Most prat/Least prat
Posted by: ngarritson on 09 May 2018
Which Naim products or combos have given you the most prat or least prat from any era or at any price point?
For me, I got the most prat from a CB Nait2, 72/hc/140, Allaes, and the nDAC. I got the least prat from the V1 and 100.
An 82/hc/250 was somewhere in the middle from my perspective, although ahead of my old 112/fc/150. I thought the 102 was maybe ahead of the 82 in terms of prat, but behind the 72.
PRaT may be interpreted differently by people. To me, high PRaT factor is the ability to reproduce the dynamics and transient attack in music with aplomb, specifically the handling of start and stop of notes. With less "PRaTy" systems, music will sound smoother and calmer as the transients do not jump out from the background as much.
Based on my experience with the following Naim amps in my system:-
Nait XS (one day)
NAC 202 / NAP 200 / NAPSC (9 years)
NAC 282 / NAP 250 DR / Hicap DR / NAPSC (2 years)
The Nait XS sounds the smoothest out of the lot. As a matter of fact, it sounds very close to the Rega Elicit Mk2 which I had at the time the comparison was made. The 202/200 sounds a lot more PRaTy as the start and stop of notes are reproduced more convincingly. I can hear more precision in the pace and timing with the 202/200 than the Nait XS. The 282/250 adds more body and punch to the lean sounding 202/200.
Perhaps the use of a Naim DAC may add more to the PRaT. I'm using a Chord QBD76 DAC with the Naim and there's a certain sweetness and organic touch to the music.
Interesting dichotomy. Foot tappers looking for something more should take note, something's afoot. !!
This question is impossible to answer
it depends on speakers cables sources rooms and perception and the set up
they all got the same Naim rhythm
dAc v1/nap 100 is no exception
Who mentioned foot tappers?
This is a difficult one to answer without including at least the speakers in the mix, as a perfectly good amplifier can sound flat, slow & lifeless with the wrong speakers, yet brilliant with a better matched speaker. My old 32.5/Hicap/250 from the 1980s never sounded quite right with Linn Saras, yet a pair of 135s grabbed hold of the speakers and made them dance, as did the 32.5/Hicap/250 when I replaced the Sara speakers with Epos ES14.
I don’t know about a DAC-V1 / 100 but my DAC-V1 / 140 and PMC DB1i is utterly boogielicious!
Caution - Mixed metaphor:
Prats are not the only fruit!
I agree that the 72 is a pratty preamp. I recently acquired one and I was listening to progressive rock (ekseption on vinyl) when I was reading Huge's nice explaination regarding flat Vs round world on another topic.
I also have other setups which are less pratty and it is not better or worse, I just listen to different music. The nac72/nap140 has given an interesting twist to my endeavours in music.
Am I right that prattiness is mostly defined on the pre-amp? Of course, the system must be seen in total but I found the nac 72 most important in it.
ryder. posted:PRaT may be interpreted differently by people. To me, high PRaT factor is the ability to reproduce the dynamics and transient attack in music with aplomb, specifically the handling of start and stop of notes. With less "PRaTy" systems, music will sound smoother and calmer as the transients do not jump out from the background as much.
Based on my experience with the following Naim amps in my system:-
Nait XS (one day)
NAC 202 / NAP 200 / NAPSC (9 years)
NAC 282 / NAP 250 DR / Hicap DR / NAPSC (2 years)
The Nait XS sounds the smoothest out of the lot. As a matter of fact, it sounds very close to the Rega Elicit Mk2 which I had at the time the comparison was made. The 202/200 sounds a lot more PRaTy as the start and stop of notes are reproduced more convincingly. I can hear more precision in the pace and timing with the 202/200 than the Nait XS. The 282/250 adds more body and punch to the lean sounding 202/200.
Perhaps the use of a Naim DAC may add more to the PRaT. I'm using a Chord QBD76 DAC with the Naim and there's a certain sweetness and organic touch to the music.
The Naim DAC definitely adds more prat to the 202/200DR combo. I prefer it even over the sound of MQA bypassing my Naim DAC, I'm addicted.
How do devices add to pace, rhythm and timing? If all these aspects of timing are right, how can you add more? Or if Naim once had the timing right in some products (like the 72 named above), why would they allow later products to not time as well, which this implies? Or is this not about accuracy of pace, rhythm and timing, but instead about the prominence of the rhythmic elements, whence clearly individual components may vary in the degree of emphasis, and some devices may add emphasis, or more of it, than others.
(An example of the sort of emphasis that could apply might be, say, boosting the frequency range carrying a part of the leading edge of the snare drum sound, to make that more prominent - but I have do idea if anything like this is going on.)