Replacing the original capacitors on the plug in boards will change the sound. It’s an overall improvement to me ears. Clearer and more tuneful. Perhaps the timing isn’t quite as ‘on it’ but overall I prefer serviced cards.
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The main reason for servicing or ‘re-capping’ - is changing capacitors. These deteriorate with age. Fitting news ones will restore the performance of your Naim box to how Naim originally intended.
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On my Naim nac62 especially since it has not been touched once, I recapped it with newer tantalums, the most important thing is these old tantalums measured terrible on the ESR (Equivalent series resistance) part. Changed it and the whole unit sounded different, sounded less hazy and more clear. Sounded bright in the beginning but after some time it settled down.
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I know Hi cap makes lot of difference in sound quality. When I bought 32.5/140 from Riyadh, I could not afford to buy Hicap simply because I lost my job in Saudi Telecom. My contract was renewed but suddenly they told me to go home in a day. Hicap is not available in India.
Is changing of SNAIC 4 pin din to 4 pin din cable connecting pre and power, will buying a new one will make a difference in sound quality. Does the cable also requires servicing if so in what ways.
Please reply.
It depends what SNAIC4 cable you have. If it’s an early grey one then changing for a later black version is very worthwhile. Otherwise, as long as it’s a genuine Naim SNAIC4, then I’d leave it alone. No servicing is needed here apart from an occasional power down of the system, unplugging the cable then plugging it back in to clean the contacts.
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some more information on SNAICs can be read here;
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Helpful page. Thanks Richard.
There seems to have been two original grey Snaics. There’s the one in your link and a thinner version with less black banding each end. Do you know which was sold with what components or when? I wondered if the thinner version was supplied with cheaper 42.5, 110 products. They sound a bit different too.
There has been some minor variations. I think there was an early one that was a bit thinner, before the SNAIC.
Not sure what you mean here. Before the SNAIC was ‘born’, what you got was a ‘normal’ interconnect, with 4 pin DIN’s.
I bought my first Grey SNAIC, in 1985. Which replaced the 4pin DIN i/c which came with my 42/110, bought in 1982. I got my first Black SNAIC, in 1999. In both cases, they were not long introduced, AFAIK.
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Thanks gents! Makes sense. I didn’t realise the thin cable wasn’t actually a Snaic.
I do prefer the Snaic. The bass is fractionally out of sync using the older cable on 32.5/160. I will try the older cable on the 12/BD160 though in case that’s different.
SNAIC, as a term, has become a bit generic, amongst Naim I/C’s.
The non-SNAIC could be called a NAIC… 
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Just compared the pre-SNAIC thin grey cable to the original SNAIC with the 12/BD160. Bass is completely in sync using the old cable (unlike it is with the 32.5/CB160). Also, music via the original SNAIC sounds a bit hyper and rushed on the 12/BD160 in a way that it doesn’t at all on the 32.5/CB160. I will have to compare them on the 42.5/110 sometime.
I’ve tried the thin cable vs snaic between 42 and 110 and would agree with your findings that the sound is more cohesive using the thinner one.
I also have a NAT101 & snaps but the effect here is less obvious.
The thin cable is in fact an “interconnect” so each core is individually screened - left and right and the power rail are effectively separate from each other whereas in a snaic, all cores are combined under one common screen.
Now I’ve opened that can, let the worms commence!
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Do you know what year the original thick grey SNAIC was released?
Were there many interconnect versions prior to the SNAIC or just the thin grey one?
I think it was around ‘85. I have a copy of the HFA mag somewhere in which its introduction was mentioned - I’ll try to dig it out.
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Tried both cables on the 42.5/110. Difficult to decide but favouring the thin interconnect. The SNAIC has more slam and bass control, which is why I need it with the Sara system, but the original cable seems more coherent - agree with @RichardPW that it’s more cohesive.
What about the black SNAIC?
Don’t have one - might give one a go though
OK, found it; Peter Turner writing in Hifi Answers October 1984 about the new HICAP and SNAIC.
“The new interconnect is called the SNAIC… …never mind the name, does it work? Yes, it does. I didn’t try it with the SNAPS, though I should expect benefit; but with the HICAP (to which I had a good listen before introducing the SNAIC) it adds its own degree of tightness to the sound: an extra degree of control with freedom - just, indeed, as though some dam or filter had been removed.”
He goes on describing the benefits of the HICAP and SNAIC combination, but the piece quoted above applies to the SNAIC in isolation.
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Thanks Richard!