Nac N-172 XS

Any owners or previous owners??

Current 172xs owner here. The preamp section is surprisingly good. Went from rp6 to lp12/ittok/hercules to lp12/ittok/kore/crikus/NAPSA and it's shown off the upgrades brilliantly. 

Never owned one, but I've heard one a couple of times with a 200 and thought it sounded very good. Only heard it as a streamer though, not with any external source.

I thought the 172xs was a superb item... completely hitting above it’s class. I heard one feeding a NAP300DR and a pair of Kudos Titans and it genuinely sounded eyebrow raising... fantastic .  I think the secret to the 172xs SQ performance is it’s relative simplicity internally... less can be more...

Heard one a few times in front of a 250DR. Works very well. Now if only Naim had made it half size to sit next to a NAP100 ..

cdboy posted:

Heard one a few times in front of a 250DR. Works very well. Now if only Naim had made it half size to sit next to a NAP100 ..

Well there was the matching NAP155XS which is now gone. By all accounts a brilliant power amp.

There are few very good products that were cannibalised by the new Uniti range, the 172 being one of them. Perfectly understandable of course - too much overlap with performance and price points. But a shame nonetheless. Naim seem to be making fewer and fewer things overall these days. The new Uniti range replaced an existing Uniti range but in the past couple years we've lost all speakers, NAC N-172XS, NAP155XS, XP5XS, NAC152XS, CDX2, CD5XS, NAT05XS, CD555 and maybe a few other bits and bobs never to be replaced with anything. And I feel like the cull is not yet over. With the loss of speakers, Naim can no longer claim to make full "systems" either. It's all market forces of course but I don't have to like it. 

Won't be surprised if the last of the shoebox components vanish with just the HiCap hanging on. If it was me, I'd be looking to consolidate the current Si and XS ranges into new shoebox components but pigs might fly. If you want a shoebox streamer to match the NAP100 for styling, the old UQ2 is your only option but if you want to bring it up to the level of a 172, you need to insert a DAC v-1 in there too making 3 boxes.

Thanks everyone that all sounds quite positive I'll try it with both 180 and 250 and report back.                                                                                                                     

Well I'm very pleasantly surprised with the 172 XS and for a second system the excellent Tidal, Upnp and iRadio integration is a real plus and if you have a good connection IMO the Naim app is excellent and easy to navigate. I've used it with a Nap 180 for the past 24 hours but have just wired it up to the 82 as just a streamer/dac so that I can compare it directly to the Raspberry Pi/Chord 2Qute which is also connected.

One surprise is the headphone amp which is actually quite decent even with my very budget Audio technica headphones. All in all so far the 172XS is a bit of a bargain and if your looking for a non upgradeable pre amp streamer you won't go far wrong with this for the money.

I have a 172xs with a 200 and it sounds excellent. They make a very good combination, and second hand both are absolute bargains. 

Although the 172XS is a great machine and represents great value it isn't going to really work for me at this time. For ease of use with the Naim app it is fantastic and with a decent power amp sounds surprisingly good and I can see the attraction of a 272 now but I'm really looking for a more vintage sound the Lenco, Firebottle valve phono stage and Firebottle valve pre amp need either a very powerful valve or vintage solid state power amp to complete the sound I want.

A shame though because if I was looking for a very simple no fuss streaming first solution the 172 XS along with a 180 or 250 would be it.