Supernait 2 w Naim DAC

Hi,

nDac and SN would be an excellent configuration.   nDAC with 282/250 would be a considerably better configuration but remember you’ll also need a hi-cap for the 282. 

Regards,

Lindsay

Would the SN2 be able to drive my Polk LSiM705?

I've used this combo for years, though with PC + USB bridge as a transport. Excellent combination, outperformed NDX + SN2. SN2 with HiCap or aftermarket PSU drives my ATC SCM40mk2 so I'd think there won't be any problems with your speakers.

nDAC+ CD player as a transpor is a popular combination. I've used my nDAC with CD5XS, CDX2.2 and NDX. After all that's what the nDAC was designed for. Few notes on this one: quality of the transport is paramount; adding a power supply to the nDAC refines the sound even further - XPS and 555PS beinthe most popular upgrades.

SN2 eiher alone or with a HiCap is a very fine integrated amp, capable of running pretty much any speakers.

282 / HiCap / 250DR is a significant improvement over an SN2 - at least I though so, when I had my 282.

I've never heard of the OP's speakers so canot comment on those.

Adam, in my opinion you are wasting the CDX2 if you are using it only with the NDAC. The CDX2 Pacific Microsonics DSP coupled with its implementation of the TI 1704K DACs is a beguiling distinctive sound for many ((but not all) genres.

The Naim DAC uses a somewhat different implemtation of the 1704K DACs, but uses AnalogDrvices DSP in a config created by Naim.. resultant sound has quite a different character.

Simon

There was a past tense used in my sentece, Simon

Lately I've used CDX2 on its own with a 555PS non-DR. Sounded more interesting, more natural than via nDAC.

But all that is over - no more CD players - never really used it much anyhow, as my NDS took over. A good friend of mine was in a market for a CDX2 - he uses it non-stop which is great. Both happy.

Hi Winson,

nDAC and SN2 are a nice combo, at least to my ears . I don’t know your speakers, but the SN has no trouble driving my Bauer LS 3, a 4 Ohm 88 dB three-way.

If you use your CD-Player as digital source, try some different ways to connect it to the DAC. S/PDIF usually works best with a BNC terminated cable, assuming your Player has such an output. Don’t rule out Toslink, it might be the better way, if the electric outputs are noisy.

Thanks everyone for your replies. In order to keep the cost closer to SN2+nDAC, would a 202+250DR+nDAC offer a much better sound?

Winson I don't know if it will help you but I have just got the Naim Dac and using with the CD5XS as transport into SN2 and I am loving it

Hi Winson,

 I went for the integrated plus DAC to keep the box count low. While I am not a certified expert on Naim pre/power combinations, I am fairly sure that you would need an additional psu for the 202. On the other hand DAC/282/200DR should work, as the 200 is able to power a preamp. No idea about the sonic difference between this and the DAC/SN, though.

Winson posted:

Thanks everyone for your replies. In order to keep the cost closer to SN2+nDAC, would a 202+250DR+nDAC offer a much better sound?

Please remember thta it's the pre-amp that 'shapes and defines' the sound. I would focus on that rather than a power-amp if funds are limited.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Winson posted:

Thanks everyone for your replies. In order to keep the cost closer to SN2+nDAC, would a 202+250DR+nDAC offer a much better sound?

Please remember thta it's the pre-amp that 'shapes and defines' the sound. I would focus on that rather than a power-amp if funds are limited.

So does it mean that its a better choice to have nDAC+282+200DR than nDAC+SN2?

Winson posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

Winson posted:

Thanks everyone for your replies. In order to keep the cost closer to SN2+nDAC, would a 202+250DR+nDAC offer a much better sound?

Please remember thta it's the pre-amp that 'shapes and defines' the sound. I would focus on that rather than a power-amp if funds are limited.

So does it mean that its a better choice to have nDAC+282+200DR than nDAC+SN2?

I'd hazard a guess - yes. This also gives you a good upgrade path, as 282 is capable of fronting a whole range of power amps - NAP200, NAP 250 and NAP 300.

Although - from my tests bare NAC 282 + NAP 200 (no HiCap) sounded remarkably similar to SN2.

It all really depends where you'd like to end up - if separates are the ultimate goal, than start with 282 + NAP 200.

Hi all, thx for all ur advise. Im having a house demo coming Tues on SN2+nDAC. I was very tempted to hv 282+250dr+nDAC but price diff is double...

A pragmatic decision. Not only is the immediate price of the boxes double you also have to provide additional quality racking and attentive cable dressing with the separates. Plus twice as much to dust.

