Nap300 to Nap500DR with Kudos Super 20s.

Can you deno?  I love the 500 with any speaker but some people prefer the 300.  

Regards,

Lindsay

Can't demo at that price. 

Alternatively, I could DR upgrade my Nap300.

 Or, I could do absolutely  nothing. System sounds just fine – just the niggle that I’m not hearing what the 552 is capable of.

Mangomonkey, I'd add a 555PSDR to your NDS first. I guess it would make an interesting difference. When I added one to my nDAC the difference was simply huge!

I listened a number of times at Audio Show East in the Kudos room to the active Nap 300 DR set up versus passive Nap 500DR. I think the speakers were either 707 or 808. Although they both sounded good, I preferred the Nap 500, it had a beguiling quality that’s hard to explain. It went on my potential upgrade list.......I am a Nap 300 dr owner. But do try and get a demo, if possible.

The NAP500 DR is a special Amp that actually sounds so different from the non-DR version - in a great way that I'd go for it if you can afford it, as I don't think you will ever want an upgrade; you save a lot of money in the long term going straight for the end-solution.

I like the non-DR 500 too, but the DR 500 is so much improved that it is very special. The 300DR is an excellent Amp that is also incredibly better than the non-DR version, such that if you already had that you may want to run with that and ensure you have everything else in the system, including cables, where they should be. But the NAP500DR is so much better that if you think you will eventually end-up there then just miss the intermediate stepping-stone and go straight there IMO.

DB.

Got to be 552/500 surely!

agree with above, got to be the 500 DR especially at a good price.

although 552/300DR is NO slouch at all. I was jaw dropped in awe of the 300 DR when I heard it.

Just do it!!!

Mind you, the what if's never stop ...dam Naim!!!!

DR the 300 and replace your NACA5 with Super Lumina.  

500DR - it sounds fundamentally right. 

Darke Bear posted:

The NAP500 DR is a special Amp that actually sounds so different from the non-DR version - in a great way that I'd go for it if you can afford it, as I don't think you will ever want an upgrade; you save a lot of money in the long term going straight for the end-solution.

I like the non-DR 500 too, but the DR 500 is so much improved that it is very special. The 300DR is an excellent Amp that is also incredibly better than the non-DR version, such that if you already had that you may want to run with that and ensure you have everything else in the system, including cables, where they should be. But the NAP500DR is so much better that if you think you will eventually end-up there then just miss the intermediate stepping-stone and go straight there IMO.

DB.

Hi DB,

I have 500 DR upgrade scheduled for early April,  the service manager at LASA is insisting to do this. Mine is a 2012 build and he also told me that i can excuse with  the regular service 

Please can you elaborate  in which area you found the biggest difference with non DR ?

Regards

Roberto

rsch posted:

Hi DB,

I have 500 DR upgrade scheduled for early April,  the service manager at LASA is insisting to do this. Mine is a 2012 build and he also told me that i can excuse with  the regular service 

Please can you elaborate  in which area you found the biggest difference with non DR ?

The Service with the DR update makes most sense. Be prepared for a wild run-in over the first three weeks but after that it should nicely settle-down and continue to improve over a year - I'd say mine really opened-out fully after 18 months.

But you get the bulk of the upgrade withing first month. The changes are in terms of presentation: it is a fuller and warmer sound with a fuller bass and more delicate high-frequencies and more detailed and open mid-band.

Essentially you are hearing the results of far lower distortion from the new output transistors which define the Amplifiers high-frequency gain-bandwidth product before feedback - you get the capability for more linear HF and lower distortion throughout.

Add to that the effects of the actual DR supplies and the dynamic qualities are also improved. I'd say the 500 was already good here as it already had multiple independent supplies, but the new DR ones drop the perceived noise floor and give a smoother handling of percussion and plucked notes and you get better rendition of the harmonic structures around the fundamental notes. This effect is everywhere - even and obviously in voice where there is a velvety clear rendering of the top range on female vocals which I like!

The old 500 did all the PRaT stuff and the DR one does a little more of that but not fundamentally improved, but the rounding-out of the presentation into a more organic whole is done far better. The extra warmth is very obvious and it is not the adding of distortion but the extra linearity letting you hear more deeply into things.

DB.

Chris Bell posted:

DR the 300 and replace your NACA5 with Super Lumina.  

