Fair price for a pre-loved or ex-demo NAC552DR?

You won't be disappointed but it does take a few days to warm up and settle down. Then you begin to hear things on familiar songs that you didn't know were there. I'm still finding that after almost 2 years of ownership.  

Marcus, you're going to love the 552.

As I mentioned earlier, I made exactly the same move from a 252 / Supercap, which was an extremely good pre-amp, but, once it had settled in, the 552 takes the music to an entirely different place.

I can't really quantify that, other than to say that the music sounds more "live" and in the room.

You don't say in your profile whether your 300 is the DR version, but that was my last move, trading in my 300 for a 300DR, and that also has had a hugely beneficial effect on things ................ though you probably feel you've spent quite enough money for the time being! 

Sorry! 

Around 17K USD.

Congratulations on your decision, Marcus. I have only had my 552 for a few months, but echo totally what MDS and Dave Marshall say above. I have been surprised by the things I must have been missing before (my previous preamp was a 52). I have had many "Where did that come from?" moments. It seem like additional musicians have joined the party! I am sure you too will be delighted with the 552. 

Hello, 

Well done for the the good dea.

Next  step 300 DR or 500 ?

P.s. which loudspeakers did you use before T 808?

Regards

Roberto

Additional musicians joined the party

blimey

dave marshall posted:

Marcus, you're going to love the 552.

As I mentioned earlier, I made exactly the same move from a 252 / Supercap, which was an extremely good pre-amp, but, once it had settled in, the 552 takes the music to an entirely different place.

I can't really quantify that, other than to say that the music sounds more "live" and in the room.

You don't say in your profile whether your 300 is the DR version, but that was my last move, trading in my 300 for a 300DR, and that also has had a hugely beneficial effect on things ................ though you probably feel you've spent quite enough money for the time being! 

Sorry! 

Thanks for the suggestion of the 300DR, Dave. It’s nice to spend other people’s money isn’t it? 

Luckily I already have the DR-version . I should update my profile.

I have to agree that the difference between the DR and non-DR version on the NAP300 was bigger than I expected and gave a really nice performance lift in my system. Reduced “background noise”, more control, better micro dynamics and all of that. The best thing was however that music sounds more “live” and “real”.

On the subject of spending other people’s money, I really think a ND555 would suit you system rather well

MarcusM posted:

dave marshall posted:

Marcus, you're going to love the 552.

As I mentioned earlier, I made exactly the same move from a 252 / Supercap, which was an extremely good pre-amp, but, once it had settled in, the 552 takes the music to an entirely different place.

I can't really quantify that, other than to say that the music sounds more "live" and in the room.

You don't say in your profile whether your 300 is the DR version, but that was my last move, trading in my 300 for a 300DR, and that also has had a hugely beneficial effect on things ................ though you probably feel you've spent quite enough money for the time being! 

Sorry! 

Thanks for the suggestion of the 300DR, Dave. It’s nice to spend other people’s money isn’t it? 

Luckily I already have the DR-version . I should update my profile.

I have to agree that the difference between the DR and non-DR version on the NAP300 was bigger than I expected and gave a really nice performance lift in my system. Reduced “background noise”, more control, better micro dynamics and all of that. The best thing was however that music sounds more “live” and “real”.

On the subject of spending other people’s money, I really think a ND555 would suit you system rather well

Lah lah lah lah lah ........................ I can't hear you! 

AndrewG posted:

In my experience you seem to be able to get 20% off ex-dem models when they are 1 year old, although in some cases the discount is smaller. Trade in values also seem to vary between dealers. In general you seem to get a better deal against purchase of a new unit rather than against a used or ex-dem one. However I have found sometimes that the dealer offers a fixed trade in value whatever you are buying. It certainly pays to ask around for the best deal, especially if dealer loyalty is not an important consideration.

My dealer ‘says’ he cannot offer more than 60%. He also tries to do it against what you paid which may  have been discounted and neglecting price rises. Also likes to claim they have to charge VAT on the full retail price rather than the markup! Cake and Eat come to mind. Serious words in the offing. 

Phil

MangoMonkey posted:

Around 17K USD.

Mango, around 17K USD seems like a very good deal.

Doesn’t the NAC552DR cost around 35k USD new in US?

Do the dealers sell their 1-2 year old ex-demo units for under 50% of the original price?

Filipe posted:

AndrewG posted:

In my experience you seem to be able to get 20% off ex-dem models when they are 1 year old, although in some cases the discount is smaller. Trade in values also seem to vary between dealers. In general you seem to get a better deal against purchase of a new unit rather than against a used or ex-dem one. However I have found sometimes that the dealer offers a fixed trade in value whatever you are buying. It certainly pays to ask around for the best deal, especially if dealer loyalty is not an important consideration.

