SN2+ND5xs vs n272+200

What's the best choice for the analogue turntable input?

I'm in a similar situation (albeit with no money for any upgrades ahahah). Anyway I think that vinyl sounds rather good on uniti star. 

I had N272 with 200 once and was not completely sold on the sound. I think that uniti star actually sounds better

Olek_K posted:

I had N272 with 200 once and was not completely sold on the sound. I think that uniti star actually sounds better

Really? Also for analogue inputs (like turntable) or for digital streaming only?

It sounds good...

My current cheap audio-technica deck is not something I would really use to judge such serious matters but Vinyl do sounds good with a star. It’s also hard to judge sound from memory...

Hi Emme,

This is a very tough one to call. Based on my personal experience, the SN2 is a very capable integrated (i am running it with a HiCap DR, but even without the external PS I would still go for the SN2 over the NAP200) for analog duties with my TT and streaming via NDX -  the system is truly excellent. As for the NAC272 - a lot of members on this forum simply love it, mind you most partner it with a NAP250 DR. Speaking of pros and cons, difficult to say: SN2 is slightly more powerful than the NAP200 and although I am not familiar with the Audiovectors, the extra nominal 10 watts per channel offered by the SN2 would come in handy. Having said that, the NAC272 is very capable and its streaming module is marginally better than the one in ND5XS . In my opinion the pre-amps in the SN2 and NAC272 are not far apart - question of personal taste. I know that it might be hard to test the two options side by side, so I am sure others will contribute soon with their personal views on the NAC272/NAP200 pair.

Best,

Vik

I auditioned 272 with 200 and wasn’t interested, but with the 250 it was excellent.  In the end I decided that was too much £, so decided to stick with current Nait XS2 and found ND5XS had much of the dynamics of the more expensive set up, by which I mean some the space and voicing showed more of a family connection, that the 200 just didn’t in my view.  However after spending some of that £ on an LP12, as mentioned elsewhere, I’ve also been thinking about the SN2.  I now think I would do SN2+NDX(2) because it separates upgrades and upgrade paths, i.e you could upgrade to pre/power and leave your source unaffected and vice versa.  Plus if you have other sources the amp side just feels like it will be a little more pure, but I don’t know what happens inside a 272 when you connect, say, a T/T, and if any of the digital side is still active.

I started with ND5, XS2 and LP12 and auditioned 2 upgrade options:

- XS2 -> SN2

- XS2 + ND5 -> 272 + 200

If I'm honest, I went in with a couple of prejudices; the received wisdom (from this forum) that the 272 conquers all, against my personal feeling that an all analogue path for the LP12 would be ideal.  And a slight uneasiness about the sheer density of components packed into the 272.  OK, 3 prejudices.

In the end, after quite a lengthy demo, there wasn't much in it; 272/200 a little more open (like you'd turned up the "presence" dial a bit), maybe a shade heavier in the bass, but SN2 had more drive and control, for me the SN2 / ND5 won out.

I didn't audition other 272 options, but it did feel like it would need an XPS or 250 or both to be at it's best.

Some time after swapping I'm sure I found some measured outputs for the 200 and SN2 from the same source (HFN?) which indicated that the SN2 was actually quite a bit more powerful than the 200 - not particularly meaningful I know, but maybe that's partly explains the extra drive?

BTW; I did eventually swap the ND5 to NDX 1 on a bit of a whim (more received wisdom / matching cases OCD).  I had quite a while to compare the 2, and in SQ terms they are really close.  Not that the NDX isn't a little better, but the original ND5 was terrific in its own right.

Nice input Cloud Sauce - I was maybe going to stick, but now I’m not so sure!  Anyway, I think what might be further complicating this right now is that 2nd hand NDS are cheaper than the NDX2 (I think).  In another thread it reads as if the NDX2 and NDS are very close, but maybe with some subtle differences in presentation; detail vs. “foottapability”?  The reason for going with the NDX2, aside from getting NDS like performance, might then come down to Roon integration (if one can fathom how to do that!).

I went from XS+ND5 to 272+200 & the difference is night & day to these ears 

It’s curious; I wanted to like the 272/200 combo because it might have been a more reasonable cost, but it really wasn’t sufficiently more to justify the expenditure.  Maybe my XS2+ F/C just does enough of what I want, and perhaps better than the XS, I don’t know having never heard it.  I’m not saying my experience would be universal, so I’ve no doubt that for someone else, given room, speaker and even cable variables, that would be a different outcome.  Maybe it comes down to synergy, and the ND5XS gave me what I was wanting in my current system, so that a fairly major change of its heart and brain wasn’t needed?  Having said all that I’d still go SN2/ND5XS then maybe SN2/NDX2.  Later one could add a 250DR, then switch the SN2 for a dedicated pre-amp, and/or add an XPS DR to the NDX(2) as funds and tastes allow and change.

Had a demo with Nait, XS and Supernait. Naim digital source. Not convinced with either...

Small differences between them compared with the massive jump up to 202/hicap/200. Wow!

I would hope that nearly £6k of pre-amp power-amp and power supply sound good compared with a £2k or even a £3.5k integrated - Naim price points are well managed.  We haven’t yet suggested here that with a 552 and 500DR you could and smash a Nait XS2 or SN2 to pieces, probably literally; pah, crappy litte Integrateds... 

My point is that within the context of the OPs question for us repodents to just keep raising the budget and declaring each level is better yet, unless the OP has Indicated they have found something more under the mattress, isn’t addressing the current question.  

The 272/200 combo is close in cost to the SN2/ND5XS, and so at that budget point represent realistic choices with different future paths.  Perhaps second hand/ex-demo the latter less costly still. However, our input was requested to maybe help understand those options.  Now, what happens if he spent £3-4K more?  Well that may be next year’s query ????, but it will depend on the direction chosen now...

I suspect I am superimposing my expectations on the OPs intent, so I’ll leave it at this.