Hello Gary (Stryder5),
There's a good chance you know a lot more than I do. I'm grateful for you help!
Thanks
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Posts: 150
I'm Rob.
Hello Gary (Stryder5),
There's a good chance you know a lot more than I do. I'm grateful for you help!
Thanks
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Posts: 150
I'm Rob.
Hello Geoff (Sherwood),
Thanks for the confirmation it works, this gives me options of both intergrated and power amps.
Location: Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Posts: 150
I'm Rob.
Hello Jim (monkfish),
I've Googled the A500, there's not many people with anything bad to say about it when considering the price it's sold for.
There's a review on What HiFi where someone compares it to my amp (Sony F770ES) and at £170 it compares well (considering the Sony was a flagship, remarkable!) but the reviewer also says it's a nudge on the bright side compared to the Sony, I wouldn't be able to live it. It would also be going through KEF Reference speakers that tend to highlight the good and the bad.
Many thanks for the help though.
Location: Glasgow, UK
Posts: 2,076
I'm Tony.
Location: Dundee, Scotland, UK
Posts: 57
I'm Jim.
I am using the A500 with a first gen Caiman with the Gator board mod, I also have a Caiman Seg which works equally well , speakers used have been Tannoy Cheviots, Kef Reference 3 and now Dynaudio audience 72.
Sound has been outstanding throughout, never a hint of brightness or any other nasty traits, I have since bought another A500 and would like to purchase a third to run an active Linn Isobarik system where there were Naim amps previously.
Last edited by monkfish; 07-06-2018 at 08:55.
Jim.
Location: Reigate
Posts: 131
I'm Rob.
I use an SEG directly into a Naim NAP 100 with exceptionally good results. Only thing I had to do was to earth the SEG to the Naim Amp to remove an earth loop hum. I don't think I've ever pushed the SEG's volume control beyond 50%. Sound quality is amazing - crystal clean quality across the spectrum and deep, clean solid bass. The SEG is powered by a Chinese 15V linear power supply, but even with the standard power supply there was never any problem with gain levels.
I previously used a Behringer A500 - I've actually had several of them, and, disappointingly they all ended up with intermittent crackles and noise from the potentiometers which was so bad it risked damaging my speakers. I kept getting sending them back and getting them replaced until I gave up after the 3rd one which ended up the same way. I've tried various things to figure out how to stop this happening, but with no long-term success, so I gave up, bought the Naim and the A500 is just gathering dust in a cupboard now. If anyone has any ideas, do let me know how you think the problem might be solved. It's a shame because the A500 is otherwise a pretty nice, very powerful and very cheap amp otherwise, but this fault makes it too unreliable IMO. Sounds like you have a good one, and I hope it doesn't develop the same fault.
The Naim, by comparison, has been flawless from day 1 and is a fabulous, high-quality piece of kit, and IMO has been well worth the extra money. It gets my 100% recommendation if anyone else is considering a power amp to use with an SEG.
Bit-perfect Streaming: Raspberry Pi 2 & HiFiBerry Digi+ & MoodeAudio; DAC: Beresford Caiman SEG; Power Amp: Naim NAP 100; Speakers: PMC TB2i
Recording: Mics: 2 X DPA 2011C, 2 X Line Audio OM1, 2 X Line Audio CM3, 2 X Calrec CM652D, iSK SM168, 2 X Behringer C4; Recorder: Zoom F8; Zoom H4N; Interfaces/Mixers: Sound Devices USBPre-2, Behringer Xenyx 802, Monitors: KRK Rokit 6
Location: Dundee, Scotland, UK
Posts: 57
I'm Jim.
Hi Rob
I can only give my findings with a Nap 250 which has had the full Avondale treatment, there just wasn't enough gain when used with the Caiman, the sound was good but not loud enough to enjoy any dynamics.
I didn't mean this to sound like a Naim bashing exercise, unfortunately it may come across like that, they do have a good reputation for longevity and I used them for many years myself.
Jim.