@Peder You Rock… And I’ve been where your friend was… I just didn’t go all the way 
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The problem for Naim is that if you had seen them using a specific ‘special’ router, switch or wire at the factory you’d be on here like e a flash saying ‘Naim are using a Cisco pixiedust and a Blue Jeans low rider’ and it would be taken as a recommendation. Everyone would want one because the golden ears at Naim had judged it so. They just cannot go there. Naim make what they make and people can use it in the way they see fit. There is not one true path.
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I kind of agree with HH, but Naim, and their dealers have to pick a switch, server and streaming cables for their demo rooms, so why not go to some effort to select the affordable best. As someone has already mentioned, you don’t need to spend thousands to get an uplift from these peripherals.
I also am very clear that it is important to keep things simple for new entrants into the world of streaming, so as not to scare them off. But many, if not most on here have been doing this for years. It seems to me that Naim and some of their dealers are playing catch-up in this area.
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Hi Obsydian… I tried a lot of cables in the past… Interestingly enough I found Wireworld Platinum Eslipse USB really open and natural and Audioquest Diamond a bit brighter… The opposite of what others thought. This was between an Aurender and a Devialet… I believe that its as much how the components respond as it is the cables themselves
Currently I’m using all Audience Audio for Signal: Their new top line, Front Row- USB, for Auralic G1 to Chord Quetest, AU24-SX RCA’s for Dac to SN2, AU-24SX speaker cables to Dynaudio S40’s… As for Power It’s all Shunyata… I’m quite happy with the way it everything works together. And of course some AQ Vodka ethernet cable LoL!
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@Mike-B,…Thanks,.then there will be Dealers in the future 
.
It’s like in Sweden,.there are many words that mean almost the same thing.
So it comes to choosing right,.and also this with nuances is difficult.
That’s why I’m not giving myself into any more advanced exercises,.in trying to describe a musical-experience.
I love to take part of Darkebear’s debauchery,.but it’s not so easy to do such a detail-descriptions myself in english.
I often help New-Swedes and asylum-seekers (non-profit),.with language teaching.
So I have to laugh many times at their sentence-structure.
• But thank you for pointing this out Mike-B.
Now that we have 1 month anniversary.
I take the liberty to thank you and everyone else in this thread,.by inserting three pictures from the north of Sweden where I live.
We got the first snow four days ago,.and today it has been 6 degrees cold with blue sky and sunshine.
Enjoy…
• This is photographed 7 hours ago.
• A few weeks ago,.salmon-fishing in Skellefteå-river.
• Armasjärvi,.two days ago,200km north of my hometown.
/Peder🙂
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Picture 2. Fishing rod in hand, Oh how I miss those days? 
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You don’t like snow? You can fish in frozen lakes, after making a hole 
@frenchrooster,…It is called Ice-fishing,.or in Swedish…Pimpla.
My mother was from Kiruna,.at the top of northern Sweden.
Above Kiruna,.there is a lake called Torneträsk,it is several swedish miles long,and incredibly deep in some places.
The water is so clear in the Torneträsk,.so when you lie and Ice-fishing,you will see the bottom of the lake through the ice-hole.
And you see through the ice-hole when the fish swim past,.it’s a fascinating experience.
/Peder🙂
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Peder - whilst we have different view on some of the aspects of this hobby, I must say that you have some beautiful scenery to enjoy in your country. Lovely pictures.
James
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Actually the Chord Company site has a Cable Doctor to help advise and select cables 
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No, it’s just from Cisco switch to ND555. I messed up my order and only got one short cable whereas I need two (Nucleus to switch and router to switch) so the rest of the loom is DesignaCable Cat5e CatSnake, which however has no less bass extension than the BJC Cat6a. I didn’t get on with the Vodkas at all. Was very relieved to go back to the DesignaCable
I found the Starlight very poor on instrumental tone and texture. Massive soundstage, low noise floor and low microdetail to go with it
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Looking at the construction of the Starlight, it’s not ethernet, it’s 4 pairs of spaced straight wires, it’s not twisted pairs. I’m not saying it’s bad, it obviously performs to achieve Cat-8 2000MHz bandwidth a whole world more than we actually need for Naim streaming, but it’s another variable in the streaming cable contest, & like the higher end Chords, it’s not ethernet. So is anyone going to bang the barn doors wide open & bring in optical … ? … just askin’
I just ordered this on eBay for £40 + £10 postage. Is this the right Cisco Switch? Got so confused reading all the threads… Thanks. Not yet shipped so would be helpful to know if its the wrong one.
