After a two year break, now ready to indulge.

Get the best pre-amp you can afford. At the end of the day it's the pre-amp that 'defines' the sound.

Perhaps start with NAC 282 / HiCapDR.

Meerkat, best ignore the NAP300DR for now - it will eat up most of your budget and will also require a suitable pre-amp + PSU and possibly a PSU on the NDX2 to justify itself (so you're already at about double your budget).

If it were me, and considering your current Spendors, I would be looking first at the NDX2 with a Supernait 2 and also investigating power supply upgrade options for both, Powerlines, and hi-line or Superlumina interconnects.

But as ever, the best first step to take is to select a really good dealer who will take the time to demo the options and give great advice and support going forwards...

You are thinking of spending a lot of money and it’s important to get it right, which is why Richard’s advice to find a good dealer is the best advice you will get. The only thing I’d add is that it would be unwise to choose electronics to get a good sound out of the A5s - as Boris Johnson would say, you cannot polish a turd. Add the speaker budget to the mix and get a whole new and well balanced system at the same time. 

Ndx2 is 5k gbp

in the remaining 5 to 7 k it’s got to be a SN2 with HicapDr or 202/200 with Hicap DR

both good choices....

Unless you have your heart set on the NDX2, I'd chuck the Nova into the mix as well. It's an excellent starting point and you may find it's all you need rather than going the separates route. A Nova partnered with the new Kudos 505's could be very nice.

Good luck and enjoy listening to a few combinations, guided by a good dealer to find what works best for you.

Polish a turd is a little harsh on the spendor A5's....

And remember... although you cannot polish one..you can always roll it in glitter...

My plan was either:

NDX2 / SN2 vs 272N / 250 DR, just waiting for my dealer to get an NDX2, that said i was disappointed with the 272N/250DR, so hoping the NDX2 is something special not just like the ND555 thread where it seems more icing on the cake and somewhat polarised.

Previously I've used a 202/HicapDR/200 fronted by an NDX into A5's and it sounded rather good.  If your room can deal with the bass the A5's produce and you have electronics capable of controlling them they can sound excellent.  I found a 282 was a significant improvement when added to the same system.

I've moved on from the A5's now but did enjoy my time with them.  

You know the world's gone mad when HH starts quoting Boris Johnson.

hungryhalibut posted:

You are thinking of spending a lot of money and it’s important to get it right, which is why Richard’s advice to find a good dealer is the best advice you will get. The only thing I’d add is that it would be unwise to choose electronics to get a good sound out of the A5s - as Boris Johnson would say, you cannot polish a turd. Add the speaker budget to the mix and get a whole new and well balanced system at the same time. 

That is a fair comment HH. I have thought about demoing different speakers for years now, so will demo speakers as well as black boxes.

trickydickie posted:

Previously I've used a 202/HicapDR/200 fronted by an NDX into A5's and it sounded rather good.  If your room can deal with the bass the A5's produce and you have electronics capable of controlling them they can sound excellent.  I found a 282 was a significant improvement when added to the same system.

I've moved on from the A5's now but did enjoy my time with them.  

You know the world's gone mad when HH starts quoting Boris Johnson.

Thanks TD...I don't know if the new NDX 2 will require the same configuration as what you had? 

Obsydian posted:

My plan was either:

NDX2 / SN2 vs 272N / 250 DR, just waiting for my dealer to get an NDX2, that said i was disappointed with the 272N/250DR, so hoping the NDX2 is something special not just like the ND555 thread where it seems more icing on the cake and somewhat polarised.

Thanks Obsydian...Me too, still waiting for it to come in. The ND 555 is a tad out of my price range.

james n posted:

Unless you have your heart set on the NDX2, I'd chuck the Nova into the mix as well. It's an excellent starting point and you may find it's all you need rather than going the separates route. A Nova partnered with the new Kudos 505's could be very nice.

Good luck and enjoy listening to a few combinations, guided by a good dealer to find what works best for you.

Thanks James n. I am actually considering Kudos.

analogmusic posted:

Ndx2 is 5k gbp

in the remaining 5 to 7 k it’s got to be a SN2 with HicapDr or 202/200 with Hicap DR

both good choices....

