Dears,
I know topic was afforded several times in the past, anyhow market changes. Players exit the market, other enter, so I think it’s worth a refresh.
Which interconnect with good quality/ price have you chosen?
what would you suggest for quite a good system?
Naim lavender is a very good cable, apparently not easy to beat, some (me included) tried alternatives but then got back to lavender, willing to challenge if there is something better without spending a box like amount
quite new cables:
gotham ella
van damne
naim range:
lavender
high line
SL
chord:
shawline
epic
signature
sarum
famous brand not so common strangely among naim users:
I am thinking of Chord Epic for my CD 5si to my Nait 50, I want to keep the set up as simple as possible , and have a great belief in very good quality interconnects and power cords .
It is amazing what difference a full fat Power Line can make
No I haven’t , my rather simplistic view is that I have dealt with Chord for at least twenty years , I know what I’ve got at each price point in the past and I believe in supporting my friendly , local Audio T
Naim do not have anything between Lavender and Hi Line .
I’ll be on strict budget in January and Chord Epic hits the point
The Epic X isn’t cheap, at £520. I bought a brand new Hiline in 2022 for £200, from someone who got it packed with their streamer and didn’t need it. There are loads available used for far less than the Epix X.
I use Chord Epic X to connect my Qutest DAC to my amp. It’s not cheap - £500 for 1m, but it really is excellent sounding. Chord cables IMO cut to the heart of the music, the things that matter most to me - speed, immediacy, timing rather than concentrating more on smoothness, imaging and that sort of thing.
Having said this I’m not using Naim equipment now. If I was then I would stick to Naim cables throughout - no question. I wouldn’t even consider anything else. Why? Because they are designed specifically for Naim equipment, tried and tested to work well and compliment it. Alternatives might offer more of this or that, but IME Naim cables always offer the best overall performance with Naim kit.
One exception might be NACA5, simply because it is so stiff and difficult to deal with. I guess I’d stretch to Superlumina then! Time Naim produced a more user-friendly cable than A5 and at a more wallet friendly price than SL.
My experience fwiw is anything upstream of power amps Naim wires work best, with speaker cable I think more speaker dependent although with my Kudos and Dynas before I’ve never found anything to beat Chord Odyssey.
Hi Guido,
According to your profile, your source is NDS with 3rd party p.s connected to NAC282.
In my opinion, the Hiline will be excellent, and will give you a very good result. There is no need to spend a lot of money on a more expensive i.c .
Thanks for the straight opinion.
in the past, when I had nd5xs and SN2 with hicap I tried Hi Line and was not impressed, music was thinner than with standard lavender, less dynamics.
do you think that now that I improved source and moved to 282/250 the hi line might bring different feeling?
I think boxes can be compared to main dish, while cables and rack might represent side dishes that can add or point out something. They should be neutral, but nothing is neutral
If you feel you must upgrade cables then I’d focus on their electrical characteristics to ensure compatibility between the boxes, and not follow brands.
I suspect the lavender is ideally suited, being supplied by Naim.
