - better than late Lingo 2 to my ears.

An itch? No, not really, for a start off, getting an Asak T in anywhere new working order would be just about impossible and in any case, the tracking performance of the Asak was marginal at best. The Troika is a big improvement, in terms of tracking and SQ. The Kore is a much better chassis too. I recently compared the Norton to the Lingo (mine was serviced by Class A, and they removed the filter at the same time), and I found that the top end was better with the Norton, in that it was somehow smoother whilst still retaining the shimmer on cymbals etc and inner detail was better and voices more expressive. I might run the two side by side, as long as it's not too much of a PITA to swap them over, because I do have a lot of 45rpm records. I always found the Ittok/Asak to be a bit boom & tizz, particularly as I tracked it towards the lower end of the scale to tighten up the sound a bit, the tracking capability was compromised the even more. It would be interesting to find out what difference the bearing made though, because I do remember being very disappointed when the deck came back from the Cirkus 'upgrade.'

And then, of course, there is the Karousel...
 
Sean is one of the good guys and certainly worth taking seriously.

Are you getting Witch Hat speaker cable or only interconnects. I'd certainly wait for them to arrive and burn in before forming too many conclusions. My first thought is to sort your speaker cables. Will you be replacing them WH?

I'm waiting on interconnects - should be here next week (they are struggling a bit with covid/brexit/weather issues).
As I needed to order a new interconnect for the phono stage I have on order I decided to go for the Morgana option from Witch Hat, and whilst I was at it I ordered the Hatpin SNAICS for the Flatcap to connect to the pre-amp and power amps. I've never spent so much on cables....
I will definitely order some N2 speaker cable but I'm going to just wait a mo first.
I had another listen last night to some music and the mid-range quality didn't leap out at me - perhaps it was simply a case of needing to let it warm up for a good period.
I'm going to keep my thoughts to myself until I've listened a fair bit more!

But I've also been kicking around the serious idea of getting an Olive NAP250, which led me to the Avondale NCC300 Quattro Module conversion...
If I intend to jump this way then I will only be running one power amp, so my needs for speaker cable halve (currently running bi-amped NAP90s).
 
I'd say the preamp section of a N272 is far far from a Nac 52.
I think somewhere between a Nac 92 and 122 maybe closer to Nac 102/202 but certainly not near a 52.

Yes, I suspected as much, and as I already have a 102, it would be a sideways step. I'll have to hold out for a 52, but frustratingly, I've missed out on three recently!
 
- it now contains his regulator upgrade so the only Naim bits left are the case and transformer.
.

So it's not a Naim!
All the comments about NAC72 sound characteristics are irrelevant.

Despite this, bin the silver plated cable. Silver plated cables sound BRIGHT!
Replace with K20.
 
Got to agree all the way about your speaker wire, does not sound like a good match. If you can, get the Phantom, I went to this from A5, and it made a far more fundamental improvement to the sound than the Morgana did, N2 may not impress you enough.
FWIW, I used to biamp with my 160 and a 250 when I had speakers with biwire binding posts; I found that it made no difference to the sound quality or the ability of the speakers to produce dynamics, so stopped bothering and sold the 250 to buy better stuff. I've also had a 90 and a 110, along with the above. The 160 and 110 are my favourite Naim amps, the 90 sounds 2D in comparison, sell your pair and buy something with a bit more about it.
 
So it's not a Naim!
All the comments about NAC72 sound characteristics are irrelevant.

Despite this, bin the silver plated cable. Silver plated cables sound BRIGHT!
Replace with K20.

You're saying the NAC72 has no sound characteristics of its own and that they are all determined by the PSU?
 
I went from 32/snaps to 32.5/hi-cap to 72/hi-cap & I don't remember being enthralled by the huge improvements tbh.
 
I'd say the preamp section of a N272 is far far from a Nac 52.
I think somewhere between a Nac 92 and 122 maybe closer to Nac 102/202 but certainly not near a 52.
You can however put a XPS/555 psu on N272, making it very expensive.

Reason for N272 good prices is old streaming platform and discontinued product.
Could have display issues too, my SU with same display doesn't btw.

272 will blow a 202 out the water, approaching and maybe passing 282 with an xps attached, agree old streaming platform, I always keep display off.
 
Re XPS,
I think usually for amps, the external power supplies are *caps
& for sources, ( cdps, streamers ) the external PWR supplies are XP’s xps2 etc.
As the 272 is a streaming Pre, yes the XPS is applicable, although you could think that as it’s a pre amp, you’d need a hcap/ scap etc.
 
You're saying the NAC72 has no sound characteristics of its own and that they are all determined by the PSU?

If I understood your earlier post correctly and all that is left of the NAC72 after the upgrades is the case and PSU, then my point is that it's not a NAC72.
Therefore comments about the sound of NAC72 are not relevant to your situation.
 


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