That Ebay Hicap
Posted by: John Bailey on 10 November 2001
The amp is mint but would I'm sure benefit from a service. What about the Hicap? Is there much benefit of having this serviced given that it is (presumably) much less stressed than the power amp? The NAC42.5 works well but the number of inputs is a limitation and it has a slightly crackly volume control - I'm not sure that a service is worth the cost really.
Eventually I also want to add a Naim CD to the system - has anyone any experience of a CD5 with Kans or is a CD5 a waste and I should go for the CDX when it arrives in the new case? Also, do Naim still sell the ARO tonearm?
You can tell that I am not that focussed in my system builing!
Any advice gratefully received.
John.
) it really made the 72 swing. I suspect you will get the same improvement from adding the HiCap to the 42. I had my 140 serviced and the voltage converted by those nice folks in Salisbury and I thought it was a steal; it does improve the re-sale value as well so it may be worthwhile for you.I bought a CDX to upgrade the CD3.5/FlatCap and, although it does a lot of things well, it initially sounded somewhat brittle and harsh. This was tamed with the addition of an XPS but if you don't plan to buy an XPS I would recommend sticking with the CD5 & possibly a FlatCap2. I have heard that the CDX is kind of fussy about stands and mine was on Mana so perhaps a Fraim would improve things. Kans kick ass and I think the CD5 will sound great through them.
Dave Dever of NANA, on another thread, had this to say regarding the HiCap with the red caps:
quote:
Oh, and that HICAPhas the older wiring looms--next time you get it re-capped, make sure the technician re-routes these as per standard production; it will improve performance about 20% alone (about 25 microvolts of noise lower).
Cheers
John