Been keeping an eye on how this unfolds for you - if you persist and keep an open mind then eventually it all starts to make sense as to what may be happening.
For me the SL Interconnect cables were awful for weeks - but I had previously tried a home-demo of the Dealers run-in set and they were sublime compared to my squawky-firey new ones, so I persisted but occasionally swapping back the old non-SL cables for a break to play music (the DIN-XLR SL were unlistenable to in my system for about two weeks).
Eventually it settled and all came right - I think an Active system is more sensitive to run-in negatives. The SL begin bright and edgy with over-lean constricted bass, which is generally exactly what I do not like! But they develop through that to a very balanced fluid presentation that sounds very natural compared to what some interconnects do which by comparison sound overly-contrived and mangle things in my system, so I stick with the SL.
With the Vodka Ethernet links - I have a few of these and I like them but they also run-in, although it is mainly the top-end that begins quite rough then gradually over a long time improves - I hear this as levels of noise and associated distortions in the HF gradually reducing and revealing details in the music and eventually that noise effect is gone over many (many) weeks.
Someone mentioned female vocals and the Vodka - particularly singing in higher frequency ranges this was very apparent that I was hearing information that was submerged and smeared with other cables - other cables had a nice warm body but removed some soul for me. This effect also applied with the Ethernet Regen switch I preferred over the Pheonix one.
Essentially the cables are revealing. The SL cable was designed for Statement and sold for use with Reference kit - but any comparison of the equivalent item of Reference Amp against the Statement item will show you that Statement begins on a much higher level regarding a lower noise and distortion floor top to bottom in frequency - it is astonishing to experince how much better it is.
So the SL works more easily with Statement and the Reference needs more care in set-up to get the balance needed - or people may prefer other cables.
All a personal journey and nobody can tell you what is happening, but you have to experience it yourself IMO.
It is also why I’m not dogmatic about what is best for anyone as different system components, musical tastes and personal preferences make a lage impact on what will deliver best. My comments are my own musings.
It’s the best cable of all I tried. The music sounds natural and uncolored with great imaging, bass extension, and separation. The BJC is quite popular here. As always you need to try in your system with your ears. Seriously, the cinnamon and vodkas didn’t sound right in my system, harsh, thin, not very warm, never sounded like the music should sound. My system my ears.
Hi ElMarko
Really appreciate your help, advice and also your view - thank you.
I’ve been giving it some thought and demoing cables with copper only conductors and then some with silver should help settle it for me.
Stating the obvious I don’t want the cable to colour music production but do want it to resist EMI/RFI to deliver as natural sound as possible.
I’ll see where I land and report back. Best.
Although I prefer the CatSnake, and notwithstanding the BJC owner’s own comments on Ethernet cables in general and their shielding on sound quality, I very much doubt that is fair.
I tried the Blue Jeans and found them ok, even better than the pricer Audioquest Forrest. The Catsnake sounded fuller vs the BJ, but the bass was inflated for me.
I run both 3 weeks 24/24. When I put back the Vodka, it was immediately better on quite all criterias. Not mentioning the Diamond….
Perseverance is certainly something i have recently learned to appreciate. Far too often and i suspect many other listeners do as well is to not give things enough time to properly settle in. I’m certainly guilty of that myself and i am slowly coming to terms with it. It’s my first proper experience with silver plated cables of any sort within a ‘full’ Naim system.
If and when i try a SuperLumina interconnect and speaker cables i shall certainly draw from this experience regarding silver-plated ultra high quality audio cables
Ethernet cables don’t need that much time to settle in my view. I had been running Cinnamons for ages during a time my system wasn’t sounding as engaging and musical as I thought it should. It had not occurred to me to consider the streaming cables that I had bought b/c they were pricey and made by a boutique cable company. After reading the responses of other members here in the epic ethernet/streaming cable thread I opted to try the BJC. After replacing the Cinnamons with the BJC the result was immediate. It was as obvious as day. They improved some over time but the big impact was instant. Cables should sound good from the get go and improve from there in my experience. If a cable doesn’t sound good from the start I don’t need to wait for it to “settle” to make up my mind. Many months later my dealer offered a couple run in Vodkas to try just for the heck of it. Why not? As pricey as they are they’re well within my budget and if they make the music sound better sign me up. Again, from the get go the SQ was not there. Again, obvious as day. I’m not going to wait for them to settle hoping they get better. That said, I do think the Vodkas sounded better than the Cinnamons but there’s a good gap in time there so take that fwiw.
Thanks for your post and sharing your experience. With me it was the other way round to your findings regarding the BJCs. Yes they sound err ‘well’ nice, but that’s as far as it goes for me. I want more than just nice.
I had an Arcam system once and it was nice, but it never blew my socks off, so i chopped it in pretty darn quickly. In the end i ended up with a Naim CD3/NAC92/90.3 X 2/FlatCap/IXO into Credo speakers. Kept it for twenty years.
I like a bit of attitude, some balls, some colour, a bit of character, a bit of magic. Not something that always behaves itself and doesn’t particularly standout in anyway.
I see these Vodkas use Telegartner style RJ45s. There are high quality cables with that termination available for about £60 online.
Whilst I believe we might find very little difference between a standard cable and an “audiophile” one when using NDX2 as transport only I can feel an experiment coming on against our existing Melco C1AE (currently servicing a SuperUniti!) at some point.
You can already purchase an AudioQuest Carbon Ethernet cable with Telegartner terminations for £60. A Vodka it isn’t. There’s an old saying - “you pays your money and…”
Here is a picture of another one of my full loom sets. BlueJeans Cat6a. I had them sent over from Seattle plus a 10 x metre one all for about £65 a couple of years ago.
So just to be clear its taken well north of a grand on ethernet cables to get a circa 400 quid sub to work even though its not connected to those cables?
Yes. I know this may sound far fetched but Ethernet cables do sound different in lots of subtle, significant and profound ways. So do switches, routers and power supplies. Everything single tiny thing matters. Nothing ceases to amaze me.
