My dealer wondered if they gave me a new cable. When I reconnected it was too stressed to connect it naturally and I had to shake it out again. It also seemed to me sounding a little harsh and improved after an hour or so. Maybe it is a new cable, maybe it’s just a consequence of them reattaching the severed end. IDK
I think the lavender is just fine, and I don’t use the NDX2/XPSDR for serious listening all that often. My analog front end smokes it in terms of SQ so that’s what I play mostly. I think after my AVO DIN 4-5 (for the Superline) arrives and I am satisfied it’s a good replacement I will sell both HiLines to be done with the poor design once and for all.
I’m going to have my dealer’s Boulder 1108 phono-stage while they are off to Axpona next week, so the AVO DIN 4-5 could end up a wasted purchase in the long run. But they said they can convert it to DIN 5-5 for the NDX2 if I want (for $200)
Why doesn’t Naim just redesign them so they don’t fail? AudioQuest, or Shunyata or WireWorld don’t just fail . If they did I can guarantee you they’d be redesigned quickly
No, it’s far too expensive. I have no reason to get a 552 and it’s more money than I’d want to spend on a pre. Actually, I don’t want to spend any money on a pre. I have one that is perfectly suitable.
I now have a replacement for my DIN 4-05 HiLine. Once I confirm I like it I plan to trade both my HiLine cables. The DIN 5-5 I have for my NDX2 will have the original Lavender instead.
When my HL broke I reinserted the Lavender and it brought home what a fine cable it really is. The HL is certainly smoother but the Lavender has more actual PRaT and a tad more detail. A valuable lesson in realising that expensive things are often different but not necessarily better in all respects.
Mine sounded very good from the moment I plugged it in, with little trace of new component hardness or reticence that I sometimes hear.
It now has about 50 hours on it, during which time the sound has become more natural and fully resolved. Not a day and night difference, but I hear it on things like string tone and orchestral textures, and on general engagement. It makes me wonder how it will have evolved by the 150 hour mark. That’s a ways off - I have limited time these days for record listening - but the gradual progression in SQ is a nice reward.
Doesn’t seem to be anything actually broken, just too loose a fit to stay in place. This one came with my ND555.
The one I bought years ago seems to have more fragile rings and has been back once for cracks in them and a second time because when it came back one of the wires was too short for the strain relief to work and got pulled off the pin by the weight of the cable after a couple of month’s use. That one’s sorted at the moment so I can now send this blighter off in its box.
My HiLine Din4-5 is in it’s box, replaced by a AVO cable. If I replace my Superline/SCDR I’ll include it and Powerline when I move it on.
My HiLine DIN 5-5 came from repair some weeks ago. I connected it to make sure it works. Now it’s back in its box and I plan to get rid of it. I’m using the OEM lavender cable on my NDX2 now.
Hell, I was worried I would break them again just putting them back in the boxes. Worst product ever!
The HiLine cable has not been designed for real world usage.
The design may be brilliant - I don’t know - but the cable has no place in a hifi system which doesn’t have full-time electrical engineers on hand to finesse things.
I imagine that it must be the item with the highest number of returns for repair in the whole Naim ecosystem.
When I got the Hiline, I swapped back and forth with a carefully selected lavender cable (I had compared around 6-7 of them and selected the best sounding one).
I ended up giving away the Hiline and sticking with the Lavender.
As mentioned before, the Hiline has a weightier but rounder sound, and some of us prefer angles to curves.
So, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a problem design. Maybe you’re lucky, and maybe you have just not bothered it in 20 years. IDK. There is enough anecdotal experience for failure that leads me to believe it is not an uncommon failure. I’m a careful enough person, and I’ve hd my DIN 5-5 break on both ends now. I’ve had enough and boxed them both to get rid of them for good. Notwithstanding sound quality, it’s the worst designed product I have ever seen from Naim.
I suppose there are plenty of people who had a Naim dealer install things and haven’t touched the cables since. Those may be just fine.
I’ll bet there are plenty of Naim customers who don’t. We are likely in the minority here; i.e., participating in these community forums and doing such things like rebuilding Fraims, reconnecting cables, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of Naim customers – especially outside the UK – treat their Naim systems more as appliances installed by their dealers.
So, to justify your belief, you assume behaviour of others with no evidence whatsoever.
I might equally accuse those chelping about breaking their Hi-lines of being knuckle-dragging oafs - again with nothing to substantive this. I haven’t because I wouldn’t.
The fact remains that not all Hi-line users report problems despite years of use - and yes I do mess with my system from time to time and have exchange components over the years…