I thought the NAC A5 on my SN2 was great. Then I tried Superlumina.
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Back in my day we were happy with bell wire
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I got my TQ Ultra Black II today. All I can say is wow! It is new and already sounds better than Naca 5. I will post more impressions as it burns in.
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And so it should do at almost exactly 10x the price?
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I find these discussions fascinating. I do not doubt that the enhancements people report are real but I struggle to be able to do these type of comparisons reliably.
I always wonder what aspect of electrical performance changes when one switches cable. Just a simple reduction or increase in resistance or some change to capacitance and / or inductance? Or some other parameter like RF rejection?
I also wonder why the cable from amp to speaker makes so much difference when the components and internal wiring used in speaker crossovers are often so mundane. These are chosen by speaker manufacturers to get the job done to a good enough standard for the lowest price.
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Good post got me thinking.
If two cables have the same cross sectional area and are the same length, I suppose it comes down to shielding, distance between the cores and whether they are silver plated or not.
Could the extruding process matter? Grain differences in the copper? I am sure they are all pretty much the same purity
I envy you your, long-absent in me, optimism Padawan.
Experience may teach you to, at best, hope that higher prices be associated with higher quality.
Back when NACA 4/5 was £0.02 a furlong quite a few dealers were disinclined to sell it. It’s likely that many had come to an accommodation with existing cables that worked in their demonstration rooms and with their chosen ranges of speakers - therefore marginalising any sound benefits against NACA’s physical inconvenience.
However, it’s a mistake to forget that retailers are in the business of retailing.
Yes, you can make a good living of Naim black boxes but - supplied interconnects and a cheap, highly mandated same brand speaker cable? Those need to be replaced ASAP with - well, stuff that was neither free nor cheap.
In a (very real) way - NACA 5 is SO (?) expensive now because many customers wouldn’t buy it when it was cheap. It probably didn’t help that dealers would immediately oblige with more expensive/so-obviously-better alternatives.
AND
" … great empires of Lilliput and Blefuscu.
Which two mighty powers have, as I was going to tell you, been engaged in a most obstinate war for six-and-thirty moons past. It began upon the following occasion. It is allowed on all hands, that the primitive way of breaking eggs, before we eat them, was upon the larger end; but his present majesty’s grandfather, while he was a boy, going to eat an egg, and breaking it according to the ancient practice, happened to cut one of his fingers. Whereupon the emperor his father published an edict, commanding all his subjects, upon great penalties, to break the smaller end of their eggs.
… It is computed that eleven thousand persons have at several times suffered death, rather than submit to break their eggs at the smaller end. Many hundred large volumes have been published upon this controversy.
… offending against a fundamental doctrine of our great prophet Lustrog, in the fifty-fourth chapter of the Blundecral (which is their Alcoran). This, however, is thought to be a mere strain upon the text; for the words are these: ‘that all true believers break their eggs at the convenient end.’
And which is the convenient end, seems, in my humble opinion to be left to every man’s conscience …"
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Whatever you are on Adam … I want some. 
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Just mainlined some Swift myself…I might be gone for some time man…
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I have just replaced my Tellurium Black with a much longer length of TQ Black II, with a view to moving the Hi-Fi into a purpose-built cabinet thingy next month.
I began with orthodoxy in the form of Naca5 and although orthodoxy is frequently (and surprisingly) thrilling, the original TQ black was an obvious improvement.
It keeps the Naim virtues of prat and the midrange hump whilst removing grain.
I believe the more expensive cables also remove wheat and gluten which makes listening to Cake more difficult.
Opinions vary as to whether this is a Good Thing.
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I know a little group of around 12 people who were persuaded to try the TQ. All adored it from the off. Night and day etc. VFM etc. A year later… back with A5 in every case bar 1 where her husband insists it’s not being replaced “because of the cost”.
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Yawn… I could probably ask my dealer and find a group 0f 12 who still has the TQ UBII after a year.
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I tried TQ black and never looked back. Was never impressed with naca to be honest and I suspect if it wasnt made by Naim it would be less popular around here too
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I tried Chord Epic and Signature XL and did return to the NACA5 several times. Nevertheless, every time I return to the NACA5 it will only stay in the main system for a day or 2 before it gets out from the system again.
The NACA5 gets to stay in my bedroom system and it stays perfectly fine there.
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I’m trying true signal cable at the moment (the guys who used to supply cable to chord)
TBH I’m not getting on that well with it …and looking forward to the end of the trial and getting back to A5
Ps the true signal is about £900 for 7m so not THAT expensive
Is that the revelation speaker cable? I was tempted, but they do not yet do a full loom, and did not want bits of Naim cables, true signal etc. So still sitting on the fence whilst trying a superlumina full loom.
The Kudos cable might be interesting that they announced at Bristol…silver coated copper like SL, 19 twist slow braids at £30 a metre? I am sure the Signals boys will get it-in at some point.
I’ve been using TQ Black II for over a year now (Nova, Isophon Cortina). This cable is phenomenal. Other cables made little difference. But this cable can easily be distinguished in the blind test. I am planin an upgrade to Ultra Black II next time.
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That’s the one Gazza
Didn’t know about the Kudos cable??
Might just suit my Super 20A a treat!
Have to see when it surfaces
There is some blurb on the Kudos site. They went away from Chord a little while back due to the upheaval of Chord apparently kept changing the cable? So they went out and listened to many many cables, Derek has bought 5 km of the stuff, so i think he likes it. Dealers can order you your length or buy a 100 m reel, much like NACA5.
Apparently available now.