A Powerline in the world of high-end cables is barely above bargain basement prices. A quick search revealed some costing more than £6K.
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Yes, I agree. Some cost even 30 k for 1 meter. But vs the stock cable, which probably costs 30 euros max, 800 euros is expensive.
Any early thoughts on the performance level between those power cords?
I agree. But the breadth of aftermarket cable pricing (esp when considering used) is huge.
I can’t recall USD pricing for the US version of Powerline, but I grabbed a mint condition Shunyata Venom HC v2 for $140 USD as a showroom demo cable, just without box/papers. Shunyata confirmed authenticity when I contacted them.
A Shunyata Venom NR V12 v1 followed for $200 USD including box and papers.
Have also had good experiences with Audience Forte F3’s on Naim.
I am not saying they don’t nake a difference, i was just saying that maybe it’s not the actual copper cable that makes the difference.
It’s the shielding you might get that’s better and the plugs stopping micro vibrations, etc.
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After extensive experimentation , I would answer you with: “yes”. 
Having replaced Carol 10/3 and 12/3 cable terminations with Hubbell connectors gave obvious improvements. Same with going to a Hubbell or Leviton hospital grade wall outlet; better clamping force and more surface area for the connectors also matters. Adding Furutech plugs to an already decent cable from a different brand (that had molded connectors), also yes.
But geometry and type of copper are not things that I can exclude as ‘mattering’. I would not even begin to hazard a guess as to percentages or weightings here. But I no longer rule anything reasonable out.
Even going from Carol 10/3 with Hubbell connectors to an Audience Forte F3…there’s obvious daylight between them. Both are 10/3 cables.
Hello @bar.w
I am still curious about your listening experience. Until today I did not mess with the power cables of my chain.
But what I did some 10 years ago was having a direct 7 m long 3-phase cable (5 wires solid 2.5mm) from my house main power entry with 3 fuses 16A (230V in Germany) going to my Naim chain. One phase I used for the NAP, one for the NAC and the 3rd phase for the sources. If I remember well, apart from having no noise from other equipment in my house, the overall sound was a little more defined.
Any conclusions as to what each of the power cables bring to the music? I have one of the cheaper Puritan cables on loan feeding my LPS to my EE8 switch. There’re elements that I like and some that I don’t. The LPS was being powered by a bog standard Naim cable, which is not the most resolving but is beautifully balanced and very musical. I’m trying to decide if there’s any benefit from spending more?
Didn’t you end up preferring SMPS
on EE8? I just sold my Sbooster on my Lindemann streamer since it coloured the bass and sounded less speedy compared to the original SMPS.
Nope, I still have the SMPS and the LPS. I find myself switching between the two but have tended to preferred the SMPS especially with the ND 3:10 firmware as the SMPS is a bit softer and more forgiving. The LPS is not an expensive one but seems to outperform most of the bunch I’ve tried (11 at the last count). The Plixir importer is not far from me, so may get one to try?
I find the SMPS to sound very immersive but somewhat less focused than the LPS. By contrast this particular LPS does sound fast and very focused. It really picks out the various layers of musical information and presents the musicians in the room but in a more tangible way than the SMPS. The downside is that it can sound a little analytical and harsh. If you couple that with 3:10 FW it gets a bit much. I’m hoping that 3:11 will allow me to go back to trying the LPS again.
Plixir would be interesting to evaluate. I also have Ferrum Hypsos on my list. They claim it’s a hyprid solution with the good things from LPS and SMPS. Good reviews too. Not cheap but might be worth it. Or I challenge my Lindemann streamer at some point. But history shows you listen a lot to the power supply.
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I appreciate this is a bit off topic, so sorry to the OP.
I tried the Hypsos. I thought it was okay but not as good as I was expecting. I think the problem is that it’s just too complex. It can pretty much emulate any voltage you want. I’d put it about halfway down the ones I’ve tried so far. Trouble is you rarely get more than a week with these things, so burn in is a bit of an issue.
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In my experience putting the better mains cables on the source and preamplifier is most beneficial and some remarkable and easily-noticed improvements have been made relative to standard cables.
Hearing is believing so, as others have suggested, have a careful listen to each permutation of cables.
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That was my experience too. I spent some considerable time trying different third-party or cables. For me most were a disappointment.
At the time I had a HDX with digital out to a N dac. It amazes me the dis improvement of third-party power cables with the HDX.
Made no sense. I just gave up.
For whatever it is worth. If you are in the USA (not sure if they ship abroad), I would strongly recommend AVOPTIONS power and “data” cables (they say their speaker cables are not as good as NACA5, although cheaper). Better than the stock cables I got from NAIM (by quite a bit; evident from the power cables up) and not as stratopherically expansive as Powerlines. Really, really great cables made for NAIM equipment by folks with decades of experience with NAIM (I think Chris West was part of NANA at some point, if memory serves me right). Just a thought.
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Please find below an answer from Naim support:
Hi Bar,
Thanks for the email and I hope you are well,
We at Naim are big advocated of the source first upgrade path. This means we would recommend putting your power cables on your streamer and HiCap. However we always recommend the continued use of Naim cables within a system as other power cables can sometimes have a negative effect on the overall sound quality of the system or unit.
I hope this information helps and if you need any more support from me, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Alex Roberts
Technical Support Agent
Phone: +44(0)1722443405
Email : support@naimaudio.com
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Chris, worked at Naim in Salisbury before he was part of NANA.
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That’s not always the case, I was fortunate enough to have a loan of a Chord Music power cable and the biggest difference was putting it on the Nap 500.
I tried it on the Nac 552 and the CD 555 and yes there were differences but the biggest smile on my face was when it was on the power amp.
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Yes, that is what I would do: source first. Personally, I have 2 Nordost Heimdall 2, one connected to the XPS (in front of a NAC N272, the NAC N272 internal power supply is not used when an XPS is plugged in), and one to the DCS Network Bridge (Streamer). The NAP 250 has a less highend cable.
Could you tell us which expensive high-end power cables you’re using?