On Saturday I visited my local audio dealer, he had just received a brand new NAP300DR. I helped him with the connections (he's too taken by his Wilsons and Magicos, D'Agostinos and Constellations to care for DIN sockets, SNAICs and *caps), then we had CDX2/XPSDR, HiLine, 282/HCDR, 300DR, some speaker wires (not NAC A5, they probably are too cheap..) and Canton 3 K speakers playing.
I was impressed by the NAP300: had never heard one before. Its bass, firstly: deep, controlled, powerful; the mix (rather unique) of smoothness, coherence, detail; the sound of acoustic instruments; its liveliness, not harsh and never in your face. It seemed to me rather better than a 250 and not very far from a 500; and it was playing since minutes. Everyone in the room looked, at least, interested; everyone listened silently.
It's in an important price range; It's probably the Naim amp I'd buy if I was into that price range. But, as a form of consolation, I also appreciated how the 282 seemed up to the task. A splendid listening experience, even if I have, once more, realised how the closer you get to the depths of the recording the more you realise it's a reproduction without any real life. But that simulacrum was extremely seducing!
A great amp. Indeed.
Posted on: 01 October 2016 by Edouard
Bonjour Massimo,
So when will you be getting a nice s/h 300 for you? 
It's always been for me the best Naim amp, so musical with such rightness, it's absolutely impressive!
I'm not surprised you loved it!
I never had a chance to listen to the Statement, but I would not consider it anyway, even if it was in my budget.
I guess your brother in law's next step would be to upgrade his SN to a Naim pre like the 282
Ciao
Edouard
Posted on: 01 October 2016 by Massimo Bertola
Ardbeg10Y,
my brother-in-law has a SN1 (with a HC2).
Edouard,
bonjour a toi. I have thought of a 300 for myself, but it will take time. And yes, my b-i-l is thinking of a preamp, but he – unlike me – likes the blitzkrieg: he buys unexpectedly, without notice, then bang! the new Naim box is there. I have no idea whether it's going to be a 282/HC, a 282/SC, a 252... If I know the guy, it will be a SC first (good with SN, 282, 252).
M
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by Ardbeg10y
Hi all participants on this topic
This topic really made me rethinking what I want in my 1 YR old hifi hobby.
About a year ago I bought a Supernait 1 and I was and am still very happy with it. I like it so much because anything what gets processed by the SN1 turns into nice and dynamic music.
I bought my Supernait because I was convinced that an amp can't have enough power so you better have enough of it.
Well, you all probably understand this sofar and most likely much more than I do currently.
Then upgraditis kicks in. By carefully listening it gets clear what a setup can do, and where it is having its problems.
Then this forum is a nice place to read all the opinions and possibilities. Source-First Fanatics, Pre-amp Prioritizators, Cable Champions.
I believe in these things. If the signal is damaged in an early state, it won't get better. Therefore a high-end pre-amp + simple poweramp is likely to perform better than the basic pre-amp + high level poweramp. Bit more complicated than this of course.
I want to upgrade in some time. Have a large room (~50 sq m) and bigger speakers are needed to make the music more relaxed. My tiny CM1's do a great job, but on higher volumes, I feel that they get stressed a bit. My ears get tired more quickly. I also miss bass notes in larger Symponies / Organ music.
What I have also learned on this forum, that you can save a lot of money by doing the right upgrades in one step instead of step by step. I mean, going from Nap 200 to Nap 300 directly and skip Nap 250.
So, this is my plan. And I am very happy to read here that a Supernait 1 can be combined well with a Nap 300.
I was a bit off-track and believing that I have to upgrade Source First, but I also believe that the Naim branded Sources are going to have a lot of improvements over the nxt years. Streaming! We just started.
An solid upgrade in this case would be to save some money for nice Harbeth speakers and a Nap 300 / 500 and then after ~5 to ~10 years start thinking of Preamp / Source upgrade.
But it could also be that we have mainly active speakers in a few years and that my poweramp bet is wrong ...
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by hungryhalibut
I'm not sure a CD5i and a Chromecast feeding a Supernait preamp and a 300 power amp is an entirely good idea. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's a bad idea. A really, really, bad idea.
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by Massimo Bertola
I hadn't looked ARDBEG10Y's system, and had to Google 'Chromecast'; I admit that Nigel is right in doubting about the outcome of putting all that into a NAP300.
My brother-in-law has a CDS3/XPS2, Harbeth SHL5s and his SN1 is obviously a temporary solution. But to consider a NAP300 with a CD5i looks weird to me too.
M
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by Ardbeg10y
My audio dealer advices me to get a NDX.
He's probably right, but it feels strange to spend money on something which I expect to change more quickly than poweramps / speakers.
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by ChrisSU
I would normally suggest that waiting for the next big thing to come along is not the way to go, but right now, I guess you might as well at least wait until Thursday. Unless, of course, you're in a competition to win the 'World's biggest Mullet' award, in which case, carry on.......
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by Ardbeg10y
Holi FlatFish, I assume that adding some Vodka cables to the CC Audio makes a difference? :-)
If you have one - what I doubt - ensure the optical connection + wired lan (separate adapter) are used. This makes quite a difference, actually.
Posted on: 03 October 2016 by nathan_klassen
I hadn't looked ARDBEG10Y's system, and had to Google 'Chromecast'; I admit that Nigel is right in doubting about the outcome of putting all that into a NAP300.
My brother-in-law has a CDS3/XPS2, Harbeth SHL5s and his SN1 is obviously a temporary solution. But to consider a NAP300 with a CD5i looks weird to me too.
M
While I'm not running a NAP300, the Chromecast Audio (or regular Chromecast) is a surprisingly 'decent' source. Especially for the price. Streaming lossless music via Tidal sounds quite good using the SNAIT's built in DAC.
To these ears it is a particularly decent transport. I've not yet done a head to head against the Creek CD50MK2 I use as a CD transport into my SNAIT, but the Chromecast is far better than I expected. Some PRAT, decent detail and a fairly engaging presentation. For $40 CDN hard to go wrong.
I'll try to report back with a comparison sometime in the next week or two, but my impression is that it is better than being 'just' a background source. I've even been enjoying dedicated listening with it, but preferences re: transports/sources are highly subjective so YMMV.
Nathan
