Hi all, is the above cable the same in the 300dr as the Naim Classic 250? I understand the the NAP 250 DR uses one stereo cable and is different but my understanding is that the cables for classic 250 and 300 DR are mono cables? Is that correct and if so are the cables interchangeable?
By Naim Classic 250 do you mean New Classic 250? The latter uses balanced XLR cables, whereas the 300DR has unbalanced Din to XLR. They are completely different.
No, on the 300DR, each cable has an open pin, depending on channel. On the Classic 250 (-2, DR) all three pins are connected (one for ground, and two for each channel).
A 300DR cable definitely cannot be used on a 250. I don’t know what the effect of an unexpected connected pin would have using 250 cables on a 300.
The manual shows the XLR pinouts for each power amp.
Hi Both, thanks for confirming this for me.
You can though use a pair of NAP250 DIN-XLRs (white band) on a NAP300. But a proper handed pair (red band and green band) is better.
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Sorry Richard, is that Naim Classic 250 DIN-XLRs or standard 250 DIN XLRs or both? Thanks
That might be confusing things. There is a
Chrome Bumper 250
Olive 250
Classic 250
New Classic 250
All but the the latest use an unbalanced DIN to single XLR unbalanced.
All bar the latest New classic 250, which has a balanced XLR input rather than the previous single-ended one.
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Understood thank you
What’s the point of single-ended XLR, other than marketing perception?
In my case I am spec’ing balanced cables for sources, with single ended adapters, because I plan to change from my 252/300 to fully balanced components in the next year or two. In the case of my phono-stage I have no choice anyway. In the case of my DAC I don’t want to buy expensive single-ended cables I won’t have a use for later. I’d rather toss the adapters instead in the long run.
I don’t really know why Naim uses XLR connectors for classic (i.e. non-NC) amps. Can’t say it ever made sense to me. What didn’t they just use DIN like they did for everything else?
Well Naim have long used single ended XLR before the NC series.
The main reasons were the quality of the connection itself as, like DIN, it has superior impedance matching compared to RCA, and compared to both DIN and RCA, it always connects ground first.
So yes, single ended XLR still has significant benefits.
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