Which Upgrade Path?

Sounds like you've taken the time to listen a few of your options through demos, which is great.  Did you or can you take your speakers with you to the demo?  Or arrange a home demo?  I think at the end of the day, you'll value what both the XPS and new speakers can do for you.  You'll just have to prioritize which you feel is needed first.

That's an easy one for me as I don't like B&W speakers. My advice would be to dem loads of different ones at home until you find the right one for you.

Rayy

I am also not a fan of B&W, but that doesn't mean they create nice speakers, they do. So yes you could look at a speaker upgrade. The XPS is also a great improvement on the bare 272. And I would if I were you stop playing cd's and not play them through the Oppo but rip them and play them through the 272.

I'd be inclined to get the XPS and then choose speakers once your chosen electronics are in place. As for speakers, a lot is determined by what is actually available locally, and US made ones will be better value than European imports. Going secondhand is always a good idea, but again depends on what's available. 

I agree with HH. I was recently thinking of upgrading my speakers before my front end and came to the conclusion that speakers are so much more difficult to get right that I wanted all my electronics sorted before I got into home auditioning of speakers.

If you're going to get the XPS (and it does make a huge improvement with the 272) I would certainly do it first, then consider speakers at a later date. I find that improving the source and preamp - and the XPS does both - lets through more of everything, and you might find that speakers that sounded great without the XPS have, for example, too much booming bass with it, especially in a relatively small room.

You've done some good demos there and obviously you have a question over whether the B&W are revealing what the 272/250 have to offer. What have your ears told you so far? 

Definitely a XPS dr first, a significant upgrade on a 272. 

My experience of the 272 with and without PSU also supports HH, AlanBass1 and ChrisSU:  An XPS DR on the 272 is a great improvement.

So, unless your speakers really don't work well in the new space, then I'd do the XPS first and the speakers after that (if you need to).

Don't worry about age of speakers, if they were good to start, they'll still be good now.
The three main things that changes with speakers are
1  IF (and only if) you have Non-Polar electrolytic capacitors in the crossover they can age (10-20 year life)
2  The suspension of the drive units can harden reducing the LF extension (typically just starts to be significant after about 10 to 20 years)
3  Ferofluid in tweeters can harden (this is usually quite noticeable if it happens, 8 to 50+? years life, can be very random)

Wm. posted:

Did you or can you take your speakers with you to the demo?  Or arrange a home demo? 

Thank you for your reply. Regrettably, I'm 1,400 air miles from the nearest Naim dealer, where I auditioned three of the above speakers. The other speakers I auditioned at a Naim dealer 3,700 air miles from my home. Alas, I'm going to have to pick them based on dealer listening room exposure and cannot get my speakers side-by-side with the new alternatives.

Bert Schurink posted:

The XPS is also a great improvement on the bare 272. And I would if I were you stop playing cd's and not play them through the Oppo but rip them and play them through the 272.

Thanks much for your reply. That is what I'm doing, i.e., I have ripped pretty much my entire CD library in lossless format and listen to them by streaming via UPnP. Occasionally - for instance if I've not yet ripped a new CD - I'll listen to a CD using the Oppo as a transport and capitalizing on the 272's DAC.

HH, Alan, Chris, PDC and Huge: Thank you for your replies. Currently I am thrilled with the system including the CM9s, since the source and amplifier are light-years better than the Peachtree Audio iNova I was running before. With the 272/250 DR, the CM9s have essentially transformed into what for me, sound like new, way better speakers. It's just that I want to take the next upgrade step. As stated, I'm new to Naim and completely unfamiliar with the positive impact of a PS. Based on your replies, I'm inclined to go with the XPS DR while keeping an eye toward continued speaker evaluations. 

Holmes posted:

You've done some good demos there and obviously you have a question over whether the B&W are revealing what the 272/250 have to offer. What have your ears told you so far? 