There is a lot to be said for using the SL speaker cables with both 300 and 500. I found they fundamentally changed the system presentation in a direction I wanted. The interconnect cables all do lots with more detail but the SL speaker cables allowed my system to fundamentally 'relax' and fill the room with music. It removed any sense of things being an effort to perform and  everything was just 'there'.

With my Active system this is one performance aspect I greatly value - a sense of lack of restriction.

DB.

Thank you for your reply,

I already knew it was a total winner, i was only convincing myself to postpone the job since my unit is not that old. For the record Mr. Lotti of LASA seems more willing than me to do this, so resistance is futile

Regards

Roberto

If you’re planning new speakers after you move it might be wise to audition them with a 500dr if that’s where you’re going anyway. No point ending up with something better suited to a 300. Whether to get the 500 before the move is another problem.

Darke Bear posted:

I'd say the 500 was already good (..)

DB.

I'm relieved. Should I happen to stumble into a 2nd hand, non DR 500 – which had a retail of £17,250 – I'd be sure it is a good amp.

rsch posted:

I already knew it was a total winner, i was only convincing myself to postpone the job since my unit is not that old.

Roberto,

you know I'm coming over to your place tonight for some toying around with black boxes, but if you still post another love-delirious post about the 500 like this I'm going to wear pajama immediately and stay home... 

(For the love of J.H.C, 552 /500 is becoming the new Nait.. How long will it take to see 552/500s sold for £699 or similar crazy prices?)

(I'm joking, I'm coming anyway, even though you're already drooling about the DR service on the mere basis of another member's ear and taste and nothing else than a businessman's insistence. See you later)

Hi Max,

In my life i did a lot blind purchases (hi fi and cars) based on my instinct or other people opinion  all of them proved quite successfull, the ony exceptions have been Lotus Evora for cars, an more recently Proac Tablette Anniversary.

R.

Price 500 vs price Kudos?

Max_B posted:

Darke Bear posted:

I'd say the 500 was already good (..)

DB.

I'm relieved. Should I happen to stumble into a 2nd hand, non DR 500 – which had a retail of £17,250 – I'd be sure it is a good amp.

Glad you are relieved.

For what it is worth and probably here not a lot, when I say 'good' it is in the context of the item's performance at its price-point.
A Nap200 is also 'good' probably tending to 'very good' as I think it outperforms its price-point - using words to describe subjective differences does need some awareness of relative differences.
In my world 'good' means I could live with the item and enjoy music from it, but comparing a NAP500 non-DR to a DR version, which was the question I was asked an opinion about means trying to describe the relative difference, so you have to normalize one item's description in order to give an impression of the other.

DB.

Thanks for the replies.

Nap 500DR should at home here in a week.

All my shelves are standard size. Brain brawn split.

Thinking of getting a double sized fraim shelf to place on top of the 500.

It's either that, or a medium shelf, followed by a gap standard shelf...

Any suggestions?

I have  500 head on extended level with a standard one below and 500 ps at te bottom  of the brawn stack

Regards

Roberto

Speaking from experience the NAP500dr would be a huge upgrade over the NAP300 ..... you will gain in all areas - the NAP500DR has great finesse. I would go for it ........ I use it with diminutive PMC20.21's and they sound astonishing..... (I have a small room). This amp has allot more control over the speaker as the negative cable of speaker wire - is now driven by negative side of the amp. The NAP 300 relies on the negative terminal going to the amps reference ground. (I am not particularly technical - this is my understanding). 

MangoMonkey posted:

Thanks for the replies.

Nap 500DR should at home here in a week.

All my shelves are standard size. Brain brawn split.

Thinking of getting a double sized fraim shelf to place on top of the 500.

It's either that, or a medium shelf, followed by a gap standard shelf...

Any suggestions?

 

Some say, the NAP500 likes to sit on a top fraim shelf : )

Although i haven't tried this myself [mine has a double hight shelf over]  i need top shelf for CDS3

But there maybe some truth in it,  the top shelves seems to be the optimum shelf position placement for most naim components.

Debs

Indeed, the top shelf is valuable real estate and usually holds a source or preamp. The top shop in Chicago has had their 500 head unit on the top shelf for years,,they do have three stacks though....

ATB,

Mark