I am a hug3 Fan of the naim standard cables (grey interconnects e.g.).
They transport the naim sound very good … my 2 cents :o)
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My first Naim integrated is the 5i-2 … still enjoying it immensely along with a NATO5.
It had no 5-pin cable however… I did recognize the terminal as what I’ve referred to as a MIDI from my pro audio background.
Off to my pals at the local Roland dealer for a 1.5 m Gold cable. Works like a charm, no surprise.
I’ve since compared it with the lavender Naim cable & noticed no difference whatsoever.
$30 for the Roland cable….worth a try at that price!
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I have found that cables are system dependent. I have experimented lately some Naim cables including the in the box ones, and in my system I have mixed results and conclusions.
The in the box grey cable that comes with the NDX 2 I think is the lavender, I really like it, what it offers is great and works very well.
In my system I did not like the hi-line, it made something’s good and some other really bad, it had a great focused image and it was precise, but it did not sound good overall for me.
The cheap power cables in the box work great, the power lines are better, and I own 3 at the moment, but I do not think they are good enough for the price, Naim is overcharging the power lines in my view.
The Naca5 was a great surprise, an affordable cable that is musical, full of body and a delight, it’s like melting butter on an hot toast, lacks soundstage compared o other offerings, the most positive point is that it plays bad recordings without bugging the listener, but also lacks dimension, depth and Is not an audio illusion in soundstage. It’s a good offer from Naim, also overcharged by naim.
I have been experimenting the super lumina, great image and great detail, 3000 euros and this is really overcharged by Naim, sincerely I was expecting more, is calm, the details are all there, and it has a good image, my Robin Hood sounds better in size, the illusion of transporting you to a real bigger space, almost better in everything. I think the super lumina sounds good but not 3000 euros of good.
The lavender is a bargain and an amazing offer that comes in the box, the power lines are good enough, the naca5 is great for musicality, the rest as much I wanted to be really great for me they have good points and really bad ones, for the price there are better alternatives.
This is my personal opinion on the cables the dealer kindly gave me the opportunity to experiment, many users could love this cables in their systems and they could be a great add on, for my system, my speakers and my room the higher priced Naim cables are not that great.
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Same experience as me. Although I in a second hear what Lavender is lacking technically against more expensive cables it offers magic that you almost always miss when moving to other cables. Maybe it is Lavender being more allround, often more full body that move you away from listening to details and instead focus on music? I often find myself more relaxed listening to Lavender and not skipping tracks as much. A more expensive cable will be crazy good on crazy good recorded tracks but it will also make bad recordings sound really bad which Lavender does not.
Lavender is like your full bodied red house wine that you know always work no matter mood, food or taste. Many expensive cables are like the +50GBP red wines. They require your full attention, perfect match of food and many find them not that great and ask “how can this be worth all this money??” 
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Interesting.
Years ago, I found Hi-line worked a bit better than standard between 82 and CDS2, but then my standard cable was so old it was pre-lavender.
I tried a Hi-line between Linto phono stage and 82, rather against the advice of Jude at Grahams. Of course, Jude was right - it did sound fractionally different (and a bit brighter) but it certainly wasn’t better to my ears.
I did try a set of Morgana cables more recently. To me they sounded (if that is the word) very like the standard cables but a bit better. Whether they are worth the extra outlay is more debatable (probably depends on system and wallet), and we should not discuss which were more or less of an upgrade.
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I have tried many cables over the years, not that I am an expert or anything, I do not want to be one anyway.
Taking that into account, I think for the price Naim charges for their better cables you could find better offers, my thoughts where every time, the cables are ok but not for this price, Naim overcharges a lot on the price performance and that was my thought.
When I asked to hear the hi-line and later the super lumina I was thinking before trying them to purchase them, but it was easy to understand what they offer in sound, the differences and qualities, but also their quirks. The price was not an issue if I liked them.
I Am sure for the price of the super lumina you can find better cable for sure, and the hiline is a question of taste and system, but the fragility of the cable makes no sense for a product that sells for more than 1000 euros, I do not think better sound justifies a fragility as the one presented in the hiline.
In my view, Naim overcharges their cables because it can, but they are really overcharged and over rated.
On the other side, the lavender and naca5 are good offers, even if I do not use the naca5 and only use the lavender from time to time, they are very honest proposals that give music a good name.
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For practical (cat) reasons I’ve changed my somewhat vulnerable HiLine for a s/h Chord Sarum Super Aray, between ND555 x2PS & 552.
Who knew the HiLine was a bottleneck?
Very pleased with this relatively cheap unexpected upgrade.
G
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Between the CDS3 and 552 i found the HiLine only slightly better than the lavender.
The HiLine having some improved refinement in bass is all… but imo not really worth the upgrade from the standard lavender.
The cometh of the Chord Sarum Super Aray was a revelation in resolution.
These cables are over £2k a piece so hopefully you bagged a bargain buying pre-owned.
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Perfectly put. I had no idea the system had that much more to give!
G
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Super Sarum is great and likely unbeatable at its price used. I found it much better than hiline 
I had Super Sarum recently but moved on to Sarum T.
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I think the SSA (non-T) was about that new. After I move my HiLine on it will cost me around a seventh of the new price.
Best unexpected upgrade bargain ever.
G
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Same here - send the hi-line back as the lavender was overall mor3 Musical for me.
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I don’t think you can put the words Chord and Burndy together on this site…
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I think Sonwleo gives a very fair description of where Naim cables sit in the ranking order. I still have all three, Lavender, Hiline and Superlumina and will sometime go back to Lavender just to get that familiar baseline/reference point.
Where I do find the more expensive cables coming into their own class is at high volumes. By high I don’t mean loud I just mean realistic venue levels. Lavender can start to get a bit edgy and raucous with high volumes and complex music. This is where Superlumina, and to a degree the Hiline, keep a much better grip on everything. If I had a small system in a semidetached and had to consider the neighbours I’m not sure it would venture beyond Lavender as it’s such a good musical communicator. It doesn’t do anything badly!
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Having a spare power cord lite hanging around, and an hour or two spare this morning I thought I would experiment.
I put the lite on my Project record cleaning machine in place of the standard “kettle lead”
Then proceeded to clean a couple of discs.
Started with Who’s Next and played my fave track.
Two immediate benefits. Firstly, the howl of the Project motor somehow seemed clearer and with more depth.
Secondly upon playing the track, there was much clearer separation of instruments and a wider soundstage.
Can’t imagine why!!
For info, the track I played was “ won’t get fooled again”
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Good one!
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I’m just checking today’s date, and it is as I thought!
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[quote=“graham55, post:22, topic:26130, full:true”]
For a long time, Naim’s stance was that different cables made no improvement to the sound of their equipment, and users were strongly advised to use only what came supplied in the box……[/quote]
Then they discovered Smirnoff!
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Some few years ago, I attended a launch event for a new Naim product at my dealers in London, Grahams HiFi. It may have been the launch of the CD555. Naim also announced the release of some ‘new’ cables or interconnects at that time.
Naim’s MD Paul Stephenson presented the new products, and was given a pretty hard time (very good naturedly, of course) by some seasoned Naim users, who had always been told - until then - that cables could make no improvement to those that Naim had been supplying for years.
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Pleased it’s gone to a good home!
Kenn