Chord signature or Naim Hi Line

[ChrisSU]

Of course, if you had one that was RCA both ends, all your troubles would be over!

[Dunc]

Try a morgana cable

[ryder]

@Myx

I find Hi-line a double-edged sword - it does lots of great things, but it also creates a “larger-than-life” effect in my system. I’ve done a lot of listening and found that when I remove my 555PS, the Hi-line is preferable, but when the PS is there, the sound is too much, like watching a TV with the colour saturation turned too high. I suspect, though, that this can be explained by the rest of the audio chain - amp, speakers and speaker cables. I noticed you’re using NAC A5 and I think that might be a huge part of the Hi-line working well for you - I’m using Chord Epic, as A5 really does not sound good in my system.

Your theory may be possibly true. Similarly, after trying Chord Epic in my system, the NACA5 sounded slightly muffled and restrained. I now use Chord Signature XL speaker cable in my system. I suppose people get the desired result by mixing and matching interconnects and cables to the speakers to achieve the right balance. Also, I feel the NACA5 matches Naim speakers a lot better than speakers from other manufacturers, in my opinion.

After reading the fragile nature of the Hiline, I suppose it may be time a Superlumina version of the Hiline equivalent is developed as an option. A much robust design which won’t break easily.

[northpole]

Same here - I found that the sarum t provides a more natural sound than the hi-line, albeit at a significant premium. I’ve mentioned on the forum before about the frustrations I experienced with hi-lines, made all the more frustrating by the very noticeable improvement they provided over the standard lavender cable in my then cds3-252-300-nbl.

It would be great to hear from Naim on this thread to advise on how they perceive the collective comments on here and what improvements they either have made or intend to make. The product is otherwise not one I could recommend to anyone.

Peter

[northpole]

Oh that’s an interesting observation re 555ps. When I was using hi-lines, my cds3 was powered by an xps-2 and the hi-line provided me with a very significant opening up of the sound in my system. I suspect that the sarum interconnect would provide you with the best of both worlds - slightly less bright but to me very natural sounding.
I simply could not get on with nac a5 speaker cable. I swapped over to chord signature and replaced that with sarum which I have stuck with. Music would be too financially painful a step but I’ll probably revisit this at some point.

Peter

[Thegreatroberto]

Was waiting for someone to say the M word.
I’m impressed with my 3 M’s. Got an IC, a 5 pin snaic from pre to HC , then a 4 pin from HC to RCA ( into my RCA power amps).
So close on £1500 worth of cables. Very impressed.

[Stephen_Tate]

That to me sounds a good idea. I will ask my dealer for a trial period on one. I’ve heard nothing but good things about that cable. It’s a lot more than i would like to spend on any cable, but thanks for the suggestion anyway.

[Klout10]

Don’t know if it’s allowed to ask the question in this topic, but anyway … any thoughts on the Chord Signature DIN to XLR compared to the standard interconnect between NAC-N 272 and NAP250 DR?

[Dunc]

To be fair, i wasn’t the first one.
But its a great option

[ChrisSU]

I wouldn’t know, but you’re allowed to ask. It’s the cables that carry DC power that you can’t discuss. (Although curiously, now I think about it, not AC power.)

[JP45]

Shouldn’t there be another zero on the end of that.

[RackKit]

@ChrisSU

Of course, if you had one that was RCA both ends, all your troubles would be over!

And miss out on all decoupled goodness?

There again I’m only getting that at the DIN end (552) so in theory I’m missing out on 50% of what the HiLine can do.

[ChrisSU]

Possibly, yes. It’s still a very nice cable though.

[frenchrooster]

Why not something like that?

Furutech make some more appropriate, but expensive:

[ryder]

That Furutech NCF booster is mainly used to support power cords (apart from eliminating RFI/EMI). There is another version of the Furutech for interconnects and digital cables.

[frenchrooster]

Do you think something like that, very cheap, could maintain the cable like the Hiline?

[engjoo]

@david1111

Yes, that’s it. If your source has RCA out, then a cable with RCAs for your source and a DIN connector for your Naim amp at the other end, would be best. So always use the DIN connection whenever possible.

ok. So the principle is to use DIN where possible between Naim boxes. Thanks!

[Stephen_Tate]

Surely that would negate all of the HiLine’s decoupling principles and to inherit using lesser non-ferrous plug materials (less mass). As i understand things, the whole point of the Hiline is to float all of the connections, this obviously isn’t easy whilst maintaining durability.

Maybe Naim could use the aluminium rings as in the Superlumina but would this keep the costs down to make it viable? Who knows? Maybe the plastic rings perform better also?

[Stephen_Tate]

My ears have gotten used to the Lavender now, it ain’t so bad. I’m missing the fuller tauter bass , richness in the midrange , tonality and resolution the HiLine brings but the lavender brings a leading edge to it, a more sort of faster paced ‘old school’ sound.

[Neilb1906]

Surely cables cannot “bring” anything to the sound, they are inate objects. I can see how they can filter out what may already be there though.