Integrated amp to replace 282/300?

Nope, there's always compromises, but nobody does what you mention like Naim.  Not saying Naim is the be all and end all, but when you get hooked on the presentation, nothing else quite fills that need like Naim does.

Given the 'Synergy' thread that you started 48 hours ago, my advice would be to leave it alone and forget about it. 

Naim Nait 2 (Olive) driving original Roksan Darius speakers. Fabulous.

Bob, Nait XS (the first one). Be sure to add the right speakers (please see profile).

Ah, I've just noticed the NAP300 power stipulation but reckon I've more or less covered it with right speakers.

The best I ever heard a Dynaudio speaker sound, it was with Mark Levinson mono blocks, into Confidence C1 speakers at an Axpona show a couple years ago. Dyns love power!!!!!

At the same show I heard Dynaudio Temptation speakers being driven by Statement kit, both were fantastic, and I could understand why some would prefer one system over the other. But for sheer in the room presence, like the feeling that you were standing next to the performer, the first system had it over the Naim system.

For all out fun factor, as you described it, and scale, it was the Naim system..........Compromise, compromise, you will have a hard time finding the perfect system, but yours, in my opinion, is pretty close.

I’ve always been impressed with Vitus but never heard with Dynaudio.  

SongStream posted:

Given the 'Synergy' thread that you started 48 hours ago, my advice would be to leave it alone and forget about it. 

This isn't me questioning my own system I.m very, very happy with it, it is merely a conversation rather than an information thread.

About 18 months ago when upgrading from a 5 series Naim system I compared a 272/250DR with a Classe Sigma SSP, and Amp 2 combination and for me the Classe was a clear winner.
I would imagine that the integrated Classe Sigma 2200i, which has very similar specs to my amp, would compare very well against a 282/300.

Moderated Post:  Link Removed.  Robert, please don't post unauthorised links in the Hifi Corner, thanks.

If I were considering a quality integrated amp other than NAIM I would be looking at LFD or YBA. If you insist on Swiss, I had on loan for a couple of weeks a small Class A Goldmund which sounded pretty sweet.

I’d be looking at the Jeff Rowland Continuim S2 integrated amp. Very highly reviewed

Bob the Builder posted:

Naim or non Naim.  Not really considering this but a recent thread got me thinking is there an integrated amp out there either Naim or by Vitus, Karan or one of the other quality hifi brands that would compare to my 282/300.

When I traded my speakers in the guy selling them had quite an expensive and very powerful Swiss amp by Hegel that drove the big Dynaudios with ease but for me didn't have the fun factor of Naim but are there any other amps that do prat and have more power than my 300? 

Bob, I have heard both an 'oldish', unserviced 300 and a newer, DR one, and I find it difficult to find something humanly priced that can beat it. Anyway, if you want something that drives anything (even the biggest, most bloated Magico) and has the drive and assertiveness of a true Naim (the 300 manages to also sound a tad more smooth that any other amp by Naim I know, remaining the best in the terms of flow, deep and controlled bass or image, you could try one of those Dan D'Agostino things that look like rescued from the Nautilus and cost like a big car. I know it sounds sarcastic (I woke up like this, sorry) but I mean seriously.

Best

Max

Big mega integrateds seem to be getting very expensive recently, especially the digital based ones that do everything. If you were to happen on one that was as good as the 282/300, chances are it would cost a lot more

Haim Ronen posted:

If I were considering a quality integrated amp other than NAIM I would be looking at LFD or YBA. If you insist on Swiss, I had on loan for a couple of weeks a small Class A Goldmund which sounded pretty sweet.

Haim,

you're one of the very few that mention YBA amps. I have a friend (I'm not hearing much of him since he's become twice granddad, though) who had a real soft spot for the YBAs, but he stopped suggesting me to try one when he realized I wasn't able to leave the Naim zone. Now that I think of it, it's also when he reduced his visits and when he was here he ignored my system totally, as if there was an empty wall instead, and never commented on the sound.

The world of audiophiles is divided in two, those who don't have Naim (who usually also won't) and all the others. I occasionally peep in in AudiogoN, and it's like the Moon: you read pages and pages without seeing the word Naim anywhere. But YBA would interest me, if not out of curiosity, if their looks weren't so - er, strange (I think a remark I made on LFD's appearance once here is the reason why its builder never answered any of my emails).

Ciao

M 

Having heard a 282/300 combo last year, I doubt that anything remotely affordable would come close. Of course I have not heard all the other combination amps out there, so I may be able to be proven wrong.

I had the Nait  XS, and for me, it was (very) good, but not great, and then the SN1 which was easily better in every way, and I really thought it a fantastic VFM piece, which more of everything good than the XS, with more grip, control, and a more robust presentation than the Nait XS.

But the 282/300 is a whole 'nother thing. And priced like a whole 'nother thing to boot, as is proper for what you get.

You could try a good quality PP valve integrated  just to see what lurks on the ''dark side''.  

Robert Burgess posted:

I’d be looking at the Jeff Rowland Continuim S2 integrated amp. Very highly reviewed

i agree with you, i heard one day this jeff rowland continuum and found it shared a lot of qualities with naim: very dynamic and very good prat.

there are some high end integrated amps like:  gryphon diablo, vitus, goldmund, soulution audio, esoteric....but no one, i think, and i heard some, have the special naim sound.

The jeff rowland continuum is perhaps the nearest from naim separates.  The sound is very dynamic, involving, lively and with urgency in music. The other integrated are perhaps better on hifi terms but i found them too neutral and a little cold ( not heard the goldmund).

I can highly recommend Luxman 590axII. Tops my old NAC282 Hicap combo. I like a bit of warmth in my reproduction, which pure Class A delivers in spades. I find the sound to be very organic, no harshness. I listen way longer than I ever did with Naim.

Soulution....

Integrated amp question aside, you really need to get a Supercap on that 282, Bob. Worked for me in my 282/300 days 

Bob,

the V80SE by Octave. It's a tube integrated, has nothing 'dark', has nothing 'mellow', sports transparency, imaging and control over the whole range to leave open mouthed, and is in the same price range of the NAP 300. Like everyone else, I have been tempted by tube amps occasionally, and that stuff is built to very high standards and sounds like the devil. You must give up the idea of the 'smooth super-amp for deaf super-rich'(*), it's serious stuff. And they look gorgeous.

End of the advertising. :-)

(*) The category in which I put Constellation and Soulution. 

Bob. I love my Karan integrated to bits. 

The way it's styled. The philosophy of its being, the brand and the guy behind it. The way it looks back at me with a come hither look whenever I look at it.  And the way it sounds - or rather doesn't sound - as I no longer pontificate over those things that complicate enjoying music.

i wouldn't hazard a guess on where it fits against Naim and even in the grand total of schemes hifi like, but at the present time it's my number 1.

I've read great things about the Devailet integrated amps. I've even considered buying one. Around $15,000 for the dual mono 440.

Aavik U-300 is said to be an outstanding unit according to a couple of former Naim guys I know.