An explanation rather than statement would have been more useful.
Just for the record, I have complied with their advice and use DIN. Naim offer more expensive versions of the DIN cables (as do others) which apparently increase performance. Perhaps a good quality XLR May beat the standard supplied DIN?
My experience is that Chord Cables significantly increase performance. So far I have replaced the following standard supplied cables :
That is also the reason why I am quite tempted by the offer of my dealer the Chord Sarum XLR cables and use them i.s.o. the standard DIN cable between the 333 and 332.
I’ve used Chord Signature cables before and honestly I don’t find them to be that much of an improvement and I’m not sure I could blind test them. The beauty of the NC for me is the OEM cables sound great already. Plug, play, enjoy the music. The constant desire to tweak indicates something is not right with your set up.
My opinion on offering XLR is to allow for more flexibility in adding different componets to Naim amplifiers. That way they don’t completely lose a potential group of buyers that have to find Din cables to work with RCA or XLR outputs.
I agree with @HungryHalibut completely though in that why would they recommend a cable if they didn’t think it sounded the best? It’s not like they are making some huge profit by only allowing users to buy Din cables from them.
I use Chord signature tuned array XLR, between my Ear pre and amp. Before, between the Ear Pre and NC 250. I like them. Believe that they sound better vs the cheap stock XLR supplied by Naim. But haven’t compared as the stock XLR gave a terrible noise in one speaker.
It is not that something was wrong with the set-up. I have used the OEM cables and the SQ was good.
But I found out that when I replaced the OEM cables (both interlinks and power cables) the SQ improved.
The logic of DIN being preferable was related to the grounding architecture of the interconnect cable (particularly when compared to RCA which is present in the Classic products) and also the system itself (DC power rails and audio routing via external power supplies).
The 5 pin DIN cables only use 3 pins, much as an XLR cable does, so with that said, surely they are both providing a separate ground, positive and negative on 3 separate cables?
I seem to recall a lot of talk from Naim technical staff when the 200 Series was launched discussing the XLR implementation, referring in particular to balanced impedance amongst other things.
So whilst the DIN IC may be preferable, I tend to agree with others comments that it’s not really explained anywhere why it is superior and how it achieves that superiority?
Realistically, unless you were a Golden Ears, in a blind test of the same cable types, switching back and forth between a DIN version and a XLR version would likely be difficult to isolate out.
I’ve noticed an obvious improvement with Powerlines. Not so much with the ICs I’ve used over the years and found that going back to the OEM often yielded improvements. YMMV.
Yes Naim recommends din output. Anyway setting up a 333 you will find that the default audio output is XLR.
In the past they provided this explanation as to why DIN. I never quite got the argument that they recommended them because they supplied them, they could equally have supplied RCA or XLR cables and charged accordingly.
Naim have in the past stated that on a performance level a Cannon XLR is potentially on a similar level to the DIN. Of course the main issue was that XLRs were usually used balanced (Naim being an exception with their single ended use with the big power amps) whereas DINs were single ended. Now that the New Classic amps and pre-amps have moved to balanced operation balanced XLRs are a natural choice.
I wonder whether @110dB can give any insight here as to the recommendation of DIN instead of balanced XLR between the NSS333 and the NAC332?
At the price levels you´re talking about, surely your dealer can lend you the cables and you can simply make your own mind up which you prefer.
Yes - I spoke with my dealer and I can lend the Chord Din-Din and Chord XLR cables to make a comparison
For added fun get someone else to connect the cables and swop them over (blindfold optional.
I’d be curious to hear if you can actually perceive any difference at all, although you probably will note certain differences.
I would also add that those cables will probably give you the best representation of their presentation when left for a few days and used.
I found that when I did an extended home test of Chord Signature and Epic vs stock Naim for both speaker and XLR IC’s.
The ones I had on loan from Chord had been well run in as well and weren’t fresh off the reel.
Thanks for your advise.
I did the comparison between the Chord XLR and DIN cables and my conclusion is that the XLR cables provide a quieter (less sharp) sound stage and more detail. So I will continue with the purchase of the XLR cables.
I would guess that Steve is busy on R&D projects at the moment. I’m sure he’ll see it and make some comment in due course when he has a spare moment.
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