NAC 282: One HCDR or two?

Have you thought about moving the HCDR from your bedroom to the 282 and trying it out ?  

Loads of stuff written on this, as John says trying it is the only way. 

Wasn't it suggested that if 2 HCs are used they should ideally be of the same vintage?

Regards,

Lindsay

PS: Welcome to the 282 league!!

A very similar post  has  been made : https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...46#59572673814966046

If you have the equipment best to try it yourself. Better to put the 2nd HiCap on the phono stage in my opinion. Read the postings on the above link.

When I had a 282 was using 2HCDRs and it was wonderful. Had a 3rd Hicap solely for the Stageline. 

I use 2 Hicaps, for my system it clearly is better. The real test was when I played a familiar song for my wife with one, then two Hicaps and she could instantly tell me that two sounded better. A caution however, IF you think you may upgrade to a 252 pre down the track, get one only and save for a Supercap. If you plan to stay at the 282, go for it, they are handy little boxes which can also be used for a cd player as well down the track. As always though, try test at home on your system if you can.

John Willmott posted:

Have you thought about moving the HCDR from your bedroom to the 282 and trying it out ?  

The problem is I need another shelf for my (custom) rack to do this, and I want to find out if it would theoretically be the right thing to do first.

AussieSteve posted:

I use 2 Hicaps, for my system it clearly is better. The real test was when I played a familiar song for my wife with one, then two Hicaps and she could instantly tell me that two sounded better. A caution however, IF you think you may upgrade to a 252 pre down the track, get one only and save for a Supercap. If you plan to stay at the 282, go for it, they are handy little boxes which can also be used for a cd player as well down the track. As always though, try test at home on your system if you can.

I don't think a 252 will be in the cards for at least a few years, maybe never, and I'm fighting the clock as well as my bank balance.  My hearing is holding up well so far but at my age that could change at any time.  Thanks for your input.

It would certainly be worth trying your second HCDR on your 282 - I expect that you will like what it does 

I've got 2 HCs but one is dedicated to the Superline.  If I shifted the 2nd HC to the 282 and powered the Superline from the 282 no doubt my CD replay would improve but I suspect my vinyl replay would suffer?

Looking at your profile details, I'd do the following:

Skip the second Hi-Cap for now. Also don't bother with Israeli power supplies at this level.
Not worth it in my opinion. They alter the Naim sound signature too much, especially with their own cables.

1. Move NAP 250 DR from N272 to your living room and put it on NAC 282. NAC 282 + HiCap DR + NAP250DR = a classic combo. Especially as you already have a high level source.

2. Put PowerLines on all your NAIM components

3. I cannot see your rack details, but I presume you have something decent to hold all that gear 

Adam

The Strat (Fender) posted:

I've got 2 HCs but one is dedicated to the Superline.  If I shifted the 2nd HC to the 282 and powered the Superline from the 282 no doubt my CD replay would improve but I suspect my vinyl replay would suffer?

That makes perfect sense to me. I tried my then Supercap 2 on a Stageline S, with the Hicap that was powering the Stageline swapped to my 282. I could have happily lived with it for vinyl but the drop in  coherence from my CDS3/XPS2 meant that the balance of compromise was to leave the Supercap on the 282 

The 2x HCDR will certainly give a different presentation to a single HCDR, but you may be disappointed with the results... In doing this configuration the grounds are split and become non star grounded... You may find there is increased chance that very level details and dynamics sound false or not there at all, but of course because of the nature of split grounds it may be wonderful, it will vary on setup and environment. You will be better off ultimately for consistency of performance, for this sort of configuration, in using a SuperCap which restores the star earthing.

However having said that overall I preferred my single HiCapDR on my 282 to my SuperCapDR.

Adam Zielinski posted:

Looking at your profile details, I'd do the following:

Skip the second Hi-Cap for now. Also don't bother with Israeli power supplies at this level.
Not worth it in my opinion. They alter the Naim sound signature too much, especially with their own cables.

1. Move NAP 250 DR from N272 to your living room and put it on NAC 282. NAC 282 + HiCap DR + NAP250DR = a classic combo. Especially as you already have a high level source.

2. Put PowerLines on all your NAIM components

3. I cannot see your rack details, but I presume you have something decent to hold all that gear 

Adam

 

Thanks, Adam.  I'm pretty happy with the bedroom system as is: the Dynaudio Confidence C1's one weakness, in my view, is being somewhat difficult to drive - they need an amp with plenty of power and grip to really shine.  I had the NAP 200 on them for many months and was never quite satisfied, so the 250 stays where it is.  My Davone Grandes, on the other hand, are quite easy speakers to drive, and the 200 makes an excellent match for them.  Which is not to say I wouldn't love to someday upgrade to a 250DR there as well, which is actually to be the subject of another post soon.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

The 2x HCDR will certainly give a different presentation to a single HCDR, but you may be disappointed with the results... In doing this configuration the grounds are split and become non star grounded... You may find there is increased chance that very level details and dynamics sound false or not there at all, but of course because of the nature of split grounds it may be wonderful, it will vary on setup and environment. You will be better off ultimately for consistency of performance, for this sort of configuration, in using a SuperCap which restores the star earthing.

However having said that overall I preferred my single HiCapDR on my 282 to my SuperCapDR.

Thanks, Simon, this is good information to have.  It seems the answer to the original question of "one Hicap or two?" is a solid "yes, no, maybe so..."  A new shelf for my rack is not that serious an investment, and even if I don't end up keeping the second HCDR there I can always use the space to spread out some other gear, so I've placed the order and now I wait to try the 282 both ways and let my ears decide.