Hi Line cable Failure

I am quite shocked so many have had problems. My worry would be if it is so likely to develop faults how on earth does one know it is working optimally? Might some of the filaments become disconnected before continuity is completely broken changing the electrical characteristic of the cable?

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Common sense says if something is known to be a suspect product with a lot of complaints itā€™s either a very big coincidence or a product best avoided. :thinking:

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Living on the edge! The full Naim experienceā€¦ had to try. Installed a second hand HiLine today. So far so good.

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Bit like the Horizon system then.

The cable should be withdrawn from sale, and re-designed so that it doesnā€™t break as soon as you look at it.

If the problem can be fixed, all well and good, otherwise just buy one of Chord Cableā€™s excellent products.

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I keep staring at this one. No luck so far :wink:

I donā€™t see how any of us here, with either good or bad experiences, know enough to suggest to Naim the correct course of action.

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Well, i keep staring at mine waiting for it to breakā€¦ three years on nowā€¦ iā€™m starting to get neck acheā€¦ :thinking:

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A good suggestion is getting rid of switched sockets. :wink:
:+1:t2:

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Yes, agreed! Itā€™s on a list I have somewhere :smiley:

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Thereā€™s always a list. :rofl:

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I maintain a list of lists :wink:

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Stephen I had to wait 12 years and a user error for one of mineā€¦ so please be patientā€¦

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Thatā€™s exactly how mine broke.

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Had mine for maybe 15 yrs. Still fineā€¦

For those breaking often (I donā€™t know because mine is fine), I donā€™t believe the users are doing anything wrong or unusual. I have to wonder whether or not there are minor changes in production batches or whether environmental factors like high or low humidity (though mine have been subject to massive temp and humidity swings) play a role.

One thing that occurred to me is that mine runs between source and preamp that are on adjacent shelves. As a result, the length of the cable is fairly close to being evenly distributed 50/50 over the two plugs. If the two units were vertically several shelves apart, then one plug would be bearing far more of the cableā€™s weight than the other. And if it was connecting something from the top of the rack to the bottom, then the top plug would be bearing nearly the entire weight of the cable. Itā€™s just a theory - not a fact.

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My HiLine ā€“ as stated above ā€“ is broken. I used it to connect a NDX2 to a 252. They arenā€™t on adjacent shelves, but they are on the same Fraim rack separated by just a single std shelf. My listening room has a consistent HVAC-controlled environment. Thereā€™s really no good reason it should break except that Naim just has a design that is excessively and unreasonably fragile.

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Oh Iā€™m certainly not blaming you. As I said, I donā€™t think users are doing anything wrong. Iā€™m just trying to understand what the missing variable is.

In your shoes, Iā€™d just be shot of it and look for similarly priced alternatives from Chord or Atlas and save the aggro of another break.

I know youā€™re not victim blaming. I was just addressing your thoughts about potential causes.

I know I can get a comparable cable 3rd party, but none of the options are cheap. Iā€™m transitioning to retirement as of the start of the year. I donā€™t want to buy any more equipment, especially is itā€™s just to replace something that is badly designed. If I get something new now it has to be compelling, something that adds to what I have, not replaces (like a new multi-input phono-stage).

The cost of a cable to replace my HiLine can buy a lot of vinyl LPs that Iā€™d much rather have.

If necessary Iā€™ll just keep using the Lavender on my NDX2. I donā€™t use that source very much anyway.

Thereā€™s something fundamentally wrong with HiLine cable.

Either that, or thereā€™s something fundamentally wrong with so many of its users.

There are just too many reports here of the cable failing under normal, expected use.

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Oh dear ā€¦ that looks no good ā€¦ I have no experience w naim cables beside hilone power cord , rest of my cabling le are of another makes ā€¦ hope you guys have settle the faulty cables and keep enjoying your kits w great music