Second Hicap on Nac 82

It would be interesting to hear your opinion. I have read a few comments before and there did not appear to be a clear answer as to whether it was better or not. Intuitively, you would expect an advantage but I have seen opinions that suggested that it became too polite and lost some of the joie de vivre

You can find an opinion to back you up on just about everything, but the overwhelming consensus is that the second HC doesn't bring much to the party.

And then again, I would disagree. The second HC does make a worthwhile difference.

Now, I would comment that  2xHC to SC is not so significant....., apart from being able to claim to one’s SO that “I’ve reduced the box count”.

Thanks I will let you know.

JRHardee posted:

You can find an opinion to back you up on just about everything, but the overwhelming consensus is that the second HC doesn't bring much to the party.

I wasn't looking for people to back me up on anything as never having tried two Hicaps on an 82 I don't even have an opinion yet but what I was looking for were peoples REAL experience having tried this combination themselves.

I have tried powering both sockets on a 282 with a third party psu though and so will be able to offer comparisons on that which may or may not be of interest but it will at least be an attempt to offer something informative.

I use two Hicaps on the 282 and settled at that. 

When I try going back to one Hicap something is lost for me. The pre sounds more eloquent with the two.

Shame, as I wouldn't mind reducing my box count a tad, and cashing in a Hicap! 

Bob the Builder posted:

JRHardee posted:

You can find an opinion to back you up on just about everything, but the overwhelming consensus is that the second HC doesn't bring much to the party.

I wasn't looking for people to back me up on anything as never having tried two Hicaps on an 82 I don't even have an opinion yet but what I was looking for were peoples REAL experience having tried this combination themselves.

I have tried powering both sockets on a 282 with a third party psu though and so will be able to offer comparisons on that which may or may not be of interest but it will at least be an attempt to offer something informative.

Please don’t Bob, as that would be a breach of forum rules regarding discussion of unauthorised modifications to Naim kit.

Bob the Builder posted:

I have bought a second Hicap to use on my 82 it is within a couple of years of age of my other one and will hopefully compare favourably to the Supercap I tried before. If not then I will go back to trying a Supercap again as I realised after its quite hasty departure that I should have given it a little longer however it will be good to hear what two hicaps can do.

Can anyone point me to a link showing how to wire up two Hi-Caps to a 282.

I've got one on loan into my old olive NAP 250 and it sounds very good, but I have other Hi-Caps lurking around if I can find the correct leads!

I'd really like a 252 but the 282 has the benefit of me being able to repurpose some older Hi-caps to use with it.

More specifically an online PDF I found sugests:

However I'm not clear if the second Hi-Cap simply hooks via a Snaic to the 2nd SuperCap input after removing the plastic blanker, or if somehow the Hi-Caps need a connection between them to enable use of the second SuperCap input.

If it's anything like an 82 then no interconnection between the HCaps is needed.

cheeselet posted:

I use two Hicaps on the 282 and settled at that. 

When I try going back to one Hicap something is lost for me. The pre sounds more eloquent with the two.

Shame, as I wouldn't mind reducing my box count a tad, and cashing in a Hicap! 

It's called "replacing 2 HC with 1 SC" and voila! Box count reduced............................

Its shown in the amplifier connections guide, which you can download from Naim’s website. 

https://www.naimaudio.com/site...ation%20Rev%201J.pdf

Page 13

Two hicaps was appreciably better than one with my Nac 82. Your mileage may vary.

Suzy Wong posted:

cheeselet posted:

I use two Hicaps on the 282 and settled at that. 

When I try going back to one Hicap something is lost for me. The pre sounds more eloquent with the two.

Shame, as I wouldn't mind reducing my box count a tad, and cashing in a Hicap! 

It's called "replacing 2 HC with 1 SC" and voila! Box count reduced............................

Replacing “2 HC with 1 SC” creates no extra space as far as I can see. A SC is twice as wide as a HC.

Anyway, that’s just a side effect. 

Will the Supercap justify its extra expense with a corresponding increase in sq?

Back in the day, I added a second Hicap to my 82 and found that it made very little difference, and certainly not one that was worth the cost. I then sold both Hicaps and bought a Supercap, which provided a significant upgrade. 

hungryhalibut posted:

Back in the day, I added a second Hicap to my 82 and found that it made very little difference, and certainly not one that was worth the cost. I then sold both Hicaps and bought a Supercap, which provided a significant upgrade. 

Initial reaction is that it's harsher with two Hi-Caps, more testing required.....plus swapping in/out a different vintage 3rd Hi-Cap....

Hi Cheeselet--A Supercap will give you a lot more 82 than a HC does, but it's qualitatively the same. For a real improvement in SQ, insider a 52. It worked for me.

So. I'm faced with two choices. 

1) Buy Supercap for 282

or

2) Trade 282 for N272 as I have an xps I could use with  it (from my CDX2.2).

Personally I would keep the 282, but that might depend on what sources you wamt to use. Also, how old is your XPS? Some older ones can’t run a 272, so worth checking this first. 

Bob,

I replaced the 2 Hi-caps with a Supercap on my 82 and found a big improvement in SQ.

Before adding the 2nd Hi-cap I was running the 82 on 1 Hi-cap. The addition of a 2nd Hi-cap made a slight improvement but nothing like the WOW factor given by the Supercap.

I have a HC DR on my 282. How much different would a non-DR SuperCap be than just adding a second HC DR, i.e. two HC DRs vs. a non-DR SuperCap.

Montone posted:

Bob,

I replaced the 2 Hi-caps with a Supercap on my 82 and found a big improvement in SQ.

Before adding the 2nd Hi-cap I was running the 82 on 1 Hi-cap. The addition of a 2nd Hi-cap made a slight improvement but nothing like the WOW factor given by the Supercap.

I do know that wow factor I had a Supercap about a month ago and at the time found it a bit too much wow and let it go which I now do regret as maybe it might have bedded in or I may have got used to all of that extra detail but I wanted to try two Hicaps anyway.

2 hicaps are better than Supercap on 82 for me.

gary yeowell posted:

2 hicaps are better than Supercap on 82 for me.

Sounds as though there may be elements of personal preference here.  Not yet convinced the sound of 282 is better with two vs one.