Is N272 that good?

I think your dealer is a good salesman. He'll cover the next few months by this trade.

Only one way to find out as you acknowledge.    Regardless of what you think of the sonic benefits or otherwise.  Do you intend to upgrade to 282 or 252?  If so the 272 limits the upgrade path.  

Regards,

Lindsay

given your current setup, I think that adding a Powersupply to your dac is the best upgrade. The 555 non dr.

In case you've said to the dealer that you want less black boxes, I can imagine the suggestion of the 272.

I did Not suggest I wanted a lower box count. He seemed quite convinced. 

If you are happy controlling the music from the Unitiserve and playing it into the DAC, I'm not sure how a 272 comes into the picture. I'm a big fan of the 272, but it's not a universal panacea.

If on the other hand you want to stream from the Serve over Ethernet, and this is apparently how it's best used, it's worth comparing the 272 to the other options. I'd strongly suspect that to reach the levels of the nDac you'd want the XPSDR attached. The only way to know is to borrow it and see.

Haven't home-demoed the 272 but hearing it in the dealers IMO it didn't really give my ears that much more than my UnitiServe/DAC V1/202/Napsc/Hicap (non-DR).

If all you will play is via the US then doesn't seem a great upgrade but if you are going to stream than it would be a good way into that source without getting a crazy number of boxes.

If not going to stream then I would suggest either a PS for the NDAC or a 250DR for the 200 - this latter was the upgrade path I went for and have not been disappointed.

Allan

Allan

If I was starting again I'd probably consider a 272, and in my limited experience it's a very good sounding piece of kit, but owning a 202 hicap napsc as you do (as well as NDX) it seems like an expensive sideways move at best. Especially so as you'd take a hit on the 202etc. and 272s still cost at or near full retail. Be fun doing the home dem anyway..

The ndac, particularly with the firmware update, is stopping me from trading for a 272  / 250. It has transformed my humble xs system. I am now considering a preamp upgrade. Demoed  a 282 yesterday..........Oh dear!  

Don't believe everything a salesman tells you 

Demo at home by all means and let us know what you think.

The NDAC is a possible upgrade to the NDX, which (bare) to my ears is a better sounding streamer/dac than the 272. If you want to add streaming to your system, I would consider adding an NDX. No way would I consider a bare 272 to be a match.

sound quality wise, the nDac / hicap / 202 should be quite bit better than the 272 - which to my ears is similar in sound quality to a ND5XS + 202

if you want streaming, id suggest adding a non-naim standalone streamer, or trading in the nDac for a used NDX. 

otherwise, id consider upgrading the 200 to a 250DR

Hi Diggerbj, you entered the shop asking for a tyre replacement and dealer adviced car replacement.

That means just one thing ,change dealer.

a good dealer should always  make his profit following client's set-up evolution I bet he was just interested in showing the goodness of his merchandise but your set-up. That happens when someone Is just interested in money- tout court . In any field.

A really good move I reckon to sell you a new unit, which will be soon followed by xps dr and possibly a new 250 dr unless he knows somebody like you who has fallen into all of this and the 300 dr trap to sell you his 250 traded-in. He wants your kit as he knows he can make a profit from that too, he needs your kit he knows he can make a profit selling it to the sensible buyer on his waiting list ,maybe to the very client  ,you came across , leaving the shop.

Diggerbj, as others have suggested, I think at best this could be a sideways move ... but possibly a good move as it will be less boxes etc... however you should understand you have a reference Naim component there with the Naim DAC, and with a 555PS that will quite happily provide sufficient quality and definition to exploit a Statement NAC, 552, 252, 282 etc so if you are giving that up be sure it's the right thing to do.

Ps555 on ndac is what you should buy

Hi Diggerbj,  I'm also a fan of the N272, but I also agree with HH and Antonio1.

While I believe the 272 preamp to be significantly better than the 202, there is a also difference in presentation and some may prefer the 202 because of that.  However the nDAC is a better source component, so overall, to get to nDac / 202 +NAPSC + HicapDR standards, you'd need to add an XPS to the 272 as a minimum.

It seems to me that the dealer is putting his own interests before yours, to maximise his own profits.  I agree with Antonio1, change your dealer if you can.  Otherwise get them to justify their position by insisting on a full a home audition - that will show if they really believe in what they are saying!

Get a decent preamp (282 for example). It sounds clearly better than 272 imho. A friend of mine has demoed 272/XPS vs 202+HICAP via  NAP200 for me. I preferred he latter clearly. 272 is a multi purpose unit which can be nice choice when box number counts. If you really care about the sound quality pre/power is the 'safest' bet imho again.

Thanks for all the sensible comments. I will still possibly home demo but maybe try a PS on ndac as well. 

Once I had nDAC/XPS2 before I went for NDS/555PS. It was a truly musical combination. As far as I know nDAC and NDS has identical DAC section.

Do tread cautiously. There is no end to this game and one thing will lead to another. An optimised setup based on the NAC 202 is pretty hard to beat when combined with the Hicap DR and NAP 200.

I agree with the comments on improving the source. The NAC 202 is capable of sounding great when you feed it with a quality source. Though I understand your initial plan was to only upgrade the speaker cable, not the source or amplification. I presume we are all aware that any changes which include the cabling will contribute to the overall improvement in sound quality. At the end of the day it depends on what you want to achieve with your system and allocated budget.

I think your system from source to speakers seems well balanced.

For now, take the new speaker cable and chill. Any of the proposed changes can easily lead to additional changes. 

Rather than think just about whether a 272 is an upgrade, sideways move, or downgrade, please consider you system end game and whether the proposed change is closer or further away. If you aspire to things like a 252, 282, NDS or other manner of multi box separates, your current system will grow with those changes. A 272 might entail starting over again in order to start getting back to that model. 

Ryder and FZ have put their fingers on it really. Do you see yourself upgrading box by box over the years? If you do then the 272 is probably not the way to go. I chose it precisely because I don't intend to upgrade, and having had eight box systems on piles of Fraim in the past, and spent far too much money and effort on upgrades, didn't want to go there again. Neither way is the right way and to some extent it's not that important which is 'better' sound wise. It's just a matter of working out the approach you wish to take - fiddle and faff or fit and forget. 

Romsey is just a short drive from Emsworth so if you do want to listen to a 272 system, albeit with different speakers, just let me know. 

Lots of good advice here. I am happy with my 272, and recently added the XP5 XS, but I am of a similar mindset to HH, and unless piles of cash enter my life, I am not looking to change anything any time soon. I see your dealer's suggestion as a sideways move (plus or minus) but I, like others, would be very interested in a report from a home demo that you might do.

My suggestion is get the speaker wire you wanted (or open a second thread about that - lol), let it settle in and you get used to it, decide you like/don't like it, and then do the home demo. And if you are not convinced then just tell your dealer to go jump in a lake.

Thanks for the offer hungryhalibut, much appreciated. I think inevitably I'd be after an XPS DR in time but it would be a while.

after 202, one should really try a 282, 282/HC/200 is a very engaging amplifier, and a good place to stop and simply enjoy the music with Naim. 

272 question guys - will it power a Stage  or Superline?

Regards,

Lindsay