250DR runs in - and sounds great

That's good news indeed. I've had mine six months now and it's certainly miles better than when I first got it. As you say, it's just very natural and involving. Very nice indeed.

great review - booked demo tomorrow at our friends in Leicester for possible upgrade to my NDX, PS was first on my list - but this may well be 2nd -

Indeed - currently running my 250DR in. It can be a bit painful to start with, but improves all the time.

I have had mine for seven weeks now - some days the music is truly alive with all the PRaT you need, other days things can get a little harsh/ragged at the top end. This is evident on all front end sources but generally things seem to be moving in the right direction and the sensation above may not be attributable to the 250 alone. I do sometimes miss the "warmth" of my old 72/140 but for detail, bottom end control and overall amazingness the 272/250 was a seriously worthwhile upgrade. And somehow it feels nice that I have further to go on the long and winding road to hi fi nirvana although not sure my bank manager (if I still have one) would agree.

Great post mine nap500DR is alreasdy 3 month,i have the same concerns as Analogmusic,  up and down with the sound, hopefully after reading this review i`m glad to wait for better sound in the future.

Demo booked for a week tomorrow dealer has given me a good trade in for my 4 year old SU so going to listen to 272 with 250DR cant wait.

Will have to leave speakers for now

Thanks for the updates guys

Good to hear your enjoying your 250Dr and it is now bedded in, I've now had mine 8 months and found it had the biggest ups and downs in the first 2-3 weeks, after that it had one or two minor off days but never sounded harsh or really off to me then from 3 months in it has been pretty much rock solid. Saying all this I still find sometimes the system can sound off but it`s usually when I'm really stressed, or overly tiered so I have learnt over the years to just forget about listening to the hifi when im like this as it just wont sound good and come back when I am in a better state of mind.

ATB.

Xenasys posted:

Demo booked for a week tomorrow dealer has given me a good trade in for my 4 year old SU so going to listen to 272 with 250DR cant wait.

Will have to leave speakers for now

Thanks for the updates guys

Think your in for a treat, I did the same and never looked back, as good as the SU is the 272/250DR  really is in another league altogether and you can always add a P/S at a later date to push the performance way up so be prepared to part with some serious cash on your visit 

ATB.

Thanks Rob T

Its going to cost me about 5K with the Trade In

ATB

Great to read of your 250DR now sounding the way we would expect it to.

It really is a whole lot more musical to listen through than a 250.2 or a 200.

Happy days!  FT

analogmusic posted:

 

And it can pretty much drive almost any speaker our there, I tried it with the 45,000 USD Sonus Faber Stradivari, which it drove without breaking a sweat, not even getting warm at all.

 

Great stuff.  Yep will drive some big speakers I'd ike to match mine with some Neat XL6's but I've just bought a new car

Hi Analogmusic, I've had my 250dr for only 5 days, I'm fortunately in a position to just leave it on constantly, which I have done night and day, also used the TQ system preparation cd. Initially it's sounded somewhat harsh and lacking in all areas, at the 75 hour point I experienced a night and day moment, when the 250Dr came to life, all of a sudden sound is smooth and warm, layered, more detail, performance effortless and refined, a truly stunning transformation, I'm even wondering if I need an xps, which was my next planned move, and the Sopra2's are certainly enjoying the experience, it seems a perfect match.

I'm glad yours has finally come to life, maybe I've just got lucky but I'm sure performance will just keep on improving..

analogmusic posted:

I previously had some concerns about my 250 DR, which I attributed to run in, and after some almost ups and downs during the last 4 months, it sounds like it has come "on song" the last few days.

It just is a more engaging to listen to, has plenty of Pace Rhythm and Timing and makes Dance and Rock music sound very fun to listen to.

This DR amp has also an "effortless" quality to it, reminds of the flow on live music and analog recorded music, it is just so much easier to hear what is going on with the various instruments and how they are played.

When an album plays I feel no urge to change a song or forward it as I am hearing new nuances on each song that I have not heard before - ever.

Added to this is that "inky black" background from which music emerges.

I still love what my Nap 200 did for my music all these years, but the 250DR is a league above the NAP 200, and I would have no hesitation in recommending the 250DR.

