With Naim streamer, possibly not the sound as intended by Hegel?
Sounds familiar?
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“messy” is a completely human concept, whether something looks neatly wired to us is totally irrelevant to how it sounds. We shouldn’t anthropomorphize our equipment, in nature almost nothing is as neat and straight as we often like to construct things.
Similarly a messy plate of food can taste a whole lot better than a cleanly dressed one, or it can taste worse. There is no causal relationship between the two.
When I started soldering back in 1982/3, my soldering was effective but messy. In the years I did it regularly, It improved in both neatness and effectiveness until I could easily match the Naim style. The LFD in particular looks like it has been made with less care than the Hegel, which in turn looks less well presented than the Naim gear I have seen. If I had a choice, the Naim style would be my prefered construction. Generally, if it looks careless, it has probably been made carelessly. That doesn’t mean it sounds bad. It does mean that the chances of dry joints and failures are far more likely a few years from manufacture. The quantity of Naim gear over twenty years old that still works well is testement to the quality of build.
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Yes, but as @ryder explained, the LFD sounded much better to him than Naim. And as @n-lot explained, the super-straight wiring that you see in some Naim amplifiers might not be beneficial for DC signals. So what is more important? In the end, you cannot tell if an amplifier is actually better or more durable either way.
It’s okay to have a preference for straighter wiring ofcourse, but we were talking about the scenario that @Analogmusic painted in which he proactively discarded the Hegel based on it’s less-straight wiring.
Just as one could discard your post for incorrect spelling!! Not every decision is rational.
If we can’t get war over cables between components, then it’s always possible to start a guerrilla war about cables inside amplifiers!
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I went for the SN3 demo last week. Going back tomorrow to take a unit for home demo. Not an SN3, but this. It is neat inside, looks well made. It sounds excellent.
Also, having seen that there is an 18 week wait for Naim streamers, I will probably end up with an Auralic Aries G2.1.
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I can honestly say I’ve never bought and would never buy an amp because it looked neat on the inside
I buy amps because they sound good period.
Anything else is nonsense to not buy an amp that sounds fantastic but is not ‘Naim’ neat is nonsense to my mind.
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Component matching a big part of the Naim sound and quality in achieving impeccable timing
To ignore/ deny/ pretend that usage of parallel transistors do not matter and component matching doesn’t matter is just plain ignorance
But hi end hi fi is not for everyone.
The chord music Ethernet which is a 4000 gbp cable is not made for the masses.
Rolls Royce Bentley do not cater to the masses
The statement and Nac552 is not made for everyone either
On the other hand an audioquest dragonfly red is quite reasonably priced and performs superbly well… I’m listening to music on one now and having too much fun with it
Love me a Burmeister. Damned expensive, beautiful
That’s quite possibly the most pompous statement I’ve read on this forum well top five anyway.
Your Naim system is not high end but somewhere in the middle and is considered Hifi for the masses by some.
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I wonder how much longer it takes us to get this thread closed… 
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The amplifier pictured above appears to be the 101 integrated, which costs roughly 5000 GBP, so that’s not too bad…
I heard recently the Esoteric F07 integrated. Probably even better built than Naim. But so boring!
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Erm… no… a 282/HCDR/ 250dr is not hi fi for the masses…
Not all Naim streamers are on 18 week wait, FYI - just ND5 XS2
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How about these two messily wired amps? Pass Labs XA 30.5 / X150.5, does anyone really care about their wiring if they sound great?
I normally don’t really care how it looks on the inside, and I’m not saying I would be in this case, but…
I do find the “High Quality Component” on that transformer a tiny bit off putting. Do their lesser models have “Basic Quality Component” written on them?
It’s just weird. But hey, if it sounds great, it wouldn’t keep me from buying.
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Is pass labs known all over the audio world for pace rhythm and timing ???
Does it really sound great musically ? Is it that engaging ???
Do you think that if Pass Labs laid their wires out neater their sound would suddenly change to that of Naim? And if you messed up the Naim wiring it would start to sound like Pass Labs or Hegel?