 

Thanks analogmusic...Funnily enough, a dealership has recommended exactly that. Will demo them once the NDX 2 comes in.

Richard Dane posted:

Meerkat, best ignore the NAP300DR for now - it will eat up most of your budget and will also require a suitable pre-amp + PSU and possibly a PSU on the NDX2 to justify itself (so you're already at about double your budget).

If it were me, and considering your current Spendors, I would be looking first at the NDX2 with a Supernait 2 and also investigating power supply upgrade options for both, Powerlines, and hi-line or Superlumina interconnects.

But as ever, the best first step to take is to select a really good dealer who will take the time to demo the options and give great advice and support going forwards...

Thanks Richard for the advice on the NAP300DR. I do have a dealer in mind, and will demo the NDX 2 once it arrives.

On the Naim website, under products, I couldn't see the upgrade path for the NDX 2. Do I need to go to Specsavers?

If I were starting from scratch I’d definitely be tempted by the Nova, a Core (for my CD collection) and some really good speakers hooked up with high end cabling. I’ve got a  CDX2/XPSDR/252/SCDR/250DR (streaming by a Squeezebox - possibly to be replaced by ND5 XS2) set up - and it’s wonderful - but the simplicity of a Nova really would really appeal. SWMBO would be pleased as well!

Hi Alan...The streamer that I swapped my old ND5 for, is a Bluesound Node 2, which does actually give a reasonable performance. I don't know how that compares with a Sqeezebox?

At present, my Spendor A5's are connected to a Arcam A39 amp, Atlas interconnects, and Tellurium Q Black speaker cable. This is the same cable that was used on my old SuperNAIT 1.

Meerkat posted:

...On the Naim website, under products, I couldn't see the upgrade path for the NDX 2. Do I need to go to Specsavers?

If you go to the NDX2 product page and look under Product Specification, then scroll down to the bottom, you'll see the upgrade options listed. You basically have the Hi-line or Superlumina Interconnect, the Powerline mains lead, and   the XP5XS, XPS2, or 555PS (as well as the latest DR versions of the latter two) power supplies.

Richard Dane posted:

Meerkat posted:

...On the Naim website, under products, I couldn't see the upgrade path for the NDX 2. Do I need to go to Specsavers?

If you go to the NDX2 product page and look under Product Specification, then scroll down to the bottom, you'll see the upgrade options listed. You basically have the Hi-line or Superlumina Interconnect, the Powerline mains lead, and   the XP5XS, XPS2, or 555PS (as well as the latest DR versions of the latter two) power supplies.

Strange that they have included the now discontinued XP5XS in the list - another case of hurried copy and paste, I suspect?

Who knows? But it's not long discontinued and it can be used as an upgrade, just like the XPS2 and 555PS, so it's correct in that sense.

Richard Dane posted:

Meerkat posted:

...On the Naim website, under products, I couldn't see the upgrade path for the NDX 2. Do I need to go to Specsavers?

If you go to the NDX2 product page and look under Product Specification, then scroll down to the bottom, you'll see the upgrade options listed. You basically have the Hi-line or Superlumina Interconnect, the Powerline mains lead, and   the XP5XS, XPS2, or 555PS (as well as the latest DR versions of the latter two) power supplies.

Got it, cheers Richard.

Meerkat posted:

Hi Alan...The streamer that I swapped my old ND5 for, is a Bluesound Node 2, which does actually give a reasonable performance. I don't know how that compares with a Sqeezebox?

At present, my Spendor A5's are connected to a Arcam A39 amp, Atlas interconnects, and Tellurium Q Black speaker cable. This is the same cable that was used on my old SuperNAIT 1.

 

Me neither. I’ve found the SB to be pretty good in keeping up with streaming services and developments - but it will never be Roon, Chromecast or AirPlay compatible and is limited to CD definition so I will have to change if I want to use those services or HD. I have a Cambridge DACMagic hooked up to it which greatly improved the sound quality.  As I said in my earlier post I am considering an ND5 XS2 as streaming will never be my main source unless the CDX2 fails at some point. Also been considering a pure streamer and separate DAC as I think streaming services will continue developing.