ND555 Impressions

To be clear, is the cheap cable your are referring to the AQ Vodkas? I looked back and its was not clear to me.

I think it’s these, I hope so as I’ve just ordered 4 of them. Seems a reasonable punt.

PREMIUM Belden CatSnake Cable. CAT5e RJ45 Ethernet Network Cable. LAN Patch Lead
Cable Length 1.5m SL.L34-BELDEN.1305A.0150-SL.L34 £10.28

:rofl:

No, I would never call them cheap. I was replying to Michael and thanking him for the suggestion of the Premium Cat5e, but you are quiet correct, I was far from explicit.

M

Michael thanks for the excellent write up. Did you also have a chance to listen to the Chord Music cables and if yes what’s your opinion ?

I’m running a section of mine in now. In my system I have switch to Melco and Melco to ND555 runs of 4m and 0.75m respectively.

I found after a day run-in an awful patch where I had to remove the cable as I could not abide the effect - horrible - so re-inserted the Vodka 1.5m lead for Melco to ND555 and it was good again.

But I then decided to try the 4m Belden between switch and Melco and that was good - but again after one day it hit the awful run-in, but this time I let it pass through and by about 18 hours it improved and by day 2 it is sounding rather excellent.

So above is a warning to possibly - in some systems - expect a very bad patch after a day run-in.

I’ve still to try again re-inserting the 0.75m section between Melco and ND555 to replace the Vodka 1.5m, but I’ll do that in a day or two once the other run has settles some more.

Also I quite like the effect in my system the present combo has.

…as to Chord Cable questions (although not addressed for me) - I’d try one if offered by the Dealer, but they seem to not presently stock them - and I had a previous poor home-demo of another Chord cable when the Dealer did stock them to try that really put me off the voicing it had.
The present ones may be fine - but you need to personally try them IMO to see if they are for you.
I tried a cable others were raving over at the time - really did not like what it did.
For some but not for me.

DB.

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My plan is Core to switch, switch to wall socket on the new Belden cables. Then a run of Wickes finest from about 8 years ago which it plastered into two walls either side of a run under the floor boards. Then another wall socket to new Belden to switch to Belden to ND555. I’ll have to keep the disc in the Core spinning to get all of them run in on a looped playlist when I’m not listening to the 555 but I have backups. After a couple of weeks I’ll replace the old cables and reintroduce the new ones one at a time. At least that’s the plan. The scrounged lengths I have at the moment are sounding pretty good so I’m not expecting much but £40 to find out so WTF.

I’ve only heard the Music interconnect and didn’t like it, I’m afraid to say, as reported somewhere earlier in this massive thread. I’ve never tried the Ethernet cable, however. At the same time I must confess to not being a great fan of Chord cables in general: I haven’t heard one that I liked, but hopefully that hasn’t closed my mind.

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My Viablue/Cinnomon cables did the same 1st day seemed pretty good … then it started sounding a bit harsh and lispy…it’s taken just over a week to improve getting better and better with allot more detail … system seems quite a bit more ‘open’. It seems to me it’s not unusual to need around a 200hr burn in… which makes cable reviews highly suspect. This is not a criticism of the members here…it is the glossy reviews published…in the journals.

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Swiss watches tend to be inaccurate! My Casio keeps time better than a Rolex (although I would prefer a Rolex!).

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In the world of timekeeping you don’t need to spend much to get accurate timing. But in the audio world, things are different.

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So maybe Casio is perfectly poised to launch a better ND, at a very affordable price?!!!

@peder, late answer. I got my electronics (all of them) in August 2016, the loudspeaker decision after a few home demos was taken in December same year. The acoustic treatment from HOFA done in August 2017. HOFA came twice to measure our living room. Initially to decide what treatment was needed and a follow up after installation to ensure that what was said was also achieved. Which was the case. For ex the RT60 range is after the treatment 0,45 to 0,31. Before the RT was around 0,65. As it’s a “non rectangular” living room it’s now OK. The other measurements are now also good.

So loudspeakers. I started with wheeled pallets just to get a feeling of where I should place the Titans. Thereafter I bought the concrete slabs. 32 kg each and I put 2 under each loudspeaker. Reason is that I have a low sofa between the Titans and my listening position. In general I let the Titans during the trial period stay at least a few weeks in the same place before changing.

Someone said (you Peder) that a change of a cm or so can make a difference. I sign up on that. Left speaker 2 cm backwards once moved the center 30 cm to the right. I love my Titan 808 and will not trade them against anything else but they are complicated to move. Over time my wife and myself have learned how in an efficient way take the two boxes down, re-place them and setting them up all in less than 10 minutes. Teamwork.

So Peder I agree it takes time to get close to the optimum position. I guess the optimum position will never be found But maybe you with your experience can find it? I am please with the sound so they stay where there are.

