Sorry to drag up a a question that has probably been answered multiple times, and I’ve done a bit of reading about the differences between A4 and A5 but is there a sure fire give away just looking at the two cables to tell the difference. Does Nac a4 have machine printing on the centre area or was it always stamped into the centre?. Was the direction arrow ever present on A4 cable?. I’ve got some naim cable which I believe is NACA5 but the naim plugs have been soldered on and you cannot easily see the wires. It’s ridgid but does been slightly admitted anything past 90 degrees wouldn’t be a breeze like for example QED 79 strand. The outer plastic cover is very hard and I would think wouldn’t be easy to cut. Is a4 narrower than a5 thanks.
A4 and A5 are a similar size, but if it’s really stiff it’s definitely A5. A4 is far more flexible.
1 Like
It’s stiff but it can be bent, it’s stiff enough to hold the naim plug in the vertical without bending but as far as been an absolute pain to bend I wouldn’t say it was. Bending it more than 90 degrees would take a bit of effort. The outer cover though is impossible to compress with your finger you couldn’t make a mark on it with a finger nail for example. I wish someone would make a short video showing how easier it is to bend A4 opposed to A5 that would help a lot of people I think.
1 Like
That sounds like it’s NACA5.
2 Likes
LOL, the short answer is, if you have any trouble at all bending it, then it’s NACA5!
(And we have both. A5 in my system, A4 in my wife’s)
Take a hairdryer to NACA5 and it’ll bend any way you like.
Been there, done that. And I’ve got six of the little beggers! (TBF, two are not in use, at the moment 
)
A4 doesn’t need a hair dryer.
As you asked - “Just by looking”, there is another observable difference -
NACA4 is 54 strands of 0.3 mm copper
NACA5 is 19 strands of 0.5mm copper.
Shame you can’t make a video !!!, so A4 would be like the old QED 79 which I used to have quite pliable and you could make shoe laces out of it practically !!.