NAP500 off to AVOptions for DR upgrade

Just can't wait to get mine back.....mine is also an early model with the flight cases. I am expecting it back in a couple of weeks....should be nicely run in for Xmas. ...

I've had mine back 5 or 6 weeks and it's still changing so good luck if you think it will all be over by Christmas. 

Blimy.... well I am hoping the worst will be over ..... I will keep it playing.....

Christmas 2017 certainly. 

But there isn't any "worst" to get through.  There's just a lot of "even better than I could have imagined".

The worst is over by week 2-3 run-in.

There are small bumps in performance after that, but they are atop a growing increase in performance, so it is all good.

One thing that strikes me is the incredible increase in music-making the system has now. The extra fluidity and clarity is especially striking in the mid-band on voice articulation - I keep thinking how really exceptional the singer is over and above what I'd previously registered.

DB.

I can't remember the DR upgrade for the 552 making such an impression. I wonder if the amplifier DR is from what everyone is reporting far exceeds the pre amp. 

O well, i'll keep doing the lottery in the hope I can get my 500 upgrade done. Or, maybe if everyone could contribute a a measely £2 per letter they have wrote on this post then i might just be able to get things moving!!!!

I'll take that as a no then!!! 

Great read gents...keep the posts coming I  might be able to go active.....still a no then!!!!!!!

The DR upgrade for the 552 was the 552PS DR; the NAP500 DR is the entire amplifier electronics changed as well, so it is more. The only thing that returns unchanged after DR upgrade to NAP500 is the box - even the plugs are changed.

Darke Bear posted:

The DR upgrade for the 552 was the 552PS DR; the NAP500 DR is the entire amplifier electronics changed as well, so it is more. The only thing that returns unchanged after DR upgrade to NAP500 is the box - even the plugs are changed.

So what's the point of having a 500 serviced plus a DR upgrade?

Service is for the 500PS - two boxes. DR is only for Head Unit which also has the regulators.

Only get the 500PS Serviced if around the 10 year mark. Mine were about at the 9 year mark and I don't want to keep sending stuff back so got it all done together.

Darke Bear posted:

The DR upgrade for the 552 was the 552PS DR; the NAP500 DR is the entire amplifier electronics changed as well, so it is more. The only thing that returns unchanged after DR upgrade to NAP500 is the box - even the plugs are changed.

Darke Bear posted:

Service is for the 500PS - two boxes. DR is only for Head Unit which also has the regulators.

Only get the 500PS Serviced if around the 10 year mark. Mine were about at the 9 year mark and I don't want to keep sending stuff back so got it all done together.

Thanks DB.

Wasn't sure which boxes you were referring to. Seemed too good to be true that both boxes innards would be completely replaced including the transformer.

Seven days of break-in and the 500DR is starting to open up.  Early on there was quite a bit of tension in the sound but things are starting to relax a little. I agree with the consensus of 500DR owners,  this amp is unique compared to its predecessor. The sound is much more real, present... less hi-fi.  Choral singers are much easier to follow as the complex layers of music are well sorted out and easy to follow.  There are surprises like detail and texture not present before. Bass is bigger and faster.  I'm sure the amp has a long way to go and I am looking forward to more.   

My 14 year old 552 is scheduled to go back for recap/rebuild/DR service in late January.  Pretty cool that gear this age can be made state-of-the-art again.  Makes my investment in Naim all the better.  

If by investment you mean investment in happiness, I'm right there with you. And I bet there's a lot of us.

The 500 is a case of less being more. It doesn't fit on the diminishing returns curve because it's too good and too different. I think the 500DR carries this on. Hard to believe if you haven't spent an hour or two with one, preferably in a familiar room. But easy if you have. 

It can sometimes be difficult to separate cost from value. Happily the 500DR and IMO the 552DR allow this with black and white clarity. You're going to be having some even bigger fun by the middle of next year. Whereas the 500 was mostly even after a couple of months, maybe three, I ears thought the 552 took a good eight months to give its best post DR mod. Not that it didn't sound superb while it was getting there. It will be different for each of us.

Chris Bell posted:

Seven days of break-in and the 500DR is starting to open up.  Early on there was quite a bit of tension in the sound but things are starting to relax a little. I agree with the consensus of 500DR owners,  this amp is unique compared to its predecessor. The sound is much more real, present... less hi-fi.  Choral singers are much easier to follow as the complex layers of music are well sorted out and easy to follow.  There are surprises like detail and texture not present before. Bass is bigger and faster.  I'm sure the amp has a long way to go and I am looking forward to more.   

