I felt the Powerline was neutral a subtle improvement, a Chord Signature was a big difference, cheap Belden was last and currently sat with a SR Atmosphere, simply put it supercharges all the Naim attributes, like a major pre/power upgrade.
I personally found even on a Cisco switch a spare Powerline (lite though) was the best, but settled for a £25 Belden, but feel i’ll start a thread on that experiment.
I replaced a Nait 5 with affore said Rega Cursa/Maia but gave Naim another chance when I prefered the CD5x to a Saturn, the Isis wasn’t out yet. When it did come out I liked it a lot with the Osiris but was less convinced with it feeding a 282/hi/250 and I didn’t like the Osiris enough to swap back to all Rega (the superline was a factor too). The Rega DAC was feeding into a 552, and was quite boring when I first tried it until I replaced the Chord digital cable with the belden, that woke the blighter up and it was now good enough that I could take the CDX/555 out of my system, with some loss but also some gains, particularly for classical music which I thought the CDX2 was never convincing enough with whatever ps it had. When I tried the powerline on the DAC the sound went all thin and anemic. My Naim/Rega dealer (Simon @Audio T Reading) uses an Isis at home but I’m not sure which power cable he has on it now, he’s tried a few, it could be the Rega Reference but I might be wrong there. I know it isn’t a powerline as he found it had the same effect as I found with the DAC. An Isis into a 552 I’ve never heard but I think it would make more of the strengths of the Isis than a 282 could.
Can you say in what way it was a failure? Did none of those Furutech cables sound good in any of your Naim kit? Did you try the Furutech FP-TCS31 cable on your power amp? What happened to the sound? Were you using Rhodium connectors?
JimDog. It was a couple of years ago so I’ll try to remember as best as I can. The context was a Chord Hugo/ NAC282/Supercap DR/NAP 200DR system with Neat XL6 speakers. Source was a Unitiqute SSD with a Chord Signature cable between the Unitiserve and Hugo and another Chord cable (Signature?) to the 282. I tried the FP-TCS31 cable first with gold plated 13A plugs with both gold (F1-1363) and copper (F1-11CU) IEC connectors. Tried them connected to the Supercap and the NAP200. There may have been some/slight improvement in clarity but hardly noticeable. Connecting to the NAP had a particularly poor effect; sounded tight and dry. Switching over to the FP Alpha 3 cable improved matters particularly when connected to the NAP200 with a punchier bass. However, in all cases and in comparison to the standard cables, I had lost the drive of the music and it all became rather sterile and couldn’t hold my attention. I never tried the Rhodium connectors. Usual caveats that these are my own impressions. Hope this helps
Just to add when I bought the PowerLine the biggest improvement was on the Supercap. When I connected it to the NAP 200 the bass got a bit too heavy for my taste.
JimDog. One final, final comment before I turn in for the day and this is a reflection of my own personal choices. If I knew then what I know now I would not have rushed in buying all the accessories, special power cables and so forth. My money would have been better spent on the major components and getting to a level that I was fundamentally satisfied with the performance/sound and that the upgrade urge had subsided （ I guess it never goes away completely) and only then think about purchasing the ancillary items. I’m at that stage now, when I can listen to my music without wondering ‘what if’. I’ve mentioned in my profile that I’m looking for a NAP 500 (used or ex-demo bargain) to come along to complete my journey but if that never happens I’m really not that bothered.
thanks - yes, I’m delighted with the sound (and simplicity) of my Tidal, 272, 150x, Arivas system now.
I’m only looking at cable upgrades because my wife won’t let me buy any boxes for the time being.
Wives/partners provide the necessary checks and balances in our lives thankfully!
Completely agree. My first 2 systems before I became a Naimite consisted of expensive cabling. When I later reviewed it I realised what a fool I had been. My Cardas Golden reference power cable was a third of the price of my integrated amplifier. Both used.
I’m not saying buying good cables isn’t important. It absolutely is. But I think the 10 to 20 percent rule applies.
First find a system that you’re completely happy with. Then begin with the tweaking as final adjustments.
Very sensible advice.
Good point from @khan84…
First we make silly mistakes, buying far too expensive cables for our cheaper boxes, deluding ourselves.
And than Naim is discovered… 
What did that cable do to the SQ of your then system?
And did you keep it and use it on better amps that you owned later?
This is question for your dealer…
(That was gentle irony, not sarcasm)
M
I had a Creek Destiny integrated, followed by a Destiny 2. Lovely amplifiers for the money, especially the 2. The Cardas Golden ref. is IME the best power cable I have owned. It offers greater detail, power and a warmer than neutral tone.
I should add that I have not done direct comparisons with a range of power cables.
I am also happy with the Naim powerlite but I haven’t tried the Powerline as of yet.
So when you ‘later reviewed it Iand realised what a fool you had been’, you were still enjoying ‘the greater detail, power and a warmer than neutral tone’ of the expensive cable that had improved the performance of your amps then and now and even today…
Is now the time to review your cable purchase again, perhaps, and see how it may be a gift that has kept on giving?
Indeed the power cables and interconnects were a great addition to a good system. But I spent too much money on them with respect to my overall system cost at the time.
However, if I collected the money for the cables, I would have been able to purchase better components which would have provided a better sound overall.
If your putting together a system,especially a simple one with different brands - it can be very beneficial to over spend wisely on cables, especially if within a coherent loom. Same make and level.
This will be the glue that brings potentially disparate forces together for a strong musical join.
Putting a multi box Naim system together along with lots of other Naim wires in the mix, powerlines are a no brainer. Unless you have golden ears and have the time and dedication to make your own recipe to taste choosing a mix and match setup.
FWIW I find Furutech’s much lower cost pro-audio range to be better than the crazy expensive cables they do.
The Empire with it’s 5mm cores into their entry level mains block was a massive leap over a bog standard heavy duty block. Rather than clarity, the system seems to have a bit more steam.
It is so heavy it tends to need support to not fall out of the wall though.
I do still use PowerLines from there to the hifi though. And no interest in changing that.
In a hypothetical future, I may opt for one of their 5mm wired star earthed mains blocks.
My suspicion is that the pro-audio range just focuses on the fundamental basics of good connections, low impedance, reducing eddy currents and leaves the more esoteric aspects out of it. This gets a lot done for much less cost.
I would like to try some of the Furutech or Oyaide factory made cables, rather the self-assembled ones that I had, purely out of curiosity. Whatever the result, one can certainly appreciate and admire the build quality of their products and the typical Japanese meticulous approach.