Was listed as Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960C-8TC-L Switch
@Mon,…Here’s below how the Cisco Catalyst WS-C2960-8TC-L looks like that we bought.
So,.if this is also the same,but a newer model,must our Cisco-expert @Simon-in-Suffolk answer to.
• We don’t have so much snow yet,.this image is from December 2017.
/Peder🙂
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It’s fine. Just ensure the seller clears the config / does a factory reset first.
In my opinion the best ones are the ones with PD in the title… these must be powered remotely with 48VDC or PoE…but all the models seem to offer some benefit for many
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Now is the comparison done. I compared the following Streaming cables: (in my profile you can see my setup)
AQ Forest and Cinnamon (each 10 m), Melco (2 m), Chord Epic Tuned Array (1,50 m) and Vertere (1,75 m). The test was done with all cables put into my Cisco switch and then one by one connected directly to the ND 555. So I excluded my Melco music server.
I used the following tracks from Tidal:
Each comparison took about 2-3 hours and I did each one twice. It took me a week to finalise the test.
I compared the cables two and two.
First I compared the two AQ and my personal conclusion was that both were not up to my desired level. They did not engage in the music nor did they open up the music. I did not find them very different from each other so I decided for the Cinnamon to be compared to the Melco. (I use my Cinnamon with my MuSo Gen 1)
Noticeable difference between the Cinnamon and the Melco in favour of the Melco. More soundstage, clearer and cleaner compared to the two AQ. Maybe the sound is a little bit darker. A good cable!
Then the Melco against the Epic Tuned Array. The Epic lifted the soundstage, better in lower frequencies and put the musicality to another level. It is a real good cable. I understand why @Music_Lover ranked the Epic in the top. No problem to live with this one.
It would be interesting if someone has the possibility to compare the EPIC with the Vodka and the Diamond and maybe to some other brands in the same price range.
Epic against Vertere. Yes, the Vertere is a further step up. It lifted the soundstage even higher, more relaxed in a positive way and I felt Vertere more neutral. For me the winner of the five.
If someone plans to invest in an expensive Streaming cable the Vertere should be on the shortlist and why not the EPIC.
So conclusion of my comparison. The most expensive was for me the best one.
I have Swedish friends with similar systems as myself but with Chord Music streaming cable. We will meet next spring so then I can compare Vertere and Epic against the Music.
Interesting, I did not hear a real difference between Tidal through Vertere into my Naim system compared to playing CD quality from the Melco music server.
I have used Tidal for getting to know music and then buy - compared to listening. With my actual setup I guess I will start to listen more to Tidal. Could the game changer have been the the ND555 replacing the NDS?
Some thoughts, personal ones, the higher up we get on the Naim stepladder the more important becomes cables and then also the streaming cable and my guess is also that the new platform has an impact on the streaming cable.
One day I will try the EPIC/Vertere with my MuSo. I doubt I will hear a difference but will give it a try.
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When we talk about being devoted and obsessed,.with its hifi and music-interest.
This friend has a very heavily active Linn-system indoors.
But here in his greenhouse this summer,.he has set up this system.
The record player he has renovated in Switzerland.
And the table is the classic Ikea Lack,.with removed bottom-plate…to be optimal for a turntable.
His own words below…
“Hey Peder.
I have updated the greenhouse stereo with new tonearm (Jelco), New PU (EMT) a Kondo SUT.
It sounds amazing!
Greetings, Johan”
He’s crazy,.but I love it .
/Peder🙂
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So in the past I have tried the Chord Anthem (pre-dated the Epic but at the same price as the Epic) and for the switch -> NDS connection, was better than a similar length AQ Vodka.
This was then better with a 2nd-hand Chord Sarum Tuned Array (not the Super Array or the Sarum T, but an older one), and this gave a step up in performance, all round, over the Anthem.
BTW The Anthem was repurposed as the cable from Switch->UltraRendu which is running the SonoreUPnP Bridge, and the AQ Vodka is to the RPi running Asset UPnP server, as my backup playback, and there is a longer length of AQ Vodka from the wall to the switch.
The switch is a unmanaged Cisco the SG 5 port version with a LPS 12v supply - due to be replaced by an Uptone EtherRegen when they start shipping these.
Simon
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Some of us are already using optical and swearing by it. I’d rather go optical isolation than buy a long expensive ethernet cable.
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