A very important part of my findings was that the Rega Aura was required to better the 333. A phono pre-amp of €6K. Combined with a Rega Aria phono the 333 blew the P8 away.
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Thanks! I’m just thinking about baby vinyl steps. Using the phono stage in my SN3(MM) so just “basic” stuff for now. I’m not too sure how much I’ll get into vinyl.
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Sorry, only listened once after about a week of run in & nothing much new to report. Bass had changed slightly, ( a bit lean on my first listen the first day to a bit full on the second day) now back to similar levels as previous. Rest was sounding excellent as it was on my previous listens, with better transparency & more like like/natural timbre. Seems that notes detached themselves further from the speaker/bigger/more 3D soundstage.
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To try & not drift too far, my advise would be to figure out what you are wanting to get out of vinyl before you take the plunge. I only got into vinyl 10 years back or so, my generation started with tapes so didn’t have a record collection to start with. I went in fairly entry level at a Rega RP-40 & Schiit Audio Mani, this was based on the advise that you didn’t need to spend much on a vinyl front end to have a listening experience superior to digital. Now either the people saying this didn’t have very good kit, or they had poor digital front ends because what I ended up with was sounds that was inferior to my digital front in all aspects. This led to numerous upgrades in decks, cartridges & phono stages. I’m at a point now where I’m very happy with my vinyl front but in general I’d say typically expect to spend more on the vinyl front end vs an equivalent digital. If you are going to go for it, don’t be afraid to spend on the phono stage, big jumps in performance can be found here.
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Yeah the general consensus I’m reading is the Phono stage makes a difference. Anyway I’m in no real rush. Thanks for allowing the minor thread drift. I’m done for now.
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Thought I would post some thoughts on all these power upgrades I’ve done. Know many will probably read through these posts & think I’m crazy for spending what I have, but the thing is, these upgrades while I’m nearing the price of a box upgrade, they have brought more improvement in sound vs any box upgrade I’ve done in the past. Now I know my treated room has an impact in that it lets me hear all the benefits of my upgrades (& I’m sure my room is by no means the best it can be as I’ve just followed the “best standard practices” approach) but in my case these changes have been transformational & ones I never thought could be possible with these sort of upgrades before doing so.
In the long run I think they’ve actually saved me money, as I go to shows or local dealers & hear demo’s of often far more expensive kit & my take away is general I have far better sound at home so why look at upgrading? The transparency the Furutech NCF items have brought to my kit is almost unbelievable.
Was at my local show recently & one of my local dealers had a $50K pair of Kharma speakers setup, backed by Mark Levinson pre/power combo & a Lumin U2K streamer. They played a demo track that I often play at home. The distributor was in the room & after the track finished asked what I thought (expecting me to be super impressed). Jokingly I hand gestured & said “Meh” with a smile. Of course he said “yeah right, etc, etc” & I said no it was great, etc, etc, all the while thinking in my head “its not that great, I have far better transparency & natural/life like timbre at home with my speakers that cost a fraction of these”.
It just goes to show how much impact optimizing what you already own has on sounds vs just buying another piece of kit.
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@daren_p I am experimenting with Furutech cables on the Naim gear. I read many reviews online about the S032N and the TCS31 power cords. Some things are a bit contradicting to me as to what I read about the TCS. Furutech writes the TCS extension in the treble is superior and bass is tighter and better controlled. This does not confirm with many user’s experience that this is warm sounding cable. I am really looking to hear what the difference between these cables are when both are fitted with FI50NCF connectors. Sometimes I feel that the S022N (I don’t have the 32 version here) could use some more extension in the highs and the bass is sometimes a bit bloated (and soft on occasions) compared to my Hydra. The cable is only been playing since Thursday so perhaps it is not broken in. At the moment it is terminated with 28/38 (R) connectors since I am still waiting to buy additional 50’s connectors.
Do you have experience with both the blue AND the green series?
I can’t say for sure but I wonder if Furutech’s description is just in general terms or maybe it was vs other cable they were manufacturing at the time, as I believe both the S series & DPS are newer vs TCS.
I haven’t had any experience with the TCS series, same as you have been reading, the general consensus was the TCS was warmer vs the S series, so that wasn’t something I was interested in.
With the S series, 22 vs 55 the 55 does seem to bring a bit more top end extension as well as bottom end. I didn’t find either bloated in the bass but I wasn’t comparing to a Hydra, so everything is relative. Are the connectors well run in?, if not that can case swings in bass performance. In general I would say the S series has a bit of warmth in the top end but when paired with the FI-50 connectors, it doesn’t seem to loose any detail (maybe your current connectors are holding thigs back, so will be interesting how you think the 50’s compare).
If you’re looking for a cable with extended top end, tight bass with a ton of dynamics/slam & detail, the DPS will do this.
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Yeah I have the DPS4.1/FI50NCF already as my mains cable to my PlixirBAC1500 to which everything is connected. I heard that too many DPS’s in the chain can become too much and also it becomes too expensive to have another one or two so I am exploring the lower in the range cables.
