I know.
I was highlighting the fact Naim sell, and people pay £760 for a plug full of air. 
To be fair, you do get two of them 
I reckon any product that has to resort to a 1970’s style ‘nice pair of legs’ to be the main focus of their publicity pics is very clearly bollocks. Could be wrong of course.
While I get the sentiment, LV is a clothing/fashion brand
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If you believe your dealer is sellling you something that is not worth your money it may be time to find a new dealer.
Claus
Ok so I have the time today to experiment, took my son and his girlfriend back to London yesterday following our week in Cornwall
So let the story begin…………………………….
I was at @Cymbiosis recently for the demo of the Solstice hosted by Jason, during the day of moving in and out of the demo room the team mentioned the new Chord GroundARAY to me. On Monday spent the day with Peter looking at New Sub Chassis for my LP12 and on reference Stiletto deck (Ekos SE, Krystal) was a Radikal vs Radikal – at the end of that it was then when we added – took away – added etc the 5 Pin to the demo room system 252/SCDR/ 3 x 250DR active with Kudo T808 with KS-1 cable, I posted a quick review of the Din into 252 then and because of that experience home demo now for the RJ 45 and 5 Pin Din
Been a NAIM owner for 20+ years – love my system and it’s nearly finished, yes, I know those famous words – No more upgrades!
My system is 252/SC/300DR/Kudos T505/KS- 1 cable/Full Fraim – power leads Titan Electria into NDX, Poweline into SC and into Titan Eros 300SR – all other cables are NAIM lavender
To sources LP12 (Kilmax) and NDX (2014) – play the NDX around 5% off the time hence no NDX2 at the moment
Digital is QNAP TS 251+ Chord C-Stream into Cisco 2980G
Router>Switch>NAS>NDX ( because my Incoming internet feed is at the front of house and Man cave a rear have cooper cable through garage roof into music room) – then C-Steam into NDX which gives me 100Mbs at NDX
store files in FLAC and NDX converts to WAV on the fly – I use Asset for UpNP and NAIM app
I chose the below tracks to start with, know the music well
- Antonio Forcione Tears of Joy Landmark 16/44
- Chris Jones Roadhouses & Automobiles No Sanctuary Here 24/44
- The Eagles Hotel California Hotel California 24/192
- Alan Parsons Project Turn of a Friendly Card May be a price to Pay DSD 64
- ABC The Lexicon of Love The Look of Love 24/192
- Mark Knopfler Sailing to Philadelphia 24/48
- Toro iV Africa 24/192
- Pink Floyd Dark side of the moon ( 1983 Japan Pressing Flat Transfer) 16/44
- Paul Simon Graceland Under African Skies 24/96
- Ella and Louis Ella & Louis Again Making Woopie 24/192
- Simon & Garfunkel Bridge over The only living Boy In New York 24/192
- Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life I wish 14/192
- Tears for Fears The Hurting Pale Shelter 24/96
- The Beatles Abbey Road Golden Slumbers / Carry that Weight 24/96
- Yes, Close to the Edge You & I 24/192
Played the tracks with out the Chord Array RJ45 in the Cisco to commence with and then following
First off with out the RJ45 fitted the music was detailed. Rich and focused as I would have expected I have not changed anything in my system since the Kudos T505 came in earlier this year
So, when the added the RJ45 what happened well to this boy ears the vocals had a richer more natural feel, mid range again had more focus, took it out played again but it back same feeling#
In summary the RJ45 is a yes, as a footnote it also added more to, I radio stations – across my favourites Virgin Anthems – Radio Paradise, Caroline
So, after all that added the 5 Pin to my 252, I used the spare Tuner (PN it does need to be mapped)
And again, working as a pair the RJ45 & 5 Pin Din with NDX raised the music detail even further same tracks more focus, so it’s a BIG tick on NDX
Now when I played my LP12 using the 5 Pin din the musical uplift in detail focus and poise was a joy
Albums were
• The Blue Nile – High
• Elbow Seldom Seen Kid with BBC Concert Orchestra
• Tori Amos Native Invader
• The Eagles Hell Freezes Over
To this member ears they work! that being said I think they are best parried, so for me I have the best combo 5 Pin DIN and RJ45 – if I was having to chose only 1 it would be 5 Pin Din into Pre AMP whichever you have in your system
It just proves home demo is worth its weight just to make sure what you think you heard at your dealers does the same on your own system
in closing there was certainly NO hard sell from @Cymbiosis - they gave me these to try at home and then purchase only if I was happy with the outcome which I am and have asked the team to post them to me
Now I’m off to enjoy even more Music, which in the end of the day is our goal
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Comparative listening tests have to be conducted completely blind otherwise the results are not reliable.
If you can you should repeat any tests with another person putting the device in a number of times, preferably over a period of several days, without you knowing when the device is or isn’t inserted, and you then commenting on what you hear. That’s the only way to determine whether it actually does something or not.
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Have you tested this for an extended period in your own home?
I do a lot of blind tastings in my work
I think I am old enough and wise enough in my Naim journey to know if an upgrade is worth it either blind or not to be honest having spent about 8 hours this week testing various HiFI from Keel, TA Phoenix, Linn Akrutate, Radikal, Stiletto and now ChordARRAY
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It was a joke, look at the discussion…
Ditto!
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Should we apply this to everything? I sure as hell didn’t do this for any of my integrated/pre/power combo’s - didn’t need to. Maybe, just maybe, the differences are clear enough, sometimes, lol…
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It is a well researched psychological effect that we are subconsciously biased when we know or expect what we are listening to, with a statistical significant influence. It’s called the placebo effect and it affects us in all areas of our lives, so when testing out something new it is a good idea to test blindly where possible, just to make sure we are not fooling ourselves.
You might also be interested to re-read the audio myths thread in that regard, it touches on this subject too:
Ofcourse everyone is free to forego blind testing and only rely on their own ability to discern between bias and objective observation. This will greatly increase the odds of fooling oneself and people may end up spending a lot of money on things that don’t really do anything tangible. It’s their money so that’s fine with me too.
In the case of something technically dubious / suspicious such as the Chord GroundARAY the chances of that happening seem really slim.
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Dubious technical claims aside, if someone tries these out and they think their system sounds better for it then who can argue with that.
Hi-Fi is a strange game.
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Exactly 
. And if the differences are very very subtle, then there’s no real difference, so not worth changing.
If the differences are very obvious, no need a blind test.
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I was just expressing a lighthearted thought that whispered at me (maybe should’ve used a smiley…)
Just struck me that upgrading black boxes etc doesn’t seem to meet the same calls for blind tests…we all know (more or less) that box A is better than box C…but a cable or other item seems to need such a test to validate it, or not. I don’t recall anybody blind testing a Fraim, but maybe some have?
But I stress - a lighthearted little mouse squeaked in my ear, is all!
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In my experience many SQ changes fall into the camp of either being different (not necessarily better or worse) or a minor improvement, which leads you to start questioning whether it’s real or worth the expense. A blind test often proves that the minor SQ improvement I think I can hear is a trick of the mind 
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A bit of work to do on his cable dressing though 