272/500

Analog, probably best asked of a Naim engineer. I seem to recall it’s down to matching. Something the Statement allows perfectly because the transisitors are from the same die. 

Basically its about linearity  - no two devices are going to be exactly the same, so having power transistors  in parallel is ultimately going to add noise and distortion. The  NA009 has special care, as far as I understand,  to ensure they are extremely closely matched in terms of how they designed as well as able to handle higher current.

Richard Dane posted:

Simon, I think Naim went for a balanced design with the NAP500 in order to create a more powerful amplifier without the drawbacks of using multiple output devices.

To go beyond this with the Statement thus meant designing a new and much more powerful output device, the NA009.

Richard indeed, as Power = VI, then ultimately the voltage supply lines can be increased to increase power availalbe - and balancing allows the amp to effectively see twice the voltage supply line. But I  had heard the main benefit of the 500's balanced design was to isolate the ground plane return current from the speaker which i can see having real benefit in reducing noise and distortion under power.

I can tell you now the 500 resolved more pure detail than the nap250dr .... almost like a dr upgrade. ..I was astounded. The 500dr is better again. You can tell the difference in the 1st few bars .... this was on a 272/555 combination.