Those less convinced often assert that ‘the new, fancy cable actually sounds worse’ which rather confirms that cables can/do make a difference - preferences may not be as intended.
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Hehe…A small world. It’s working a dream in my system Kenn.
G
You went to SL DIN DIN? Main differences?
I’m of the mind that cables can make a tremendous difference, but whether or not that difference is an improvement is entirely subjective, as is perceived value, and price is no guarantee of superiority in any given application.
I have the green Chord din-rca that came with my now ancient cd3.5, and I find it lacking in many ways, so I tried a few different cables (courtesy of a custom din-female rca adapter) and landed on the very reasonably priced (in audiophile world, at least) Triode Wire Labs interconnects which, to my ears, neither add nor subtract anything of their own to the sound. I am NOT suggesting the TWL are the perfect cable for you, but they seem to be for me. Anyway, just mentioning that to illustrate the point that there is much to be gained by proper cable matching, without taking a second mortgage on your home. I’m an outlier here, owning only a flatcapped naim cd player, but I suppose that if naim is voicing their equipment with the cables they provide, and assuming, as we all do, that they know what they are doing, the supplied cables should be hard to beat.
That being said, I am seriously considering alternatives to the SNAIC that came with my flatcap2, if for no other reason that the darn thing is so long that it droops down and lays on top of other signal carrying cables, which bugs me even if it has no audible effect. Nevertheless, I can’t help but be mesmerized by the siren song of the witch hat offerings. Does Chord also offer a SNAIC alternative worth considering?
5-pin DIN, aka MIDI.
Give a Roland Gold MIDI a try… $30 1.5m
I heard no difference whatsoever between it & the lilac Naim… tuner or CD.
Good thought, but all the midi cables I can find are 180 degree 5-pins. My SNAIC is 240.
Stick to Naim for the SNAIC cables. It can avoid expensive mistakes.
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I kind of liked the super lumina speaker cables, I still do not think they deserve the price Naim charges, but I will look from time to time in the used ones and if I find a good offer maybe I acquire a pair.
For 3000 euros I could upgrade other gear or even jump into vinyl for sure it will be a better upgrade.
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Haven’t tried the SL for long enough.I broke it on first plugging it in!.It’s at Naim waiting repair.
There’s not a lot of point in Naim making these fancy cables or interconnects, if they break as soon as you look at them.
I agree that cables are tone controls.
Even when comparing more expensive cables there is always the same information present in all the cables, it’s just what parts of the sound is highlighted, brought forward and so on.
I have had silver cables, copper cables and a mixture of the two from various brands. Each time the standard cables which in some cases are from the olive generation have held their own. However we all prefer different things and this is where I think cables are our only avenue to tailor the final sound to our preference.
Btw does anybody know if the current generation of standard cables uses copper conductors or silver plated copper?
Naim’s standard cables are all regular copper. Only Super Lumina is silver plated copper.
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I will eat my words because I acquired a SuperLumina speaker cable. I still think is overpriced but got a good deal and the cable has very strong points.
The clean, textured and very precise presentation of details is a strong argument, not the biggest in size or illusion, audioquest does it bigger and makes a more expansive and out of the speaker sound, but the super lumina speaker cable has greater clarity on what’s in the mix and is very precise and the bass is great and soft.
So if I get bored after some time I could use the Naca5 or the audioquest and have different flavors of presentation.
All of these cables have a personality, and all of them are not perfect also, but still think the Naca5 is a good start.
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Tin ? Really?
sonwleo, from which you moved to SL? Was it NACA5?
Duelund speaker cable/interconnect wire is really good. I’m not sure the speaker cable specs and compatibility with naim amps, but they sound great with most systems I’ve heard, including the new 250. The interconnects are very neutral, I have a few pairs I use often. Good stuff.
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From audioquest Robin Hood. But I will keep the audioquest and the NACA5 also. Different flavors when I need is not a bad thing.
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After a few days listening to the super lumina speaker cables, I loved the detail and texture clarity, the bass was interesting, I felt the system was good but not great.
Today connected back the audioquest Robin Hood and the sound grown a lot.
Decided to not pull the plug at least for now on the super lumina, lacks dimension and soundstage compared to the Robin Hood, and make an investment like this and losing the big holographic image I have for now is not a good move.
The audioquest is more musical and a lot bigger presentation, comparing the two the super lumina lacks dimention, soundstage depth and body, but has a softer sound overal with very sharp addictive textures and details, and this relaxed presentation with detail is good for all day listening without fatigue.
But I always miss the big sound and space the audioquest can present, the audioquest has too much bass that I will have to deal with it for some time more, other than that is holographic, detailed, textured, a great cable but the bass is problematic sometimes.
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Interesting, the bass with the SL should be really good. Maybe give it a bit longer?
It is really good, but I can’t keep the cable many more days if I would not purchase it, have to return it to the dealer, probably needs a long burn in and I only have a few days.