Hi Line cable Failure

The ones that come free in the box … this is not a cheap giveaway cable, but really very good indeed!

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Just a quick update : My Hi line has been fixed by naim FOC, a big shout out to naim support team member, Thank You.



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Are you in the UK? I’m still waiting to hear about mine, but I’m in the U.S.

I bet it will sound better than ever. Mine did, the thought of me selling it on went straight out of the window, once plugged back in.

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I’m in the Middle East, the cable was fixed by the dealer for the region as no dealer for the country I stay in and of course co-ordination from the naim technical support team.

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I think when mine comes back I’m not even going to install it. I’ll sell it and leave the Lavender on the NDX2. I already ordered a AV Options DIN 4-5 to replace the SL/SCDR HiLine. I’m selling that too.

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How is the market for used Naim stuff in the US, is there any demand?

I have sold plenty of Naim gear in the past as I have upgraded from the bottom of the classics range to the top of it (i.e. from ND5XS/202/250 to NDX2/252/300, etc). I haven’t sold anything in very recent years, but have never had to wait long for something to sell in the past.

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Sounds good :+1: Same here, so far it hasn’t been a hard sell.

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Ouch! Now one of mine broke. One of the rings slipped out. It was easy enough to push it back together but I don’t think it’s meant to do that, slip out. All rings seem intact otherwise.

See my comment from 29 days ago. The Hi-Line appears to be one of Naim’s (rare) design failures.

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Sound hasn’t changed as far as I can hear, which of course is a good thing. I’ll investigate the possibility to send it back to Naim for repairs though.

I find the plastic housings can come unclipped and need to be re-engaged. I’ve had this such I could see the soldered connections. I simply re-clipped on to the lugs and all was good. It’s just the fragility of the design and construction.

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Looking closer at the construction I’m guessing this is what can happen.

  • The strain relief falls apart
  • This in return with a heavy stiff cable adds pull force on the three inner wires.
  • The inner wires have a section where they are joint to the last inch of cable that is soldered to the DIN connector.
  • In this joint at least I have seen one Hiline split right in two resulting in a thin bass and bit of hum (ground joint was separated).

Would be interesting to know why they have chosen to make a joint with another cable the last inch on both ends.

A repair would cost around 150 EUR sending them back to Naim UK.

It’s simply a very poor design.

Naim should recall these faulty cables, and repay long-suffering users.

If the cables can’t be re-designed to work in real world conditions, they should be retired from the range. And users re-directed to something similar from, for example, Chord Company, such as the Shawline, just down the road in Amesbury.

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I think the handling instructions say you should only insert/handle via the end cover, but I’ve found it’s best to ensure the plastic rings are supported too, or else the first joint lug can pop, especially when the cable is suspended (as it should be).

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Isn’t the HiLine slugged with a resistor? Probably explain why it’s joined?

Indeed you should handle by the cover… I don’t touch the rings or cable when doing so… other than one human error where the weight of a component was suspended by the Hiline briefly before it broke, I have had no other issue over the last 15 years or so with my Hiline inserting or removing. (I did one other issue with one of my other Hilines… but that was not to do with removing or inserting). Both got repaired by Naim under its lifetime warranty.

I personally think it’s a great design and focuses on mitigating a common issue with hifi connectors that so many other vendors ignore at their loss. It really works for me sonically.

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Yes i concur with this as well. Mine isn’t going anywhere. I certainly wouldn’t swap it out for a Chord or any other cable with ‘off-the-shelf’ connectors.

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Not that I am aware of. I can’t think why you would want to do this unless perhaps it’s a special to attenuate.