250DR against 500 (driven by 552 and NDAC)

Posted by: analogmusic on 21 February 2016

I wanted to test my shiny new 250DR against the old NAP 500, driven by NDAC and 552

Well the short story is that the NAP 500 is much superior to the NAP250 DR (no surprises) here.

The 552/500 combination sounds very much like a live band to me, very lively, musical and able to extract the tiniest details.

The NAP250 sounded less detailed, lively as if a veil was put in from of the speakers.

So I was quite disappointed, as my previous test of NAP 250.2 vs NAP 500 showed that the NAP 250 was good in treble details, but lacking the bass authority of the mighty 500.

After getting over my shock, I then remembered that the NAP 500 had a Powerline and some very expensive Vertere DIN-XLR.

So we added a power line to the NAP250 DR and removed the Vertere DIN-XLR from the NAP 500 and then the NAP 250DR gained more detail, and sounded quite good, but still quite a big gap form the NAP 500 in terms of treble and midrange.

On the bass both were actually quite close.

I think getting the 552 without the 500 is not able to do full justice to what the 552 is really capable of.

Interesting test. The speakers were the mighty Sonus Faber Stradivarius

In HI-Fi though there is a masking effect, so when I went home to my 282/HCDR/250DR and added the power line to my 250 DR it sounded quite lovely to me with my Dynaudio X32 speakers, and for now I think I can live at this level for a while.

I will be trying some more tests, 552/500 into my speakers, and then my 282/HCDR/250DR into those SF Stradivarius speakers.

So what is the point of all this thread?

1) if you have a NAP 250DR, the Powerline really made a huge difference to it.

2) If you have a 552/500, 300 or 250, replacing the DIN-XLR with SL or other premium cables will make an audible difference

3) from what I can hear the 552 and 500 really are meant to used together, using a 552 with 250DR simply doesn't get the live music sound that the 552/500 together produce. Or maybe my 250DR still needs to be run in even more, as I don't remember the 250.2 having this issue in details, it just couldn't muster that bass that the 500 can.

4) speakers do count, with such expensive and revealing speakers, which demand the highest level of source and amps, but with much less expensive and costly speakers, my 282/HCDR/250DR sounds lovely to me.

5) I now can understand why Naim have always said to use the better amp on tweeters in active systems.

6) well the 250DR is a 3450 GBP amp and the NAP 500 well, that is a 18000 GBP amp, so it was very good to hear what the extra money buys. 

7) if you can afford it, don't waste time, just buy the 500 series. it is really worth it.

8) NAP 500 has a huge soundstage, bigger than NAP250DR 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 22 February 2016 by nigelb

My 250DR (or possibly my entire system) also fluctuates in performance. Not sure if it is the 250DR still running in or fluctuations in mains quality or just my moods making me more appreciative/receptive to my music. Whatever it is, I definitely 'sense' changes in the system's ability, whether real or imagined.

Is it just me?

Posted on: 22 February 2016 by analogmusic

Well this is from the review of the 552 on stereophile, apparently the Naim distibutor told the reviewer this

. Chris Koster said that the 552 needs considerable break-in—µp to a few months—to sound its best, and for the capacitors to settle. I had only about a month. "You'll know," he told me.

Nigel it isn't just you, I find my 250Dr doing the same thing, how old is your 250 DR?

 

Posted on: 23 February 2016 by nigelb

I have had my 250DR for about 5 months now and it was bought ex dem (with not many hours on it) so should be run in.

I do however suspect the (variable) quality of my mains supply and the presence of noise could be the culprits. Still have all my hifi and network devices on original ring mains which doesn't help. I have just put my network devices on a different ring main to my hifi gear, added a screened power lead to the powersrtip for the network devices and have noticed a marked improvement in SQ. So the presences of noise could also have caused the variable SQ in the past.

Just a thought.