Nac 72 revisited
Posted by: MangoMonkey on 28 September 2018
I got a reserviced and rebuilt Nac72 delivered to me a couple of months ago. I just got around to installing it. It just sounds beautiful!!!
System is: Naim Dac (fed via optical in from my PC - no audiophoolery) into Nac 72/HiCapDR/Nap250DR into Harbeth SHL5+s.
Olive's still where it's at. ;-)
Kudos to Chris West for an excellent restore job on the Nac72. This beats any of the current naim preamps for value.
The edginess of the olive goes well with the laid back Harbeth. Perfect balance.
On a different note - the ND555 design was a let down. Not sure why they put a screen on it. Just costs $$$ - and doesnt add any value since most operations are via the phone only.
Naim should've saved the trouble of engineering the screen and included an ipad instead.
Interesting impressions that the NAC72 was preferred over the 272 and 282, with the Harbeth SHL5 Plus speakers which I also own. Folks have to be aware that the 72 being discussed here is not original Naim spec and an altered version with different capacitors and/or other bunch of changes.
I am on the 282/Hicap DR and 250DR driving the same Harbeth SHL5 speakers.I can relate to the preferred edginess of the old 72 although i haven't heard one myself. Nevertheless the 282 sounds quite edgy and forward to me(desirable traits) when matched with the SHL5 Plus, compared to say the 202 or on a worse level the Rega or Plinius. The Harbeth sounds pretty dead with the Plinius.
Perhaps the (unmodified) 272 is just too smooth or laidback when matched with the Harbeth.
Oh - the 282/72 comparison was several years ago - with Kudos Super 20s which I still use with the ND555/552/500.
ryder. posted:
Perhaps the (unmodified) 272 is just too smooth or laidback when matched with the Harbeth.
Well, it was also the lack of the detail. Naim Dacs are fairly cheap. Once I had one, there was an uplift in quality playing NaimDac->Nac272->Nap250DR. Since the streaming section of the Nac272 was now redundant, might as well replace it with a 'budget' preamp. The $200 Allo DigiOne is good enough - and it does ROON - something the 272 does not.
ryder. posted:Folks have to be aware that the 72 being discussed here is not original Naim spec and an altered version with different capacitors and/or other bunch of changes.
@ryder -
To be clear - this is still an original Nac72. It is not a 'mod'. Per Nick and Chris - all parts (for the Nac72 + Fono boards) are sourced from the naim factory and are to the original spec. It sounds like a Nac72 - not a modder's delight.
It's just that many parts are of tighter tolerances than what the Nac72 might have shipped with originally - this explains to a certain degree where folks have had a few different Nac72s and had a favorite sounding one.
The only 'mods/upgrades' were WBT RCAs - the same ones that go on the Nac552.
On my end - this is one of the areas where it sounds like everything just comes together nicely.
[@mention:55771800629066628] - As compared to the non-dr versions, I look at the 'DR' version of powersupplies as having a lower noise floor and opening up the upper registers
a) Olive and Black Hicaps were pretty much the same except for chasis
b) Black Preamps used the black hicaps for 10 years before the DRs came out,
c) we still don't have any changes to the Naim preamps
the HiCapDR 'should' be a great upgrade for the Nac72.
So it should work.
Does it?
Well - I don't have the time/energy/interest to do a listening test - but the system sounds wonderful.
Listening to vinyl this morning - and the system sounds better to me than the StageLine/HicapDR into Nac272. More balanced, more together.
MangoMonkey posted:ryder. posted:Folks have to be aware that the 72 being discussed here is not original Naim spec and an altered version with different capacitors and/or other bunch of changes.
@ryder -
To be clear - this is still an original Nac72. It is not a 'mod'. Per Nick and Chris - all parts (for the Nac72 + Fono boards) are sourced from the naim factory and are to the original spec. It sounds like a Nac72 - not a modder's delight.
It's just that many parts are of tighter tolerances than what the Nac72 might have shipped with originally - this explains to a certain degree where folks have had a few different Nac72s and had a favorite sounding one.
The only 'mods/upgrades' were WBT RCAs - the same ones that go on the Nac552.
On my end - this is one of the areas where it sounds like everything just comes together nicely.
Hi Mangomonkey,
Apologies if that is the case as I recall reading about the capacitors of the NAC72 being replaced with different high-grade capacitors other than "a bunch" of other upgrades. I tried to find that remark but apparently it was taken off the thread. Anyway it is good to hear that the only mod is the WBT RCAs.
I recently had a 72, 102 and an 82 side by side and they are all three are fantastic value for money compared to their equivalent black boxes and not only that in my opinion are sonically superior.
I made the mistake AGAIN of letting a Supercap go I had one briefly on a 202 and recently on my 82 on both occasions the extra everything was a bit too much for my ears but now with a single Hicap on the 82 I find I'm really missing all that extra detail but I will try adding another Hicap first, I would imagine a Supercapped 72 would sound fantastic.
I have never tried a 252 or a 552 so cannot comment but where vinyl is concerned the Olive range is most definetly better to my ears than the new boxes on the subject of streaming with Olive I find it to be at least equal I had a Hifiberry Digi +/ 2Qute into a 282/300 and now into an 82/180 and they both sounded the same.