My dealer ‘says’ he cannot offer more than 60%. He also tries to do it against what you paid which may  have been discounted and neglecting price rises. Also likes to claim they have to charge VAT on the full retail price rather than the markup! Cake and Eat come to mind. Serious words in the offing. 

Phil

He's telling you porkies, Phil. He only needs to charge VAT on the margin.  

Clive B posted:

Congratulations on your decision, Marcus. I have only had my 552 for a few months, but echo totally what MDS and Dave Marshall say above. I have been surprised by the things I must have been missing before (my previous preamp was a 52). I have had many "Where did that come from?" moments. It seem like additional musicians have joined the party! I am sure you too will be delighted with the 552. 

Thank you, Clive!

Congratulations on your NAC552 as well!

rsch posted:

Hello, 

Well done for the the good dea.

Next  step 300 DR or 500 ?

P.s. which loudspeakers did you use before T 808?

Regards

Roberto

Hi Roberto!

I already have the NAP300DR. It’s a lovely amp

With the addition of the NAC552DR I will hopefully be content for many years to come!

If I feel that anything else needs to be upgraded in a few years many things may have happened. Maybe there is replacement products for the current pre- and power-amp range, who knows?

If the product range looks like now, maybe a nice ex-demo or pre-loved ND555?

Before the mighty T808 I had a nice pair of Audio Physic Virgo 25.

MDS posted:

Filipe posted:

AndrewG posted:

In my experience you seem to be able to get 20% off ex-dem models when they are 1 year old, although in some cases the discount is smaller. Trade in values also seem to vary between dealers. In general you seem to get a better deal against purchase of a new unit rather than against a used or ex-dem one. However I have found sometimes that the dealer offers a fixed trade in value whatever you are buying. It certainly pays to ask around for the best deal, especially if dealer loyalty is not an important consideration.

My dealer ‘says’ he cannot offer more than 60%. He also tries to do it against what you paid which may  have been discounted and neglecting price rises. Also likes to claim they have to charge VAT on the full retail price rather than the markup! Cake and Eat come to mind. Serious words in the offing. 

Phil

He's telling you porkies, Phil. He only needs to charge VAT on the margin.  

Yes. Whereas he may not have explicitly said the VAT was on the full price he led me to believe that. [@mention:36201736971392588] also put me right on this. Thank you too.

[@mention:1566878604005562] Thanks for recommending your Chester dealer. I have sent an email to Geoff.

Phil

MarcusM posted:

Before the mighty T808 I had a nice pair of Audio Physic Virgo 25.

Ok, thanks

Regards

Roberto

Congratulations on the new purchase. You will have a huge smile on your face from the moment you first power it up. 

Drewy posted:

Congratulations on the new purchase. You will have a huge smile on your face from the moment you first power it up. 

Thank you Drewy! I hope that you are right!

Adam Zielinski posted:

Well done Marcus! Congratulations and do let us know how you get on with your 552.

Hi guys!

I promised a report after the NAC552 arrived so here it is:

The NAC552 arrived 2 weeks ago. Since I was on a business trip it had to wait 1 week before I was home to connect it in my system. Since it was quite cold temperatures outside during the transportation I think it was good that the preamp had to stay inside for a whole week before connected in my system. In that way it reached room temperature and all condensation had time to dry before powered up.

So last weekend I did a complete tear down and rebuild of my system and changed my NAC252 for the "new" NAC552. I listened to a few songs that I’m familiar with before the rebuilt and listened to the same songs with the NAC552 in place. The whole rebuilt took 5-6h but I think that I got most things right (cable dressing, plug- and unplug cables to clean contact surfaces, tighten screws in the Fraim and so on…).

So the comparison was 5-6h apart and I compared a fully settled and warmed up NAC252 to a newly installed NAC552 which haven’t been used for one month and had travelled quite a distance and in cold climate. So, was there any difference between the two preamps in my system?

Yes, there was! The NAC552 was clearly better form the first note. Much more presence and realism in the music. Better “decay” from piano and guitar notes. My system is now giving deeper/more base and have better control.

After all the lyrical comments about NAC552 on this forum, my expectations were extremely high. To be honest I did not really know what to expect. Maybe my expectations was so high that I had expected even more, I don’t know…

Anyway, all in all, I’m quite happy with the upgrade. It’s without a doubt quite a big difference between the NAC552 and NAC252. Hopefully the NAC552 will get a little better still during the next weeks…

I also still have the NAC252 at home so I could put it back in the system to check again if the difference is big enough for the price difference...

/Marcus

Moderated Post:  Marcus I have made a small edit to your post to ensure it complies with forum rules.

Good news, Marcus.  You've got more to come from the 552. My dealer advised me that from cold it would take five days before it would properly warm up before it would come 'on-song'. He was right.  

Do keep us updated.