What upgrade would improve a Nova?

The Nova cannot be upgraded with a power supply. The Superline with a Hicap will cost £3,900, virtually as much as the Nova. I’d suggest you consider a cheaper phono stage that balanced better with the Nova. Alternatively the money may be better used by improving the Nova itself by moving to the Classic range. 

Hmm...I consider the Nova far better than the 5 series and XS series from the classic line.

By Classic range I was referring to what Naim call Classic range, which doesn’t include the 5 series or XS series. 

Ok...My mistake. Sorry. 

Given that Nova digitises its analog input, a radical alternative option to a stageline might be a device that also digitises, to feed into one of Nova’s digital inputs instead - e.g Linn Ulrika IIUC, with benefit of the RIAA correction by DSP, not a negative as it will be digitised anyway in Nova. No idea how that would compare sound wise, nor cost.

Innocent Bystander posted:

Given that Nova digitises its analog input, a radical alternative option to a stageline might be a device that also digitises, to feed into one of Nova’s digital inputs instead - e.g Linn Ulrika IIUC, with benefit of the RIAA correction by DSP, not a negative as it will be digitised anyway in Nova. No idea how that would compare sound wise, nor cost.

Good point - the only problem with the Linn solution is that although it has a toslink output for an external DAC, it still needs to be driven by a Linn DS unit to set its configuration which negates the simple (and lower cost) approach.

Some have added a NAP300

or Wilson speakers...

or Wilson Benesch? I'd be very happy with a pair of Discovery II's on the back of a Nova! 

French Rooster posted:

or Wilson speakers...

Or rather any speakers you like better than your present ones, if Nova can drive them adequately... Big job finding, though.

Firstly, many thanks for your comments/advice.

Having a “balanced” system is good financial and design advice and I take that on board.

I will certainly investigate the “radical alternatives” options.

Speakers are an interesting consideration for me. I plan, in the first place, to try out my Linn Keilidhs, cherry finish, KU-stone bases + spikes, bi-wired. They’re old I know, but they used to be outstanding, hopefully still so, and I am emotionally attached to them. Having said that, I suspect that technology has moved on considerably and I anticipate some interesting listening trials.

rgds

Duncan Mann posted:

or Wilson Benesch? I'd be very happy with a pair of Discovery II's on the back of a Nova! 

they look gorgeous.  I was often tempted by wilson benesh, heard the arc about 10 years ago with nap250.    Are they nice, soft sounding ?  fast?   how a medium size room with them?

Innocent Bystander posted:

French Rooster posted:

or Wilson speakers...

Or rather any speakers you like better than your present ones, if Nova can drive them adequately... Big job finding, though.

i don’t believe that nova can drive well big Wilson.....but i said « believe « .   For a wilson/ nova budget, you can have a lot better sounding system....it is of course my belief.

French Rooster posted:

Duncan Mann posted:

or Wilson Benesch? I'd be very happy with a pair of Discovery II's on the back of a Nova! 

they look gorgeous.  I was often tempted by wilson benesh, heard the arc about 10 years ago with nap250.    Are they nice, soft sounding ?  fast?   how a medium size room with them?

I was lucky enough to have a pair of the original Discoveries on extended loan a decade or more ago, driven by my then Olive system CDi/NAC82/Hicap/NAP250. They produced a huge soundstage, with a deeply impressive tight and extended bass (Isobaric loading), a fluid and articulate midrange and a very transparent top end. At first they sound a bit warm, but that's because the treble is devoid of harshness and edge. They are very fast, extremely rhythmic and utterly engaging. It's a pity that the cost of Wilson Benesch products has gone up so much (the Discovery 2's are £15K per pair), because they are a mighty tempting proposition even in quite large rooms. The bass control is such that they also work well in small rooms. Ah well, one day...! 

ynwa250505 posted:

I have a Core + Nova and I have to get a couple of other boxes (S/Line + PS) for an LP12. Is there a PS option that would sensibly upgrade the Nova whilst driving an S/line, rather than just getting a PS to drive the S/line? Comments/suggestions/options gratefully received. Thanks in advance ...

as already said here, no ps option to upgrade the nova. But some add a high end power cord to the nova , like chord music, and found it as box upgrade.    You can add also a high quality lan cable, like chord indigo.  

Rooster - merci beaucoup ...

