272 lacking sparkle

But doesn't the guy who runs Harbeth believe any competent digital source and amp will drive any of their speakers?  Certainly at the Bristol show in 2015 they demmed the HL5 with a little Hagel DAC/amp.   

Yes that's true. However, I am not sure if he still holds that belief today but I believe the general perception will always remain the same - the kit that is used with the speakers is unimportant as long as they are competent and within spec, the speakers (only Harbeth) are most important.

haven't heard a harbeth, but given that Harbeth thinks the speakers are the most important, not sure I want to now .

No free speech on the harbeth forum either.... where is the transparency.

Yeah, some of the views can appear to be rather extreme but he is good man with good intentions. Will not elaborate too much on here. All designers will regard the products from their own company to be the best (sounding). 

Yes, they exert an iron-fist control on their forum many years back, the sole reason of my departure from the clan. I believe they have toned down their approach several years ago, I think.

Well I've never looked at the Harbeth forum - in fact didn't even know of its existence - but I do think this whole source first vs speaker priority debate is a misnomer.   In reality any speaker is going to sound better with higher quality components but equally as soon as the DAC V1/172/272 appeared source first as a commandment went out the window. 

Regards,

Lindsay

spurrier sucks posted:

Huge posted:

 

In hifi it is all about the price of obe's system and not the music it makes. Great point on the ND5/202 being far superior. Looks like another change is coming my way. 

So how much was obe's system?

 .sjb

The Strat (Fender) posted:

......as soon as the DAC V1/172/272 appeared source first as a commandment went out the window.

Did it really disappear, or did it just get cheaper?

None of Naim gear is excellent in the treble region. There is always a slight roll off which makes the sound somewhat warmer. That is part of the Naim "house" sound. 

Robiwan posted:

None of Naim gear is excellent in the treble region. There is always a slight roll off which makes the sound somewhat warmer. That is part of the Naim "house" sound. 

If you can detect -0.5dB @ 14kHz and -1.5dB @ 20kHz then you are under 30 years old and also have truly exceptional hearing (or, of course you could be a cat!).

For the rest of us mere mortals the effect is insignificant.

Huge posted:

Robiwan posted:

None of Naim gear is excellent in the treble region. There is always a slight roll off which makes the sound somewhat warmer. That is part of the Naim "house" sound. 

If you can detect -0.5dB @ 14kHz and -1.5dB @ 20kHz then you are under 30 years old and also have truly exceptional hearing (or, of course you could be a cat!).

For the rest of us mere mortals the effect is insignificant.

yes i can hear it and the effect isn't insignificant but i didn't say it's bad! 

Don't worry. As you get older your ability to hear this will likely decline.....,

best

David

Sloop John B posted:

spurrier sucks posted:

Huge posted:

 

In hifi it is all about the price of obe's system and not the music it makes. Great point on the ND5/202 being far superior. Looks like another change is coming my way. 

So how much was obe's system?

 

 .sjb

Lol. Great question. Got to love Apple's spell check. 

Robiwan posted:

Huge posted:

Robiwan posted:

None of Naim gear is excellent in the treble region. There is always a slight roll off which makes the sound somewhat warmer. That is part of the Naim "house" sound. 

If you can detect -0.5dB @ 14kHz and -1.5dB @ 20kHz then you are under 30 years old and also have truly exceptional hearing (or, of course you could be a cat!).

For the rest of us mere mortals the effect is insignificant.

yes i can hear it and the effect isn't insignificant but i didn't say it's bad! 

Wow, your hearing is even better than my colour vision (in top 0.2% of population).

Huge posted:

Robiwan posted:

Huge posted:

Robiwan posted:

None of Naim gear is excellent in the treble region. There is always a slight roll off which makes the sound somewhat warmer. That is part of the Naim "house" sound. 

If you can detect -0.5dB @ 14kHz and -1.5dB @ 20kHz then you are under 30 years old and also have truly exceptional hearing (or, of course you could be a cat!).

For the rest of us mere mortals the effect is insignificant.

yes i can hear it and the effect isn't insignificant but i didn't say it's bad! 

Wow, your hearing is even better than my colour vision (in top 0.2% of population).

I think the likelyhood of people on this forum to be in that 0.2% category is relatively high. Might be utter co-incidence. It would be interesting to see studies regarding the relation between audiophilia nervosa (we) and the top 0.2% of the people' best hearing.

On the other hand, one might argue that audiophiles have damaged hearing and actually hear less ...

Ardbeg10y posted:

I think the likelyhood of people on this forum to be in that 0.2% category is relatively high. Might be utter co-incidence. It would be interesting to see studies regarding the relation between audiophilia nervosa (we) and the top 0.2% of the people' best hearing.

On the other hand, one might argue that audiophiles have damaged hearing and actually hear less ...

Interesting question.

There's more to it than frequency response (i.e. reduced HF response due to damage or age related hearing loss), the ability to discriminate information within sound is probably even more significant.

I know I have age related hearing loss, but the addition of a 555 to a 272 still makes a very clear improvement to the sound particularly in detail retrieval, vocal readability and differentiation of instrumental timbres.  For me, my hearing may lack sparkle, but the 272 certainly doesn't (however nor does it artificially add anything I could describe as sparkle, unlike some speakers I've heard ).

ryder. posted:

The Naim  N272, XPR-DR, Hicap DR and NAP 250 DR were used to drive the Harbeth Super HL5 Plus in Venice  Audio room of the LA show. Source includes the Well Tempered Amadeus Versalex with a Naim Superline MC photostage.

Stupid question from the stupid guy; what is the HC doing (i.e., powering) in this setup?

Powering the superline I think. 

DrMark posted:

ryder. posted:

The Naim  N272, XPR-DR, Hicap DR and NAP 250 DR were used to drive the Harbeth Super HL5 Plus in Venice  Audio room of the LA show. Source includes the Well Tempered Amadeus Versalex with a Naim Superline MC photostage.

Stupid question from the stupid guy; what is the HC doing (i.e., powering) in this setup?

The Superline?

I would play with some power cables if I were you. Or testing waters a bit with a passive power filter perhaps?

Drewy posted:

DrMark posted:

ryder. posted:

The Naim  N272, XPR-DR, Hicap DR and NAP 250 DR were used to drive the Harbeth Super HL5 Plus in Venice  Audio room of the LA show. Source includes the Well Tempered Amadeus Versalex with a Naim Superline MC photostage.

Stupid question from the stupid guy; what is the HC doing (i.e., powering) in this setup?

The Superline?

Duh - I did not see it on the floor to the left of the rack. (Or the other way around - I only saw one shoe-box sized unit.)

Thanks to both of you for pointing out the obvious.

ryder. posted:

Yeah, some of the views can appear to be rather extreme but he is good man with good intentions. Will not elaborate too much on here. All designers will regard the products from their own company to be the best (sounding). 

Yes, they exert an iron-fist control on their forum many years back, the sole reason of my departure from the clan. I believe they have toned down their approach several years ago, I think.

HI Ryder did you get the STA DIN-XLR cables yet? Keen to get your thoughts on these.

analogmusic posted:

HI Ryder did you get the STA DIN-XLR cables yet? Keen to get your thoughts on these.

Hi Analogmusic, will only get the cables next weekend as shipment was delayed.

STA DIN-XLR

STA SNAIC

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