So similar to me as I feed my power distribution with the same. I’ve come across that as well but it has me wondering if the issue is due to the fact the DPS is quite transparent & doesn’t add as much warmth as the S/TCS series, so pair that with kit/room/power that isn’t up to the task & it is more likely to reveal these flaws. Now, if everything is dialed in, I could see it might be a great cable throughout. Like you though, I haven’t taken the plunge to experiment with another length as I go for 2M lengths & its not exactly cheap, though I have been curious (especially if I eventually completely swap out my PowerLines).
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Yeah that could indeed be the case. Perhaps one day I will borrow one or two somewhere and see if it indeed is a thing as too much DPS 
. For now I will order another pair of FI50’s to see if the FI28/38 (R) connectors are holding back the S0220N. But I will first let things play for another 2-3 weeks so that the S022N is fully broken in. Probably 6 days of break in for a cable just not enough yet, the FI28/38 connectors were broken in already.
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It would be exciting to hear about your experiences. Unfortunately, I can’t offer a direct comparison, as I only own one Furutech power cable (FPS 032N with Fi50 NCF plugs). I tested it on the Nait50 and also on the XPS power supply. In both cases, I wasn’t convinced because it sounded too warm. It also amplified the bass, which was already strong thanks to the NDac. I am currently using it with the Silent Angel Forester power supply (supply line to the Silent Angel Bonn N8). Here, it immediately opened up the sound stage and brought more resolution, especially in the mid and high frequencies. I will leave it like this for the time being. In my experience, the Poweline is a very good and balanced solution for the Nait 50. However, the Powerline is a comparatively simple cable and not cheap.
I also use the e-TP60E NCF as an unfiltered power distributor and am considering switching to the e-TP609 NCF. A new N1 version of this has been announced. I had previously assumed that different NCF power supply products complement each other well (wall socket, cables, power distributor). Have you had good experiences with the Plixir? Is an isolation transformer useful?
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Thanks for you comment @Wilfried. So far my findings are the same as yours. It sounds a bit dark and bass heavy. I was hoping this was because of the FI28/38 connectors and that the FI50’s would solve it. The s032n is basically the same cable as the 22 so my hopes are down now that read your experiences either way the 32.
The cable really opens things up and creates a 3D bubble. However, I’m not sure I am can overcome the darker treble and the bloated bass. Will keep you posted.
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I love the Plixir, it really created a faster more immediate sound with awesome dynamics. The stage became razor sharp and background got very quiet. Great PrAT that some other options that I tried lacked. The Puritan 156 sounded rather artificial/glassy for me and the Puritan 108 block had a hardness that bothered me. The Plixir betters both of them by a margin in my set up. Very good for my active ATC’s. They didn’t like the Puritan 156.
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@Hifi_Naim_CNNL wonder if the S series just isn’t a great pairing with Naim kit? Both of mine are on non Naim components, my DAC & phono stage. I’m getting extremely tight/accurate bass (poor bass quality is one of the things I often notice when hearing other demo’s). At some point I will swap one of my S55N/FI-50 combos to either my SCDR or 300DR & see what I find. Maybe Naim needs the DPS! 
With regards to the bass boom, have you tried moving the speakers?
Thank you for your feedback. That’s exciting. I’ve never thought of Plixier as an option before…
It’s not because of the speaker in this case. I tried that already. Funny that Wilfried’s findings mimic mine almost exactly.
Guess it’ll be interesting to see what I find when swapped on a Naim component. What are you running it on the 333 or the 332? In absolute terms I wouldn’t say the S022N when paired with Rhodium ends (that don’t add additional warmth themselves) is an overly warm cable, yes it does add some warmth but not extremely coloured like some cables. The top end details are all there but no they don’t stand out like some other cables. Sounds like DPS might be a better choice for you?
I’ve only heard a demo of the full 300 series kit once with Sopras at a show, & I’ve never heard the top end sound so restricted on those speakers. I have no idea if the kit just wasn’t run in properly (or there was an issue) or is the 300 kit just on the darker side of things? I did recently hear the 222 with the 350 amps & Borresen speakers & it didn’t lack top end.
The 300 has never sounded restricted in any place I heard it. Not with my Hydra, nor with Naim Powerlines, nor with a homemade Belden cable I have. The I tried the S022N on the 333 and on the 332 AND on my Marantz SR7011. Same character on each. Details are definitely there and it draws a huge open soundstage, which is very addicting, but the top end seems veiled and kick bass is not very controlled and too round. It could use some brightness and punch so to say.
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Funny hobby this audio thing, just goes to show there is no “one size fits all”. Are you going to try the S022N with the FI-50 NCF connectors just as a comparison? (wouldn’t think they would correct the issues you’re having, but sometimes you never know in this hobby). Currently it does sound like another length of DPS is what you need. Does your room have any sort of acoustic treatments &/or bass traps?
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