New Nait 5si and supplied Power Chord

Hi-Fi Corner
1

Hi there,

I’ve had my dealer’s demo unit 5si on loan for around 6 weeks while they were waiting for new stock to arrive from Naim.

They gave me a bog standard power chord with the demo unit, and I thought nothing of it as I was just happy to have the demo unit on loan.

Anyway, I picked up my new unit yesterday, and was surprised to see in the box, a Naim labelled power chord.

I plugged everything in, left it alone for a short while and then started playing some tracks. I wasn’t expecting anything different to the demo unit, especially as the new unit will need time to settle and burn in, but, even my long suffering partner mentioned how much clearer and detailed the top end sounded compared to the returned demo unit and she has no interest in hifi, and has a very casual relationship with music.

I must agree with her, it most definitely is. The set up is exactly the same since I packed up the demo unit and plugged in the new unit; the only different component is the power chord supplied in the box with the new unit.

So I was just wondering what the power chord is exactly, its obviously not bog standard, and could this be making such a noticeable difference to the sound?

Thanks for reading

1 Like
2

The power lead is Naim’s Powerline Lite. It basically uses the standard Naim cable (nothing fancy, just carefully chosen from listening tests) but with a version of Naim’s mains Airplug with some clever decoupling that also allows the prongs to make the best contact

1 Like
3

Thanks very much; I had no idea this came supplied as standard. That’s great, I’m impressed.

So it’s not inconceivable that the difference in sound I’m hearing is due to the Power Lite chord?

4

Not inconceivable at all, especially if the lead that came with the demo unit was just one that was randomly picked from the floor.

2 Likes
5

Thanks again, much appreciated :+1:

I was happy with the demo unit, but this has been a real pleasant surprise I was not expecting at all.

6

The Nait 5si is a lovely amplifier and what a nice surprise for you. Out of interest, what are you using your new amplifier with?

1 Like
7

Hi,

Here’s my set up

Speakers are Quad S2s
Bluesound Node (2021)
Audiolab 6000CDT
Denafrips Ares II

2 Likes
8

That looks very nicely balanced.

2 Likes
9

Thank you, that’s good to hear😊.

I’m currently using QED XT40i speaker cables, they seemed a safe starting point, but I’ve got a pair of WH Phantoms on order.

I think that will be it then, for the time being. I hope the good things I’ve read about the Phantoms are reproduced when slotted in to my system. They were an impulse purchase really, but I’ve been out of the hifi game for 20 odd years until now, so I went for it, as this will probably be my last system.
I used to own an Olive system back in the 90s,and didn’t want to go down that rabbit hole again, which is why the Nait 5si was perfect for me since you can’t really expand it :blush:

But yes, it is a really sweet little amp, I actually felt sad returning the demo unit, as I’d grown attached to it; how stupid is that :woozy_face::grin:

2 Likes
10

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.