Interconnects

Have just upgraded pre/power from 202/200 to 282/250 with CD5XS/nDAC/HCDR/NAPSC/XPSDR (on DAC), SL speaker cable has been on order for a while but dealer says there’s a resistor they are having trouble getting so in the meantime looking at IC’s, don’t want to be restricted to the NAIM ones (SL stuff a non-starter, £). Witch Hat is about where I want to be on price so assuming you get what you pay for does anyone have insight on Morgana XLR between the 250 - HCDR and Morgana Source between DAC - 282 ? Thanks

I have WH Morgan’a 5 pin interconnect and DIN to XLR on the NAP 250. I was impressed at the improvement they brought but you may prefer the standard cables. I would say the Morganas are worth trying in view of the 30 day trial period offered. There was no doubt in my mind but your ears / room might dictate otherwise. They get my vote though!

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Do not under estimate Naim’s own ‘Standard’ leads. They really are very good - IMO… :thinking:

And - you do not always ‘get what you pay for’ - especially in audiophile leads… again… IMO…

YMMV, etc… :crazy_face:

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We got a SL DIN-XLR lightly used for about 50% of new cost.

When connected between 272/250DR it made a huge difference, far better impact per pound of spend than the SL speaker cables we added later.

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Atlas use Naim in their testing and design for interconnects. Might be worth a try. Certainly their speaker cables work fine with Naim.

Many users try and are delighted with non Naim interconnects. However, it really depends on your appetite for adventure (i.e. time spent on trial and error). The Naim bundled lavender leads are really good. The Witchhat leads are designed by ex Naim employees with only Naim use in mind. I appreciate that you might get better results in a particular system going elsewhere but it can be a lot of work. Someone else’s positive experience with cable X might not translate into success for your system. Tellurium and Chord Co. also do cables with DIN.

You’ll have to do some soul searching regarding how much effort this is worth. You’ll never actually go wrong with Naim or Witchhat. That means a lot to me.

I’ve been very impressed by Which Hat. Well worth an audition.
Their 30 day return policy makes that risk free too.

It seems a tad inconsistent to be ordering SL speaker cables while ruling out SL interconnects. When I had my 272/555 and 300 I used SL speaker leads and XLRs and found a great synergy between the cables.

These days the cables are more modest: my three sources have Naim standard lavender interconnects while the speaker cables are Witch Hat Phantom. You could probably get Morgana and Phantom for the whole system for less than the cost of the SL speaker cables. Whether the Morgana is appreciably better than the Lavender is something I’ve not tried.

If your speakers are biwire, are you looking to get the SL jumpers? They cost about £1,000 I believe. Phantom jumpers are £80.

Before spending overly on fancy cables, do make sure that you have optimised your mains and that the system is well supported.

I’ve replaced all my standard interconnects with Witch Hat Morgana and each has proven to be a noticeable upgrade although the most noticeable was between the streamer and pre amp. I also use Phantom speaker cables and found them to a big improvement over NACA5.

Which interconnect did the Morgana replace @JohnF ? A standard lavender or something else?

The standard supplied leads. I’ve found the Witch Hat to be very good value.
SQ depends to a greater or lesser extent on the room and furnishings etc. but having heard other alternatives I’d not swap the Witch Hat products and no I don’t work for them.

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