How many owners running HiLines with broken rings?

Less than 18 months after Naim rebuilt it, I noticed this when looking behind the rack the other day. To be fair, I can’t recall if this was the end that needed rebuilding last time or the other undamaged end. Anyway, contacted Naim support and they confirm it will still be repaired free of charge. Off to Acoustica later on today to drop it off.

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Here’s mine before the repair. Looks very similar in the break. Source end.

The break in mine is also at the source end. Naim suggested it can be caused by any impediment to free hanging (e.g. upward / downward pressure) but mine hangs freely per the instructions that came with it.

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Yup, mine too. My system is on a Fraim. I have no children or pets here. The crack on my cable happened all its own. I hadn’t disturbed it since 2021 after its last repair.

Apart from having a Simrak rather than Fraim my story is identical. They seem to have a peculiar talent for self- destruction!

Did you hear an improvement in sq after the repair?

Yes absolutely. Really sounding marvellous

Yep my 2nd system has a hi-line that i broke through clumsiness ages ago. It’s been held together with sellotape ever since and sounds fine! I tried going back to the standard cable a few months ago when I moved things around, but I prefer the broken hi-line still.

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This is my second RCA to DIN Hi-Line, bought used and turned up today, very happy with them, no issues so far with broken rings.

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Wow! The new HiLine is sounding amazing. It feels lighter in weight than my 2015 one. What a cable!:rofl:

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When i had my naim set up i used 2 Hiline cables, both unfortunately broke, both got fixed only to break again.
Shame as i did like them at the time, in the end i just lived with them till i swapped them out for the witchhat morgana’s.

Great idea, just not quite up to the job of supporting it’s own weight over time.
I guess naim could redesign it, but probably not worthwhile now, especially with naims even higher priced cable on offer.

It’s great to now have a spare. :slightly_smiling_face:

I had a rude surprise this week. I finally took my HiLine out of the box after it was repaired a year ago. Well, it wasn’t repaired after all. It has a broken pin that’s just dangling in the DIN connector. That’s the connector they were supposed to repair. Damnit!!!

I called my dealer and they told me they’ll try and talk to them, but …oh… good luck with that! They can’t even get Focal Naim America to handle classic box repair (i.e. a 300DR) and new customer purchases (needs a classic/NC Burndy) correctly. They’ve given up and are closing out all their demo units and remaining stock of Mu-So, Atom, etc. They’ll continue to try supporting their existing Naim customers, but I think they won’t sell new retail products any more.

To add insult to injury, I thought Naim had repaired that POS HiLine cable no-charge. I found out they actually invoiced my dealer, but not until two months later. My dealer was too embarrassed by the whole thing to ask me for payment to cover their invoice.

I’m now starting to give very serious consideration to selling my entire Naim kit (maybe keep the NDX2) while I still can. I’ve been eyeing a Boulder 1110/1163 pre/pwr to match the Boulder 1108 phono-stage I already have, so maybe that’s where I need to be.

It’s a shame as I’ve been a Naim fan since I worked for a Linn/Naim dealer in the 80s and bought my first kit, a 42.5/HC/140 with LP12 and SARAs.

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I got my two Hilines repaired and can confirm that they do sound better now. I think I prefer the Hiline over the Sarum SA that I was using in the interim.

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Nothing stays the same. :thinking: :-1:

My dealer says the whole thing is rather a shame, given their great history. They’ve talked to other Naim dealers in the U.S. who are also bothered.

I’m anticipating a windfall later this year or next that might get me into the Boulder system I mentioned. My dealer has the 2100 series on demo, but I think they can probably get Boulder to send out a 1110/1163 for me to audition at home. They did that for the 1108 phono-stage. I had that at home for a month, and I ended up buying a new one.

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It would be interesting to hear how your demo comes out. Well worth the effort, and in some ways, it seems your mind is headed down the Boulder path anyway, possibly. The state of Naim service, and to some degree, sales support here in the US of eh, has become a rather sad state of affairs. It is very doubtful that I will purchase anymore Naim from here on out.

In the meantime, I enjoy what Naim that I do have, and hopefully it all continues to work well for the next several years.

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Yeah, I enjoy the Naim I have (252/300 DR, NDX/XPSDR) but I think there is no way I will upgrade to a 500 series system or the NC300 series. I already have the Boulder phono-stage and am most impressed, so the 1100 series would be the ‘500’ upgrade I think.

If I go down that road I’ll have to get rid my full double Fraim system. That will get replaced with HRX EXR (Harmonic Resolution Systems) racks, which are even more expensive than Fraim (and look better, IMO).

But I may be with my Naim classic system awhile. I want to do a big turntable upgrade first…and bicycle parts. :slight_smile:

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@JosquinDesPrez

I agree on the Boulder products. I have heard their full rig live and it moves the ProAc woofer visibly beyond the 500. It is another level beyond.

You should look at Verdier for your TT upgrade. Mine is 25 years old and going strong but I read that they are bringing it back soon with a new US distributor.

Back on topic: I loved my HiLines but upgraded to Chord and never looked back. Those broken rings drove me crazy. Still would if I had them.

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Thanks, but I’m not looking at Verdier for a TT upgrade, and won’t. I have a Clearaudio Innovation and plan to upgrade to master Innovation. That will be via a field upgrade Clearaudio has that modifies my Innovation to the full Master Innovation, or the distributor will just take my Innovation in trade for a Master Innovation. I’m still working out the details and cost. I’m really not interested in any turntable without local dealer support. It’s why I abandoned and sold my LP12 15 years ago.

How much are the Verdier TTs? The Clearaudio Master Innovation in piano black is $34K (32K in natural panzerholz finish), without tonearm (I have already have the two I need).

If I was going to jump ship from Clearaudio I would more likely look into Basis for a turntable.

Back on topic. HiLine is the worst HiFi product I’ve ever had the misfortune to own. What an unreliable, fragile piece of rubbish. I can’t tell you how much it pisses me off that I was dumb enough to buy it. And that Focal-Naim America has the gall to charge to repair such crap is the straw that breaks the camel’s back on why I’ve spent my last coin on Naim. Phooey!

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