Nait5+flatcapII or Nac112+Nap150

Posted by: Den on 22 May 2001

Currently I own a nait5 integrated. I'm considering buying a FlatcapII to power the preamp. An other possibility will be to trade in the nait5 and to buy a Nac112 preamp and a Nap150 power amp. What will sound better the nait5+flatcapII or a Nac112 with Nap150? (without considering future upgrades; because a Nac112+Nap150+FlatcapII will be the best).

Posted on: 22 May 2001 by Steve G

While I've no direct experience of the particular elements you mention in the long term I think you'd be a lot better going with the pre & power combination.

Posted on: 22 May 2001 by Thomas Breding

Hi Den!

As allways, trust your ears. Go and audition the Nac/Nap, bring home a FC2 on test and run it with your Nait. What CD-player do you have? If you have/consider a Naim the FC2 could power that one too.

Before I bought my Nait 5 I did a direct comparsion between Nait 5 and the Nac/Nap combo, together with both CD5 and CDX. I (and this came as a surprise to me) did not find the difference in sound or power to be worth the extra money. I actually prefered the sound of the Nait 5. Yesterday I read a test in Hifi World(?) where they did a test on the Nac/Nap and they prefered the sound of the Nait 5 too...

I later bought a FC2 and a CD5, running the Nait with the "better" output on the FC2, and the CD5 on the other output. This combo sounds great.

Good luck!

Posted on: 22 May 2001 by Den

Thanks for the replies.

At the moment I own a NADC541 cdplayer. Replacing this by a CD5 will probably give me the biggest improvement (planned for January next year). Though, at this moment I am asking myself if I made the right choice with the Nait5. It sound's great but I think I would like to biamp in the future (I would like to have the possibility) and I am not sure if that's possible with the Nait (power amp of the Nait for the high and NAP150 for mid/low). My dealer couldn't tell me if it's possible or not. Can anybody help me out??

Will biamping give me an improvement?
What will be the improvement by replacing the power amp of the Nait by the NAP150 (without biamping).