Second Hicap on Nac 82

Posted by: Bob the Builder on 18 October 2018

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.

Posted on: 23 October 2018 by Bob the Builder

It is entirely down to personal preference because though it made a big diffrence with the supercap on my 82 and yes there was a wow listen to that moment but on certain records it seemed to pick just one instrument that had obviously been very forward in the mix and focus almost entirely on it. Miles Davis trumpet for example on Someday my Prince Will Come drowned out every other instrument so that the track became too much and unenjoyable and this happened on quite a few tracks with quite a few instruments.

Posted on: 23 October 2018 by Alley Cat

Bob the Builder posted:
It is entirely down to personal preference because though it made a big diffrence with the supercap on my 82 and yes there was a wow listen to that moment but on certain records it seemed to pick just one instrument that had obviously been very forward in the mix and focus almost entirely on it. Miles Davis trumpet for example on Someday my Prince Will Come drowned out every other instrument so that the track became too much and unenjoyable and this happened on quite a few tracks with quite a few instruments.

Having been bowled over by NDX 2, NAC 282/Hi-Cap into olive 250 last week, there's something distinctly lacklustre about it this week with 1 or 2 Hi-Caps, this is frustrating to say the least in deciding where to go next - I think something in my subconscious wants a NAC 52/ND 555.....and is sabotaging my thoughts cool

Posted on: 23 October 2018 by Alley Cat

Alley Cat posted:
Bob the Builder posted:
It is entirely down to personal preference because though it made a big diffrence with the supercap on my 82 and yes there was a wow listen to that moment but on certain records it seemed to pick just one instrument that had obviously been very forward in the mix and focus almost entirely on it. Miles Davis trumpet for example on Someday my Prince Will Come drowned out every other instrument so that the track became too much and unenjoyable and this happened on quite a few tracks with quite a few instruments.
Having been bowled over by NDX 2, NAC 282/Hi-Cap into olive 250 last week, there's something distinctly lacklustre about it this week with 1 or 2 Hi-Caps, this is frustrating to say the least in deciding where to go next - I think something in my subconscious wants a NAC 52/ND 555.....and is sabotaging my thoughts

...now I've just switched to an album I know well on LP12 and the NAC 282 seems on fire again....this is so confusing.

Posted on: 23 October 2018 by Foot tapper

Alley Cat posted:
... I think something in my subconscious wants a NAC 52/ND 555.....and is sabotaging my thoughts

Mine too

Posted on: 23 October 2018 by David O'Higgins

It’s a long tiñe ago now, but my clear memory was that adding a second HC to and 82 was a worthwhile improvement and that replacing the HC’s with a Supercap took it to another level (upwards!).

Posted on: 23 October 2018 by ryder.

Alley Cat posted:
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.

"Better" is a subjective term which is usually driven by personal preference. There may be minority who prefer 2 Hicaps over 1 Supercap, or 282 over 252. Haven't noticed anyone who regards the 202 to be better than the 552 though.

Posted on: 24 October 2018 by gary yeowell

ryder. posted:
Alley Cat posted:
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.
"Better" is a subjective term which is usually driven by personal preference. There may be minority who prefer 2 Hicaps over 1 Supercap, or 282 over 252. Haven't noticed anyone who regards the 202 to be better than the 552 though.

And why exactly did i put 'for me' at the end of my statement? I'm also not saying with a 282, but an 82, an entirely different sounding pre.

Posted on: 24 October 2018 by Alley Cat

Oops, misread that !

Posted on: 27 October 2018 by Stephen packer

David O'Higgins posted:
It’s a long tiñe ago now, but my clear memory was that adding a second HC to and 82 was a worthwhile improvement and that replacing the HC’s with a Supercap took it to another level (upwards!).

About 2 years ago I put a second HiCapDR on my 282, it sounded better. After 6 months I moved to a Supercap 2, it sounded better, but not as much as I had hoped it would.

A little later I moved the supercap onto a SNAXO242 and went back to the two HiCap DRs on the 282, there was an improvement but this probably was from going from a 'hacked about' olive NAXO to a new SNAXO242.

My experience was there wasn't a great difference between two HiCap DRs and a single Supercap 2.