What I am missing are audiophile friends not too far away with similar installations. It would be great to have positive and constructive discussions of possible improvements during listen sessions.

Chord Music between the 552 and NDS (in September comes the ND555). I could not compare direct to the SL as the SL was a trade in. And return trip to the dealer is 300 km. Initially I was not impressed but after a month warm up the Chord Music woke up. And now I am impressed. Clearer and cleaner.

I thought of replacing my Vertere between the Melco and the NDS with a Chord Music but will hold back. The Vertere is not bad. Contrary it’s really good. I guess after the ND it will be a NAP 500 late next year. Projects…

And I agree with you that when buying an expensive music system you should get more than the installation. I understand that a dealer can not wait until the system is settled down but could propose a second visit as a follow up a month later or so.

Dealers… Once I listened to a ND555 presentation with Statements. Different loudspeakers. I was really disappointed of the sound. My setup at home sounded much much better. Soundstage, Cleaner, Clearer, So you guys who have a very competent dealer who can provide good demos close by prior the home demo. Sorry for your wallet…

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This is a good point and one worth considering carefully. Is something opening the window wider or just putting a different emphasis on certain frequencies? I’ve heard plenty of “upgrades” which appear to do this. And many which don’t. Your ears usually tell your brain what’s happening - even if subconsciously.

A quick question for Darkebear - when constructing my ethernet cables I connected the screen to each plug - so there was continuity. Are your Vodka cables configured with the screen connected to give continuity? I seem to remember having some Vandenhul analogue cables which had the screen connected at one end - making the cable directional… any thoughts…

I have not changed however they were originally wired and use them as they came, so how the internal shielding is connected at either end inside the plug I don’t know.

I’m guessing that the different screens may be done differently, as you have with a Cat7 or above spec the overall screen then the individual transmission core pair screens within that overall screen. The idea is one to protect from outside and the others to both do that and prevent signal cross-talk between the cables from inside.

A lot of consideration (all it seems) has been on considering the integrity of the digital signal being correctly transmitted and anything outside the cable as ‘noise’. But I think there is also a consideration of what happens at either end of the cable ‘pipe’ once it enters and exits the box and the contained EM fields, generated by the large transmission signal itself, that then exit into them - these are not all ‘in the wires’ and it may be concentrating and containing all fields in the cable to exit and fire it (the contained EM wave) into the ND555 case at the end of the transmission may not give the lowest noise for the ND555 to deal with.

Some of the Cat5e experiments in other places may be showing that there is a balance between doing the digital data transmission task well enough in terms of data integrity - and not also forming an RF conduit for all and everything not really needed to also enter a box that does D to A conversion, no matter how well the engineered solution has been implemented, giving it an easier time will scale and you may hear that.

I’m presently using Vodka between Melco and ND555 and the Belkin from Melco to switch and that is sounding very good. I’m getting the impression that the internals of the Melco are relatively ‘quiet’ and perhaps the more lossy Cat5e from it to the switch allows for some HF noise loss/dissipation in and out - since no music data in my system is going to or through the switch as the Melco connects direct to ND555, the wire to switch should have little effect - but it has a big effect.

At this stage I experiment to find what works and know when it does! :slightly_smiling_face:

DB.

Hi DB thanks for the reply … if ever you get an opportunity to put meter between the two plugs - to test continuity of the earth - it would be interesting. I am not suggesting you peek inside! I personally think the earthing strategy has a profound effect on signal cables - and you could be onto something by using quality basic cables - as opposed to more complex cable earthing arrangements.

My cables still have not fully settled down yet … approaching week 2 …

Which are you using?

My Vodka took weeks and I felt it continued after a month or more to settle and sound right. It sounded over-boisterous and bass-heavy funky for the first days - great for my 70s Disco stuff, but not exactly what I wanted in the end. Now it seems very happy.

I use with it the ‘Designacable Belkin Cat5e’ discussed much of recent above from Melco to switch 4m run. This latter was in the spirit of ‘what the heck - lets try it’ as I did not expect much there and was a bit blown-away at how much more detail I heard and the more relaxed and natural presentation. This cable had a ‘nasty’ after 1 day run-in that I let it go through and it then came good after 18 hours plus.
I’d previously removed another bit of this cable I had and still have to try between Melco and ND555 as it did that there too and was unusable while at one day run-in - or more correctly it all worked fine but I could not listen to what was not music while it transited the ‘bad’ point.

So I still have ahead to try again swapping-out the Vodka to try the Belkin there, but am letting it all settle after the Belkin has now run-in on the Melco-switch run as it sounds rather excellent right now and it is nice to enjoy some music and not always be suffering run-in! :slightly_smiling_face:

DB.

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I think you mean Belden not Belkin :slight_smile: One specialises in cables the other is a jack of all trades.

Indeed! :laughing::duck::bear:

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