I think Naim have made some serious advancement with these DR amps, keeping the Naim "P.R.A.T - Pace Rhythm and timing" values very much the same, while lowering the Noise floor even more, decreasing electronic hash or noise (not that I noticed any before - but the 250DR just seems more transparent than the previous generation of Naim amps).

It also has this quality of getting out of the way of the music, as if the source is connected directly to the speakers and the music flows so convincingly and naturally (with that same old Naim groove).

I was listening to some Vinyl yesterday night, and the whole system sounded exceedingly good to me, the Naim boogie factor coupled with transparency and the right hi-fi qualities.

I'm very pleased with it, and it comfortably shows the Nap 200 a very clean pair of heels. Some people had preference for the 200 compared to 250.2, but with 250 DR, it really is much better than the 200, no reservation, ifs and buts....

I wanted to name this thread 250DR - the beast wakes up, but that is not how I think of the 250 DR, it is a powerful amplifier, but has this velvet smooth like musical flow, it just seems to get everything right that matters to my ears and musical enjoyment. It has power, and controls the bass very well, but it also has delicacy, refinement and musicality, all at the same time. 

And it can pretty much drive almost any speaker our there, I tried it with the 45,000 USD Sonus Faber Stradivari, which it drove without breaking a sweat, not even getting warm at all.

Well done, Naim.

That's cracking news Analogue music, well done. I'm pleased for you.

Perhaps "The Velvet Beast Wakes Up"?

Rob T posted:

Xenasys posted:

Demo booked for a week tomorrow dealer has given me a good trade in for my 4 year old SU so going to listen to 272 with 250DR cant wait.

Will have to leave speakers for now

Thanks for the updates guys

Think your in for a treat, I did the same and never looked back, as good as the SU is the 272/250DR  really is in another league altogether and you can always add a P/S at a later date to push the performance way up so be prepared to part with some serious cash on your visit 

ATB.

A few weeks ago, I demoed my SU + 250 vs SU + 250dr >> huge upgrade.

Then tried the 272 + 250dr. >> much less noticeable improvement, slight.

three others in the room all agreed.  I'll stay with the SU and definitely in 

the queue for the dr upgrade.  

California Jim

Hey California Jim

That's interesting will definitely try the SU with 250DR when I go for demo

ATB

Xenansys

I've not compared a SU/250 with a 272/250 and I simply swapped from SU to 272/250 in one go. I can certainly see that the SU/250 is a very good stepping stone for those who don't want to make the swap, in one go. It's worth bearing in mind that the addition of the XPS takes the 272 to an altogether higher level and should certainly be considered in a system with high performance speakers - it really is transformational. 

Hi HH

I have the budget to go 272 and 250DR with part ex my SU but not the XPS, but I suppose I am not going to know until I listen, the dealer is going to setup SU/Speakers then 272/250DR/Speakers

so will report back when had a listen

ATB

Xenasys

I did try a Superuniti bare, and then added a 250 DR to it, and it was quite a huge upgrade as California Jim said

The separation of instruments got a lot better, better control over the bass, the high frequencies were more defined, the midrange was better. The 250DR had an iron grip over the speaker, it was clearly audible.

The superuniti alone own sounded ok, but the moment the 250DR was added music become less stressed and a lot more musical/natural, the soundstage expanded in all directions, and the 250DR just sounded effortless and natural whereas the super uniti sounded like it was struggling a bit.

This is to be expected at the 250DR has a massive 1020 VA PSU (just take a look at pictures of the 250 DR internally), certainly much more powerful than the one in SU, and that too DR regulated, and has the 009 transistors which the Superuniti does not.

It still isn't as good as the 272/250DR but as HH said, if done on stages, Su/250DR is certainly a very good system.

And the owner of the SU was smiling when the Su/250DR compared to SU, so clearly it was an impressive upgrade

Indeed a difficult choice I love my SU I only have a small listening room in a rented apartment and will need to rearrange to suit 272 and 250DR

But lets see what happens next week I think in the end it will be decided on the demo

Thanks for all the advice and comparisons

ATB

Xenasys