Hi, Folks

Today I spoke with my Naim dealer.
He had a s/h Hi-cap to offer for only 1200 Dutch Guilders (about 350 UKP)
That seemed like a very fair price to me.
Now, I'm using a old-style Nait-2 and a CD-3.5 at
the mometn.
Should I go for the Hi-Cap and connect it to my
cd-3.5 ? I heard of people telling that a cd-3.5
+ Hi-Cap comes pretty close to the performance of a CDX...
Any people having experienced this combo ??
(cd-3.5 + Hi-Cap)

Greetings from Holland,
Alcoundefined

I am currently using a CD 3-5 with hicap. The CD3-5 with hicap is clearly a improvement over a bare CD3-5 or even a CD3-5 with a flatcap. The hicap is also a better choice then a flatcap if you are using it to power up any pre-amp in the future. 350 UKP seems to be a good price too, however do check for the age of the hicap. You may end up paying for the price of the recap if the hicap is too old. Hope this is helpful =)

Have a nice day =)

Although 3.5 does sound much better with a Hi-Cap, it's nowhere near as good as a CDX (maybe half). Also, the CD players don't benefit from better power supplies as much as the pre-amps. Consequently, a Hi-Cap makes a 3.5 sound only a little bit better thana Flat-Cap, but a Hi-Cap makes a pre-amp sound MUCH better than a Flat-Cap.

If you plan to upgrade your 3.5 to a CDX later, and your Nait to Naim pre/power separates, then do this:

- Buy the Hi-Cap now for the 3.5.
- Replace the Nait with a 32.5/110 or better.
- Buy the CDX, and move the Hi-Cap to the pre.

Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.

Alco,
I had a Nait2 and CD3.5. I liked it. Then I bought a HiCap to the 3.5 and it was much much better. I was really impressed. Listening fatigue decreases, the sound seems to be more 'open' and natural, you will find it more enjoyable.

Please do consider that:

1. HiCap is much easier to find s/h than a FlatCap
2. The price of a s/h FlatCap is close to a s/h HiCap (on the s/h market the price gap shrinks)
3. Maybe one day you will trade your Nait2 for a pre-power combo. You will NEED a HiCap, won't you?
4. The price you've been asked seems fine (if the HiCap is OK).

If you're not convinced yet, please tell me the phone number of your dealer

IMO, adding a HiCap is not meant to make a 3.5 somehow similar to a CDX, it still remains a different player (not definitely worse or better, just... different!)

Another tip... many people say that CDX is very sensitive to supports. But also the 3.5 is support-sensitive, really. As a 3.5 owner, I'm often making experiments. IMO, the choice of a good or poor setup can be as great as a HiCap.
I hate the sound of my 3.5 sitting on spikes or other similar devices. Better on Vuk's nut-ball-nut. Better again IMO the 3.5 sitting on its feet on a levelled MDF layer on blu-tak balls.

The metal cover vibrates easily (put the volume pot at 10 o'clock and put a hand on top). Reduction of such vibrations improves the sound. I have put some blu-tak between the back panel and the metal cover, it helps. Moreover, as someone else suggested, I have put two layers of glass on blu-tak balls on top.
I'm now trying air suspended DIY stands, but tuning is rather difficult.

Hope this helps. Enjoy your 3.5/HiCap.

Stefano.

[This message was edited by Stefano Rosati on MONDAY 20 November 2000 at 12:48.

[This message was edited by Stefano Rosati on MONDAY 20 November 2000 at 15:14.]

Mike Hanson says:

"Although 3.5 does sound much better with a Hi-Cap, it's nowhere near as good as a CDX (maybe half)"

In his opinion. In my opinion the performance of a flatcap/hicap cd 3.5 and a cdx is so close that the cdx is not worth the extra cash.

You must hear and decide for yourself.

He goes on: "Also, the CD players don't benefit from better power supplies as much as the pre-amps."

In fact it is cd players that benefit most from separate power supplies because in a cd player you have many systems that use different voltages (for the laser, the focussing mechanism, the dac, the analogue circuits etc.) Pre-amps tend to use one voltage.

And more: "Consequently, a Hi-Cap makes a 3.5 sound only a little bit better thana Flat-Cap, but a Hi-Cap makes a pre-amp sound MUCH better than a Flat-Cap."

A pre-amp amplifies the source and ideally has no sound of its own, but a more revealing pre-amp will either highlight a good source or embarass a poor one. if your main source is cd then enhance that.

cheers

Nigel

Alco

I've had the CDX and the CD3.5/hicap in my home.

My only disagreement with Mike is that I don't believe the CD3.5/hicap is anywhere near half as good as a CDX. Apart from that I think Mike is entirely correct.

Ask your dealer to let you take the hicap home and also a CDX. Do the comparison for yourself and see what you think. If you do, make sure you let us all know how you get on.

Brian

--------------------------------------------------
He goes on: "Also, the CD players don't benefit from better power supplies as much as the pre-amps."

In fact it is cd players that benefit most from separate power supplies because in a cd player you have many systems that use different voltages (for the laser, the focussing mechanism, the dac, the analogue circuits etc.) Pre-amps tend to use one voltage.
--------------------------------------------------

Hi Nigel, you have missed the point Mike is making. Start with a preamp/flatcap and cd3.5/flatcap. Then change to hicaps, and the preamp is improved more.

It is, however, true that the CD player benefits more from the addition of the flatcap than the preamp does. It extracts more benefit from it.

The reason is that the CD3.5 contains voltage regulators to which the cap input is connected. In other words, they add an extra stage of regulation internally (in addition to that in the cap).

Pre-amps do not contain internal regulation, and must rely only on the regulation within the cap. There is a long wire between the regulator and the pre-amp. If the preamps had internal regulation, they would behave as the CD3.5 does.

Andrew

a)Don't the 102/82/52 have on-board regulation, unlike the 72/32/92/62/42?

b)One reason a hicap makes a big difference over a flatcap is that the phono boards have regulators which dump noise into the power supply, which then infects the line stage. The hicap, in addition to splitting the rails, like a Flatcap, regulates each separately, isolating the line stage from the noise from the phono boards.

c)I'm not convinced a *cap is better on a CD3.5 than on a preamp, but then I only have experience of how much better my non-Naim sources sounded after Snaps2, then Hicap, were added to my preamp.

--Eri

Let's assume that a bare 3.5 is X. Adding a Flat-Cap is 1.5X. Using a Hi-Cap instead is 1.7X.

In comparison, let's assume that a pre-amp is Y. Adding a Flat-Cap is 1.5Y. Using a Hi-Cap instead is 2Y. Using a Super-Cap is 3Y.

Of course, these are rough estimates, just for the purpose of my explanation. Some might disagree with the actual value of the multipliers, but my point should be clear now.

BTW, this is based upon listening tests, and not on any theoretical explanation. I'll add that Naim seems to agree with me, since the new Flat-Cap2 provides two power supplies: The primary is designated for the pre-amp, while the secondary is for the CD player. This confirms that the pre-amp can benefit from the better power-supply more than the CD player. Catch you later!

-=> Mike Hanson <=-

Smilies do not a forum make.

Mike

You don’t need to justify your comments any further.

I feel certain that MOST people who have actually taken a power supply, plugged it into a CD3.5 then later used it on the preamp instead will agree with you. In sound terms it is better utilised on the preamp than the CD. It doesn’t matter whether this is supposed to be the case or not. It just is.

Brian