NAC 252

Happy with my 252/Supercap DR. I'd love a 552 but that will have to wait a while longer as the new speakers and the Core  swallowed this year's budget. I know some will probabably say that I should have got the 552 first but the urge to replace the speakers was stronger!

Ravenswood10 posted:

Happy with my 252/Supercap DR. I'd love a 552 but that will have to wait a while longer as the new speakers and the Core  swallowed this year's budget. I know some will probabably say that I should have got the 552 first but the urge to replace the speakers was stronger!

Great choice in speakers. On some level, the Sopras actually sound better to me than the utopias. The old utopias. Not the new ones launched this year. 

They also look better....Utopias would have been divorce material. At least if I smuggled a 552 in it would probably go unnoticed- not that I'd try it in the first place especially after my 13 year old told Mummy how much the SSD memory for the Core cost. Narrowly winged that one

Any reason why you would not go for an older model 252 second-hand - say 2005-vintage?  Maybe one that has been serviced recently? Or better to buy new or, if second-hand, recent-vintage? 

endlessnessism posted:

Any reason why you would not go for an older model 252 second-hand - say 2005-vintage?  Maybe one that has been serviced recently? Or better to buy new or, if second-hand, recent-vintage? 

The Classic range are pretty bullet proof. I bought a 3 or 4 year old 252 and I bet it sounds the same as a run in new one. I have a few second hand items from the Classic range and never had a problem. The only proviso is best to buy secondhand or exdem from a dealer if you can and if it is an older model make sure it has had a service at the appropriate age - 10 or 12 years I believe for pre amps.

Just noticed you have a 282 and a Supercap DR. I moved from these to the 252 and as you already have a Supercap DR, I would thouroughly recommend this pre amp upgrade. Do try to hear a 252 in your system though as not everyone appreciates the subtleties of the more sophisticated 252.

I did the move from 282 to 252 and was never quite happy with my system afterwards mainly, I suspect because the 252 needed a 300 to really sing and I could only afford a 250 at the time.  Not the worst couple of thousand I have ever spent (that prize belongs to a Mini Metro I bought in the 80s) but not too far off.

Strange as 552 does sing with a 250 or pretty much any naim power amp

so why wouldn't 252 sound good with a 250?

what hi fi did review it with a 250.

over the years though I've seen too many posts like this one so 252 never really is that appealing to me especially when confirmed by my own auditions