Interesting one, I was tidying up Naim boxes and inside one was the standard Lavender interconnect cable.
I haven’t used this for some time if at all with my 282/250DR combo and thought I’d swap it with my SL just to see what’s what.
Well, I am shocked and not convinced I prefer the presentation of the SL
I tried a dealers demo sl against my hiline. I liked some of what the sl did but much preferred the hiline. When I originally heard the hiline I compared it to the lavender lead and very soon after ordered one as it was just so much better
I did similar between a SN3 and NDX 2, ended up with the Hi-Line back in after an extended home demo.
It’ll be one of those changes that will depend on multiple variables within the system and room. I’ve heard SL IC sound rather lovely in certain systems, just wasn’t quiet so in my own.
The bundled Lavender IC is often overlooked in the pursuit of more modest and price friendly “improvements” but I’ve used one plenty over the years in various systems and it is a well made and capable cable, it’s usually free as well given it comes with a Naim source.
About 12 months ago I bought a Ndac.
Initially I used the lavender cable supplied, but had the feeling it wasn’t very refined or natural. After a short while I swapped it out for a Mogami cable I’d previously made, this was smoother and more detailed. After a few weeks I realised some the music I was playing sounded a bit lifeless and dull, swapped in the lavender and found the prat had returned. However, again I had the feeling it wasn’t very refined or natural, so swapped the Mogami back in.
The Mogami has stayed in ever since; the majority of the music I play benefits from the presentation it gives. However, if all I listened to was rock music I would probably be using the lavender.
I tried one a while back between my NDX and 282 and it did nothing for me. Perhaps we are expecting too much of these expensive cables, after all they were designed to work with the Statement amp.
Give it a few weeks then swap it back again and then see what you think. You might be just liking the change for now - 2 days isn’t really long enough to know what’s really going on. I’d be in no rush to sell the SL on especially as you got it cheap so you really have nothing to lose in hanging on to it for a bit longer.
I agree, there is something about Lavender cables that should not be dismissed. I think it has a lovely raw, gritty and live sound that the more expensive interconnects somehow lack. I run my streamer into my NDac and have access to a Superlumina, Hi-line and Lavender cables. After many hours of trialing each I’ve settled on the Lavender. Sure the SL is more refined and gives instruments a more natural timbre but I miss that ‘seat of your pants’ ride that Lavender can create.
To put things in context, the HiLine was designed for a 500 level source (CD555) to a 552 in a system where all other leads were the supplied stock leads.
The SL was over a decade later for the Statement. So it seems totally reasonable that a person may find they prefer the sound of the lead their electronics were initially voiced with.
Reading back on all the SL related threads, a common, if not quite unanimous, conclusion is, no SL at all is better than partial SL. Full loom or nothing.
I’ve never heard the stock leads put a foot wrong. There are better leads but life might be too short to find them.