NAC 272 or 152/155

I would do the 272 all day long. You would be upgrading your streamer and your preamp, plus you would be taking the workload of powering the preamp (112/152) off the 150. It would improve every area of your system.

It depends where you want to get to. The 272 with (ultimately) say a 250DR will be much better than an XS system. Even if you add an XPS DR later too you'll end up with a three box system.

I enjoyed my time with my XS system but I got tempted and maxed it out with an XP5 for the ND5 and a Flatcap on the 152. That's 5 boxes.

A 4- or 5-box XS system makes no sense to me.  Get the 272.

The NAC-N 272 is a wonderful machine. I wonder what you want to do with the ND5XS because the 272 also contains a streamer ... maybe trade it together with your 150 and go for a 272/200 combination  

I agree 272 all day...

The 272 has an excellent pre-amp & a streamer as good or better than ND5

So I advise to sell the  ND5, 112 & Flatcap,  buy 272 & connect the 150  ...........    or better,   sell the lot & buy 272 & 200

Mike-B posted:

The 272 has an excellent pre-amp & a streamer as good or better than ND5

So I advise to sell the  ND5, 112 & Flatcap,  buy 272 & connect the 150  ...........    or better,   sell the lot & buy 272 & 200

+1

you won't regret it.

Well it depends where you want to end up.   If your intent is to keep the ND5xs then I would buy a 202 and then aim for a NDX.   But the 272 is a great sounding machine and will give you a significant upgrade. 

Good luck. 

Lindsay

Get a 282 with a view to getting a 200/250 later on. The 150 is still a very good amp and the ND5XS into a 282 is a very different streamer to an ND5XS into a 112.

Many thanks for the replies. Plenty of food for thought. I'll sleep on it and maybe make some calls tomorrow..

My gut does tell me that the 272 would "see me right" for longer...

Cheers,

Matthew

I got one, you won't regret it .,.

If you want lots of boxes to impress your friends, the 272 is not the way to go, and you lose flexibility to. But if you want just a couple of boxes, or three if you later add an XPS, it's perfect. 

Impressing friends is not the intention - and the fewer boxes, the better. 

at least three people have said "272 all day long" on this thread so far, and indeed that was exactly my first thought.

My Naim dealer,who recently closed/retired made sure he had his system sorted out at home first,it is a N 272/250 dr/xps dr Focal Sopra 1's...and he has been dealing with high-end gear for over thirty years...so probably knows a thing or two.

Now to my ears that setup is an acquired taste... most of the taste acquiring is with the Focal Sopra 1's

if you talk to a good dealer I am sure they will ask whether you want to enjoy your music as you journey towards higher end Naim, a journey Naim themselves would like some to consider taking,   or a have system you put in and forget and simply enjoy the music. The former will be most likely separates, the latter will be most likely the combined stream/NAC i.e. the 272 or 172, or even the the new Uniti products such as the Nova.

i guess if one was retiring I can see why you would prefer the latter.

BTW I heard a protype Nova driving a pair of Focal Sopra 1's, if you can get past the Focal presentation, it was a very impressive rendition.

Simon,I have not heard the Sopra 1's,but I did hear the Sopra 2's,although it was with some older Macintosh gear,they were ok,but nothing really wowed me about them.Personally I am a Dynaudio fan,I have them only in my Home theatre at the moment though...my 2 channel rig,I am using a Canadian made speaker,Taksim Reference 3a,and they work very well with my setup,but I may try something else at some point.

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Well it depends where you want to end up.   If your intent is to keep the ND5xs then I would buy a 202 and then aim for a NDX.   But the 272 is a great sounding machine and will give you a significant upgrade. 

Good luck. 

Lindsay

+1  First sentiment 

 I 'd say a kamikaze move to replace ND5 with 172,  a separate streamer which is definitely better.

 Sell everything and get nDac and 202/hicap DR/200 in a few steps to get way better preamp, better streamer ,better everything.

Antonio1 posted:

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Well it depends where you want to end up.   If your intent is to keep the ND5xs then I would buy a 202 and then aim for a NDX.   But the 272 is a great sounding machine and will give you a significant upgrade. 

Good luck. 

Lindsay

+1  First sentiment 

 I 'd say a kamikaze move to replace ND5 with 172,  a separate streamer which is definitely better.

 Sell everything and get nDac and 202/hicap DR/200 in a few steps to get way better preamp, better streamer ,better everything.

Sorry I meant 272 not 172, and yes, keep your streamer and sell the rest.

Thanks again for the interesting replies. 

Antonio, I think the streaming element is my biggest concern. I've no doubt that the pre-amp section would be improved considerably but would it be a sideways step as a source. 

I am in touch with the dealer now which is a step in the right direction. The deals are incredibly tempting - I just wish they were more local. Maybe a weekend away beckons.

Simon - I certainly would like to forget about the equipment and relax with the music and I'm almost there now that I've sorted out my listening room - I do think/hope that this is a case of one last push (wishful thinking, maybe). 

Cheers,

matthew

I have been using my new 272 with a 150x for about a month now. I love the 272 - it's a wonderful bit of kit. I've owned a lot of naim kit over the years (depending on how much budgets allow!) and I can see myself staying with the 272 for a long time. I've just taken delivery of a s/h 200 and that has made quite a difference,  but even the 272 into the 150x was a wonderful two box combo for me. 

I have the same combo: NAC-N 272 and a second hand NAP 200 ... 

And now I wonder what a NAP 250-DR will bring  

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Now to my ears that setup is an acquired taste... most of the taste acquiring is with the Focal Sopra 1's

 

 

Agreed - I had the Sopra 1s on home demo - in one respect hugely impressive and resolving every little detail.  But ultimately it was too shiny - like an over polished piece of furniture.

Regards,

Lindsay

It may depend on your age with the Sopra's,the Retired dealer i referred to is probably in his mid sixties...hearing loss may take some of the "shine" off the furniture.The speakers that he replaced were Dynaudio C1 Platinums,which i have owned before,and are fantastic...with enough juice to drive them.

The costlier gear will sound better, only with Naim. The N 272 costs 3 times more than the NAC 152 XS.