He's back! After only a short gap, Clive is back with more insights into experiences with his system. Opinions are Clive's own. Enjoy.
A couple of
months ago I was speaking with John Jackson aka JJ about improving the amplification of my system without swapping my 2 x
250s for 4 x 135s - I didn't want to increase the box count. My 250s have
already been upgraded with the addition of Avondale HCR200 power regulators
& John's Phoenix amplifier boards, sound amazing & outperform standard
135s so I appreciated it might be a tall order... but read on.
For those of
you who don't know him, JJ is ex Naim Senior Test & Service Engineer
& was Witch Hat Lead R&D Engineer before their demise. He is now
operating under his own name as JJSThatcham (https://www.jjsthatcham.uk/) offering Naim servicing & upgrades. When I put
my question to him, he told me that there was a modification that's he'd been
thinking about for a while but not got round to trying - did I want to be a
guinea pig?
The
modification involved taking a pair of his highly acclaimed Dragon Newts (which
will elevate the performance of your Hicap or Supercap) tweaking them to
produce +/-42 volts rather than +24 and using them to power a specific section
of the Phoenix boards, which would benefit from these ultra-low noise power
regulators.
So I took a
deep breath, put my system back to passive & handed one of my amps over.
The development had to overcome a couple of hurdles. The first build of the 42
volt Newts wasn't a quiet as John wanted, but a redesign solved that. Secondly
a variation to ensure PSUs start up safely in all conditions caused
another issue but that was soon resolved. And about ten days ago John called me
to say my amp was ready for collection.
Those of you
that don't know my system may be thinking that, when I mention Aktiv& 250s
in the same breath, there'd be something like a 52/supercap/snaxo/ in front of
the power amps, and in fact there used to be. But the clue is in
"Aktiv" rather than active. Now at the front of my system is a Linn
Klimax System Hub which is a streamer/pre amp followed by a Klimax Exaktbox
Organic which performs DAC & digital crossover filter duties. I found that
the Linn Aktiv implementation is a significant improvement over the Naim snaxo.
My speakers are now Kudos 707s although until recently I had SL2s with bespoke
crossover filters created by SpeakerFilters / http://speakerfilters.blogspot.com/
So how does
it sound? I've initially left my system passive so I can easily compare to the
existing amp. Straight out of the box it was obvious that the addition of the
Dragon Newts had made improvements but now they've got 200 hours /10 days under
their belt, I sat down do a serious comparison. I pulled up my Test Tracks
playlist (link at the end) & chose five tracks. First up was Mary Coughlan
- The Beach. It was immediately apparent from the open opening notes that the
sax intro has more detail, more of a rasp to it. When Mary starts singing, the
vocal has more air & is more breathy. The guitars are more distinct &
more defined. Notes start & stop with more precision. But the overall
impression is of a more musical, more real, more live performance.
Other tracks
I listened too were Hanne Boel - After Midnight, ERA - The Mass, John Campbell
- Way Down in the Hole & Nils Lofgren - Little On Up (you thought I was
going to say Keith Don't Go didn't you). It was the same story. Snare drums
have more snap, bass lines are tighter, there's more air round instruments, there's
more vocal inflection & everything is easier to follow. On the ERA track
the timpanis sound more - well more like timpanis& the track has more
drive. The Nils Lofgren track while it's easier to separate the two guitars,
the whole track is more poignant, you can feel the emotion.
To
summarize, the modification retains all the PRaT that Naim amps are famed for
and gives you more of the attributes you'd want - tighter bass lines, more
precision, more decay on sustained notes, more shimmer & shine on symbols,
airiness & separation, greater insight into vocals & individual
instruments. However it manages to do this in a hugely musical & real, non
HiFi sort of way. It sounds more like a live performance, be that in a
controlled studio environment, on a stage or in your local pub. It sounds like
the musicians are having just so much fun. Fantastic. Swapping back to the
original amp (very briefly) & that sounded a bit dull & pedestrian by
comparison, & bear in mind that this is an amp that out performs standard
135s.
I was now
itching to have Dragon Newts fitted to my other amp so I can go back to
AktivExakt.
Well a couple of weeks later I got my
second 250 back from JJ with Dragon Newts fitted & put my system back to
AktivExakt and gave it a couple of weeks for the second amp to burn in. I
listened to the same playlist (links at the end) that I used in my initial
assessment of with / without the Dragon Newts - so how does it sound?
Short answer - awesome. Longer answer - I
have my amps configured so that, rather than one for bass/mid & one for
tweeters, one powers left bass/mid & left tweeter & the other the right
speaker drive unit. Linn's ExaktAktiv implantation brings a depth & precision
to the sound stage and separation between performers that you just don't get in
passive configuration.
In ExaktAktiv configuration, the Dragon
Newt modification to the amps brings an extra level of airiness /breathiness
& dynamics to the performance. On the first track the rasp & inflection
on the sax was more obvious, more real. Bass lines gain in solidity & Mary
Coughlan's voice is anchored centre stage - close your eyes & she could be
in the room with you along with the saxophonist & bass player (although
that makes it quite crowded in my lounge)
On the Era track you really get more of a
feeling of a massed choir. There's a greater sense of menace with the timpanis like rolling thunder, and the
driving bass lines sound like something from an Indiana Jones movie when the
bad men are lowering him into the pit of hell
John Campbell's voice sounds even more gravelly if that's
possible, ravaged by years of smoking cigars & drinking cheap whisky. And
if Little On Up doesn’t bring a tear to your eye you must be made of tough old
boot leather.
Going ExaktAktiv takes the attributes that
I experienced after JJ had added Dragon Newts to my first amp - tighter bass lines, more precision, more
decay on sustained notes, more shimmer & shine on symbols, airiness &
separation, greater insight into vocals & individual instruments and builds
on them. But importantly, it does so in a hugely musical & real, non HiFi
sort of way. It sounds more musical, more real, more like a live performance in
your living room. It sounds like the musicians are having just so much fun.
Fantastic.
As a foot note, I've heard the new white
logo Naim 250, and I know some people are raving about it. For me, that is hifi,
amazingly detailed but ultimately not engaging. If you are looking for the PRaT
that Naim are famed for, but in spades, get an Olive 250 & have JJ breathe
his magic on it. And if you fancy going down the ExaktAktiv route, but have
speakers that aren’t supported (I previously had Naim SBLs & the SL2s)
contact SpeakerFilters: http://speakerfilters.blogspot.com/
Test
Tracks (subscriptions may be required to access these playlists)
https://open.qobuz.com/playlist/7693858
https://tidal.com/.../5822bbac-97fc-4471-83bf-d6e284571a13