Winson posted:

Would the SN2 be able to drive my Polk LSiM705?

 It depends on how fast you want to go. Seriously.

The SN2's 80-watts are hefty, but those speakers have recommended amplification from 20-300 watts. A rather unusual range and I'd speculate that with those enclosed sub-woofers and the sealed design more watts are going to sound rewarding. I took my little, ported Totem Sttafs (rated to 100-watts) from the SN2 to a 200-watt integrated and found the command much more rewarding. The only way to know to what degree is to demo a high-powered amp on your speakers. I'd recommend something from Plinius or Krell if available.

Hi, may i seek one more advise. If i were to compare SN2+nDAC vs NAC282+NAP200dr+nDAC (instead of nap250dr to keep the cost lower), would there be significant differences? Thx.

To get the somewhat best out of the 282-200 system, I personally would budget for a HiCap DR. Which makes the comparison, as far as cost, a little lopsided. Even w/o the HC, the 282-200 system is roughly twice the cost of the SN2.

Of course if you budget for a HiCap DR, you should listen to a SN2 with a HiCap, it makes a pretty significant improvement overall, especially with harder to drive speakers.  SN2-HC- Ndac price point more or less equals the cost of just the 282-200 combo.

I recently did a home demo of these combinations, and all I can add is that the SN2 sounds more powerful than the 200, that was with a 202 pre. When the HiCap was added to the SN2, another significant jump in sound quality.

By the way, as far as being able to drive your particular speakers, I'm not familiar with them, but the SN2 drives my Dynaudio speakers pretty easily, Dyns are not the easiest speakers to drive cleanly, the SN2 does a superb job. In other words, if the SN2 can't drive your speakers than definitely the 200 will not either. As a matter of fact, if the SN2 is not sufficient then you would need to invest in a 300 to clearly better the SN2 as far as driving difficult speakers.

Thx. But u mentioned your demo is a SN2 with 202 as the pre. How does it fare for purely SN2 as an integrated (with nDAC of course). Thx.

No, you misunderstood, the 200 was demoed with a 202, not a 282. I believe the preamp section in the SN2 with the DR technology surpasses the 202, which is a pretty old design that doesn't have the DR technology, that is one of the reasons you would probably need a HCDR to realize the full potential of the separates system.

I see, my bad. ????

so does that mean SN2 w HC is a better choice than 282+200dr+HC?

No, not a better choice, If your ultimate goal is separates, than that's a different matter, as you can upgrade your amp later, but if you do, you are going to have to invest in a HC anyway! I believe the SN2 is quite a bit more powerful than the 200. Hint, look at the interior pictures of the two amps! To get the best out of the 282-200 based system, I personally believe you would need a HCDR.

What I'm saying is the cost of the two systems are completely at different levels. The 282 is a phenomenal sounding product, I believe the amplifier section in the SN2 would definitely better the 200. That's based on my home demos. By the way, I come from a 250-2 based system, which I owned for quite a few years. I also owned a 200 based system, and a whole number of Naim systems, but that's a whole different story!

Thats the struggle i hv now. I pretty like the nac282. But to combine w 250dr would be costly. Hence i thot of gg 282 n 200 dr w HC to keep cost lower. But was worried if 282+200dr+HC+nDAC is not much different to SN2+nDAC+HC.

Thx for ur patience in replying to my queries.

If you can demo both systems, that would be ideal, as different presentations can suit ones needs better than others. But as I was saying, there is quite a difference in price between the two systems. Just about double the cost in US dollars if you purchased new, quite a huge difference! Roughly $12,000.00 for the SN2 based system compared to $20,000 for the 282 based system, that's in US dollars. Don't know where you reside, and the difference may not be that great, but still substantial.

I do not have experience with the Supernait 2. The Supernait 2's performance can be improved with the Hicap DR (although some preferred running a bare Supernait 2).

On the other hand, the NAC 282 can be run in various combinations at many performance levels. And yes, it's all added cost with each option.

1. NAC 282 + NAP 200DR

2. NAC 282 + HCDR + NAP 200DR

3. NAC 282 + NAP 250DR

4. NAC 282 + HCDR + NAP 250DR *sweet spot

5. NAC 282 + (2 x HCDR) + NAP 250DR *sweet spot

6. NAC 282 + Supercap DR + NAP 250DR

The power supplies can bring quite an appreciable change to the NAC 282. Minimum 1 HCDR is recommended for the NAC 282.

Ryder, you forgot to mention that a SN2 can be paired with a SCDR, which, as you would guess is quite Super!!!!