Thanks for your reply. The sound through the CM9s is lightyears better with the 272/250 DR when compared to the Peachtree Audio iNova that preceded them. It's like having a completely new pair of speakers - there's little resemblance to the previous sound. That said, I'm torn over which speakers to go with next. I listened to the Ariel Acoustics T6 and Totem Element Fire side-by-side through the SN2. Both were fabulous to me, just different. The former a 3-way petit floor stander of superb finish and quality and the latter a 2-way monitor size speaker with a proprietary new driver from Totem. Both had awesome sound and I was hard pressed to express a preference of one over the other.  The other 3 speakers I listened to on the opposite coast trough a 272/250 combo. I preferred the Harbeth SHL5+ over the ProAc D20R. Then on the next visit he pulled out the Graham Audio LS5/9 monitors and all bets were off. Totally confused... 

I also own a 272/250 dr combo,with no power supply yet...I was going to get an xpsdr,but decided to bite the bullet for a while until I can afford the 555dr power supply.I would say 95% of listening is Internet radio or Tidal,so I want to get the best I can out of my main source.I also stream,but not as often as the sources I mentioned.I would hold off on the speakers if I were you,until you settle on a power supply,It is not like the bare 272/250 dr sounds Bad,so I can wait.

No quarter posted:

I also own a 272/250 dr combo,with no power supply yet...I was going to get an xpsdr,but decided to bite the bullet for a while until I can afford the 555dr power supply.I would say 95% of listening is Internet radio or Tidal,so I want to get the best I can out of my main source.I also stream,but not as often as the sources I mentioned.I would hold off on the speakers if I were you,until you settle on a power supply,It is not like the bare 272/250 dr sounds Bad,so I can wait.

NQ, I did a whole lot of demos of speakers with the N272/XPS DR/250 DR and the combination sounded great. My dealer then added the 555 DR and everything became so much more musical/natural (apologies but that is the only way I can describe it). I was 'lucky' as they did a great deal on their demo unit, but even if they hadn't I would have waited to get the funds together for the 555 DR

No quarter posted:

I also own a 272/250 dr combo,with no power supply yet...I was going to get an xpsdr,but decided to bite the bullet for a while until I can afford the 555dr power supply.I would say 95% of listening is Internet radio or Tidal,so I want to get the best I can out of my main source.I also stream,but not as often as the sources I mentioned.I would hold off on the speakers if I were you,until you settle on a power supply,It is not like the bare 272/250 dr sounds Bad,so I can wait.

I've very tried listening to Tidal but have never been happy with the sound quality. It's significantly worse than playing CD rips, and high res music is usually in another league altogether. I'd balk at spending on a 555PS if Tidal was the main source. It's certainly fine for casual listening or for trying out music, but for serious listening it's not so great. 

I get that HH,but i am always busy doing something else when i am home,so usually it is Naim radio 320k i am listening to,way more than Tidal,but i do use Tidal when looking up new artists/music.When i do have time to seriously listen,it is always high res that i own,it is just hard to find the time some days,so i at least have Naim radio playing,in fact it is playing as i type this.Also,after reading some rave reviews of the 272 with the 555,i have to go for it,if only for my peace of mind.

While I haven't heard the 272 with a 555, I can't help thinking that buying it blind is a bit risky (whereas the XPS, which I have heard, is an absolute no-brainer to my ears). My thinking is that if you add a Hicap to a 282, it sounds great, but if you add a Supercap, some love it, but others find it too much, and I'm just surmising that the same principle might apply to other 'overspecced' power supply upgrades. I could be wrong, but for me, these boxes are too expensive to be bought without a demo.

Naim themselves state that the 555dr is their best power supply,so I don't think I will regret buying one.i also see it as future proofing,as I can not see them abandoning it for some time.I seem to remember Mangomonkey saying that the 555 on the 272 is really close to a 552,which he also owns.Anyway,that is where I am headed,with no worries.