French Rooster posted:

ynwa250505 posted:

I have a Core + Nova and I have to get a couple of other boxes (S/Line + PS) for an LP12. Is there a PS option that would sensibly upgrade the Nova whilst driving an S/line, rather than just getting a PS to drive the S/line? Comments/suggestions/options gratefully received. Thanks in advance ...

as already said here, no ps option to upgrade the nova. But some add a high end power cord to the nova , like chord music, and found it as box upgrade.    You can add also a high quality lan cable, like chord indigo.  

£6k of cables for a £4k box - you wold have to be really desperate to keep the box count down!

ChrisSU posted:

French Rooster posted:

ynwa250505 posted:

I have a Core + Nova and I have to get a couple of other boxes (S/Line + PS) for an LP12. Is there a PS option that would sensibly upgrade the Nova whilst driving an S/line, rather than just getting a PS to drive the S/line? Comments/suggestions/options gratefully received. Thanks in advance ...

as already said here, no ps option to upgrade the nova. But some add a high end power cord to the nova , like chord music, and found it as box upgrade.    You can add also a high quality lan cable, like chord indigo.  

£6k of cables for a £4k box - you wold have to be really desperate to keep the box count down!

i just pointed that some members have done that and were happy.  But i agree, with that money i would have made a different system....Perhaps these desperate persons have a woman dragon in their house....?

A Powerline made an amazingly large difference over the standard cable when I used it on a Superuniti. When I got my Nova I let the dealer keep the bundled Powerline lite as part of the trade and now use the Powerline. Although I haven't made a direct comparison on the Nova, a full fat Powerline would be worth a try. Any decent dealer would lend you one.

French Rooster posted:

ynwa250505 posted:

I have a Core + Nova and I have to get a couple of other boxes (S/Line + PS) for an LP12. Is there a PS option that would sensibly upgrade the Nova whilst driving an S/line, rather than just getting a PS to drive the S/line? Comments/suggestions/options gratefully received. Thanks in advance ...

as already said here, no ps option to upgrade the nova. But some add a high end power cord to the nova , like chord music, and found it as box upgrade.    You can add also a high quality lan cable, like chord indigo.  

....and while it may not make sense from the outside, if someone intends to upgrade at a later date to substantially better separates, cables and interconnects might well be a cheaper interim step with significant improvemenst that could be used with better components when funds allow.

I tried some Super Lumina speaker cable with my Nova out of curiosity vs NAC A5 - what I found strange is that while it was incredibly detailed it seemed to really exaggerate the negatives I'd found with the 2.6 software update - control but real lack of mid/bass and thin/shrill vocals.  So was it showing me the nature of 2.6 I disliked, or is this the sound Naim is favouring these days?

Alley Cat posted:

French Rooster posted:

ynwa250505 posted:

I have a Core + Nova and I have to get a couple of other boxes (S/Line + PS) for an LP12. Is there a PS option that would sensibly upgrade the Nova whilst driving an S/line, rather than just getting a PS to drive the S/line? Comments/suggestions/options gratefully received. Thanks in advance ...

as already said here, no ps option to upgrade the nova. But some add a high end power cord to the nova , like chord music, and found it as box upgrade.    You can add also a high quality lan cable, like chord indigo.  

....and while it may not make sense from the outside, if someone intends to upgrade at a later date to substantially better separates, cables and interconnects might well be a cheaper interim step with significant improvemenst that could be used with better components when funds allow.

I tried some Super Lumina speaker cable with my Nova out of curiosity vs NAC A5 - what I found strange is that while it was incredibly detailed it seemed to really exaggerate the negatives I'd found with the 2.6 software update - control but real lack of mid/bass and thin/shrill vocals.  So was it showing me the nature of 2.6 I disliked, or is this the sound Naim is favouring these days?

your nova have a guarantee. So if you can’t update back to 2.4 and are dissatisfied with the new nova sound, can’t you ask naim or your dealer to replace your nova by another nova without the 2.6 update?

Naim support thankfully gave me access to 2.3 so I'm back on that.  I've gone back and forth to 2.6 several time but just prefer 2.3.

Alley Cat posted:

Naim support thankfully gave me access to 2.3 so I'm back on that.  I've gone back and forth to 2.6 several time but just prefer 2.3.

good information, all fine now.

French Rooster posted:

ChrisSU posted:

French Rooster posted:

ynwa250505 posted:

£6k of cables for a £4k box - you wold have to be really desperate to keep the box count down!

i just pointed that some members have done that and were happy.  But i agree, with that money i would have made a different system....Perhaps these desperate persons have awoman dragon in their house....?

If he doesn't have one, I potentially have one for sale 

the best thing is to put the dragon in a cage when we are listening to music.