My 14 year old 552 is scheduled to go back for recap/rebuild/DR service in late January.  Pretty cool that gear this age can be made state-of-the-art again.  Makes my investment in Naim all the better.  

experienced similar -- and yes, there is definitely more to come. prepare to hear your music as you have never heard it before :-)

enjoy

ken

I get the impression it opens the it up before it integrates it, hence the slightly bumpy ride.

Ha ha....tee he

Darke Bear posted:

J.N. posted:

...It's not really a NAP500 any more, but something quite different - a NAP750 perhaps?

This is very much the case. My NAP500 amps have been DR updated about four months ago now and still improving in ways that amaze me - and I'm not easily amazed by HiFi upgrades.

There is a continual opening-up of more and more detail within detail that I thought had already 'arrived' a few weeks ago. I came back from a week away on holiday and on listening to a track I know well was a bit stunned at how much it had opened and detailed over a week. The bass has a character that it is hard to describe - a vibrant and clear timbre to all notes played however complexly arranged and a sense of presence that was not there before.

The DR 500 reminds me more of the experience I had with the S1 Pre run-in, but about three-times faster. There is a quality of reproduction that both the S1 and DR500 have that show similarity in how they reproduce the music in a no-nonsense 'not-there' way that gradually endears you after you get used to it not having any obvious sonic signature. So I'm saying the DR500 is really in the Statement league and has almost nothing in common with the old non-DR 500.

So J.N.'s idea of calling it a NAP750 tells it right.

DB.

I did warn you :-) :-) :-)

I've had the feeling something could be better recently, since I moved the 500 ps to the 4th shelf and the SC between that and the 555 ps, though I thought it an improvement at the time. I noticed the ic from the supercap was touching the Aro leadout wires on its way to the 552 and thought I could make it clear them. Mute on, Supercap off ic moved to socket nearest burndy (I don't know why it was in the one furthest) and rerouted below the leadout wires, All back on and the swing is back in spades. I'd thought the latest VDGG album was a little lacklustre, not any more it isn't.

Looking at the manual I see Naim show the socket nearest the burndy to take the signal from a supercap powering a superline in their connection diagram, so I've checked and I'm using the right sockets on the 552ps already according to the picture.

I still have to try the 555 ps at the bottom which will make all the power supplies diagonal to their head units... Might leave this one 'till the holidays.

I've no room for empty shelves and remote controlled units have to use the 3rd shelf up or higher but I could try the 500 head unit between the superline and the 552, not sure I'm convinced by this one.

Try putting the 500PS as far away from the other supplies as sensible placement allows. The 500PS handles high dynamically-varying current with associated magnetic field that I've found surprisingly impacts other boxes placed very close to it, making them sound duller than when it is away on its own with space around it - then you get a more open dynamically-clear and clean sound.

The Supercap is very sensitive and does not work best when in a sandwich in the middle of other large supplies when using standard levels - if you have to do this then use empty spacers or medium levels. I've usually achieved best results with the Supercap on the top shelf of Brawn stack.

DB.

Looking at the back of the supercap below the row of output sockets is printed "Connect output(s) closest to used inputs" They're not kidding. It doesn't change the level of detail but it does change how it all integrates making the music more involving.

The setup as it is now sounds musically compelling on all inputs, even the 35 year old NAD tuner. I'm just going to wallow in it for a while but plan a major rebuild in the new year. The Fraim shelf under the 552 doesn't quite line up with the others above and below so there's no adjustment cone to cup, this need looking into.

Hi .... mine has landed fresh back from Naim ..... collecting from Audio T today........... will let you know how I get on. If there is a general grid outage around 3pm this afternoon - you will know things haven't gone well....!!!!

Well all connected up and running a treat....sounds pretty good stone cold and fresh.....looking forward to the next few weeks when things really gelling...will keep you posted . .....

Hi now been running all night .... big improvement over switch on..... it seems at least as good if not better than the old run in 500 ........... opening up nicely the base seems quite dynamic ..... 

First week it will sound tense... at about 10 days it will start to open-up and bloom.  You are in for a treat. 

Looks like my NAP300/300PS will be visiting Salisbury for DR and some tlc in January  NAP110 on standby for interim duties 

Chris Bell posted:

First week it will sound tense... at about 10 days it will start to open-up and bloom.  You are in for a treat. 

Just wait until 3 months - if you think you were 'there' with run-in at two weeks then you will be amazed. A lot more to come.

DB.