Hi all, i’ m about to connect again the S. Lumina 555 to 552 After Nait50 trial with the 500 system. Now, i’m not sure with the cable direction. One end has a black collar, the other one Is grey. Which one Is going with the source ? The grey one? Thanks in advance.
Regards
Roberto
I believe the light grey goes to source.
There was a thread on here about it.
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Thank you! Meanwhile i’ve found another post about this.
On topic SL. Should I upgrade from Hiline to SL between 552 and NDS maybe? Some claim it’s a bit bright and others say it’s glorious.
I’d say it is a huge improvement. The SL will probably sound brighter though, so if your system is sounding that way already you might want to stick with the HiLine. I love the detail and the micro dynamics the SL brings. Sorry , thread diversion.
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When i upgraded from H.line to S.L. on CD555, at the beginning, i had the opposite impression. I kept the H.Line for a few weeks before leasing on the new one.
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Try and get a demo. For me, the SL is smoother but loses in instrumental texture. I stuck with the HL.
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So strange that some say brighter than HL and some smoother than. Is it a matter of dressing the SL in the correct way?
I find that with SL interconnect it is important to have it hanging clear of other cables and with ‘natural’ hanging curvature.
When changed from HiLine I found a big improvement, especially in fine detail.
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Both can be a pain to get working to their full potential but if you do I’d agree with the comments on here already. HiLine equals big lush sound that’s quite warm and rounded.
Superlumina on the other hand is leaner, faster and more tonally accurate but can sound a little bit anaemic on some tracks although it’s probably just revealing how crap the recording really is! If they are working well I could happily live with both. I often think Superlumina sounds like a really refined version of the famous Lavender cable.
One final comment is that I tend to think they are voiced to their own era i.e. the HiLine works well with older kit and Superlumina with newer kit. Not surprising really as Superlumina was specifically voiced for the Statement and speakers like the Ovators - quite a different sound from classic kit and earlier speakers!
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Does the Superlumina sound brighter or is it simply portraying everything the system is projecting? If designed for the Statement, you would naturally not have any concerns, sometimes better to wait and upgrade a component. At the very least, audition if you can, I do have a Hi-Line that came with my CD555 but never used as deploy Townshend F1’s. not sure of the used value of these but will sell on at some point
I think it is simply that the Super Lumina doesn’t take anything away. Everything flows and as a result the sound is subjectively brighter.
This applies to the DIN to DIN interconnect and also to the DIN to XLR on the power amp. I honestly believe that the 250DR fed by the SL DIN to XLR sounded better in many ways than the 300DR fed by the standard cables. Now the 300DR is fed by the SL cables and there is no competition.
It’s a cliche but I’d honestly say that the SL loom is akin to a box upgrade. It has certainly put a smile on my face and I am constantly surprised by what was missing with the standard cable.
I’m not saying the standard cable is bad by any means, but the complete set of SL interconnects is from my perspective revelatory.
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So in general SL DIN DIN is more neutral and detailed, and hiline is more warm/lush? When saying it’s a refined version of the Lavender this doesn’t add up based on my experience though since I believe Lavender is even more warm and lush than Hiline.
I have a 500, 552, NDS system and thinking of evaluating SL. Had a Sarum T when I had NDX2 but thought the sound became bit to analytical and I started to listen to details more than music. NDS is a different thing though so I imagine that SL might be a better fit.
I’d encourage you to wrap a small amount of tape around the ‘signal end’ (i.e. akin to other Naim identifiers), as in poor/artificial light and after a while, I’ve found the end markers to be very difficult to distinguish.
Also, if you have the original box for the SL, there should be a leaflet in it which identifies which end is which.
My comparison was more about how the SL communicates the musical performance, something the Lavender seems to do extremely well, even though Lavender is a bit over enthusiastic and unrefined.
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As you get more into cables you will find that the better the cable is the less you will hear it and the more it will be true to the source.
Everything you put between the source output and the speaker will affect the sound.
The better the components the less colour gets added along the way.
So for sure the S lumina is a better cable and adds less colour as the music passes through it, the problem is most systems will sound horrible unless you have Everything in the chain that’s very transparent so the true sound off the source can be heard and even then you might find you prefer the sound coloured in some way.
So i guess what i am saying is try for yourself as you may like it or not, but in an older naim system i think you are wasting your time with it as it’s just going to push the system to over bright.
An older system is how old? 552, 500, NDS? I just get the feeling from reading about it that SL might compromise the things I currently enjoy. Might be worth a home trial at least to find out.
Olive for sure especially if using sbl’s or SL2’s as they are already more bright than bass.
I wouldn’t have used S lumina until i had maxed out everywhere i could in my system, and then as said only if i thought i had a transparent system and the S lumina would help keep the transparency.
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Used SL DIN DIN just in between my 552 and NDS. I think they sound amazeballs in my system 
It was not the big jump from Hiline which I might have thought but it’s that kind of difference that grow on you bit like when moving between naim boxes which is just what I like. Sarum T which I had in the past IMO pushed the naim sound bit too much for my taste. I believe these SL will be just what I was looking for but will use my 2 weeks trial before my final conclusion 
Hiline is still a super great cable for what it cost.
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I use it between CD555 and 252 and it is a good step up from the HiLine, especially as it is significantly more robust. In the other discussion about directionality on the recent purchase thread I have asked whether someone from Naim could provide a definitive answer on how to establish directionality, if it is necessary.
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