I am looking at upgrading my power cables. Nordost or isotec as Naim power line no longer available in New Zealand. My question is which to upgrade first. Antipodes k50 streamer, Naim dac. XPS dr, Supernait 2, Hicap dr.
I am also curious about the original power cables to the dac and amp. What purpose do these still serve?
If your preference is for PowerLine or PL Lite, might it be possible to buy online from a supplier that can ship to you - via international shipping - to your location ?
Just an idea
Good luck.
nDAC still benefits from a good power cable even when used with a PSU, as the digital section is powered by mains socket.
We have a Powerline on ours.
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Hi,
I run Isotek Premiers on all my hifi gear except my streamer which has an Isotek Elite on it and am very impressed with these cables.
I also run the cables through an Isotek Polaris Mains Anti-Surge/Filter Unit which I believe is very beneficial too.
Im in Perth, Western Australia and got a great deal bundling the Isotek Polaris with all my Premier Cables (6 of at the time), so you might be able to get a good deal that way also.
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The power cable to the SN2, when using a Hicap, provides the power to the power amp. If you want to hear what purpose it serves, just try unplugging it!
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I will take your word for it, wondering though if upgrading both cables is beneficial?
The consensus on the forum is upgrading power cables on all equipment is beneficial and thats certainly my personal experience, its well worth the money fir the sound quality improvements, on all equipment.
Is it? I’m not so sure. I’d do dedicated mains before buying fancy cables. Get the foundations right.
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My view is a dedicated mains still comes from your main incoming mains fuse/mcb box, so still susceptable to “electrical noise” on the mains system unless you have devices in circuit to filter it out or surpress it.
Is not a dedicated mains also a fancy cable and very expensive for an electrician to install?
Have you tried it?
I know from professional experience that your best approach would be to manage the electrical noise on your mains system. Installing dedicated mains is helpful in that regard I agree but there are other options too as Ive eluded to to get rid of/reduce the electrical noise on the mains system.
For me personally in my house my main living room power sockets are fed from a dedicated radial circuit which is separate to the rest of my house electrical circuits, one of the benefits of being an electrical engineer and designing your own house extension.
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In my limited experience, there will be a difference when different power cords are used on all equipment. The real question is how big is the difference or is the sound an improvement or degradation, and whether the money spent on the new cable is worth it or not. Sometimes, the different sound you get may be worse. That you have to try out. Also, the magnitude of difference can be small or negligible at times. Different people hear differently, sometimes in the same system, you may hear a difference but others may not hear it.
Sorry for the long winded post. Fwiw I use costly power cords in my system mostly on non-Naim gear. The difference may not be night and day but it’s an important one. I tried switching back and forth between the cords and once you are familiar with the sound of the cord after living with it for a while, replacing it with another cord you will feel the music sound less appealing or good, and at that moment you will want that cord back to the system.
In summary, you can get some advice here but ultimately you need to try it out yourself.
Good luck.
Thanks I think I will try one and work my way through the components one by one.
No. You can hunt down an expensive audiophile cable for it if you really want to, but the usual recommendation is just standard T&E cable, but thicker 10mm rather than the usual 2.5mm typically used for a UK domestic mains circuit.
My point exactly, running a thicker cable than regular 2.5mm twin and earth into an existing house using a qualified electrician will not be cheap!
Far cheaper than any Naim box, and depending on the cable run, maybe less than a Powerline. In Naim terms I’d call that cheap.
HH is correct here. Power cables can help decouple equipment from microphonics borne through the floor and wall socket. But that’s unlikely to be as noticeable as dedicated mains and earthing.
That said, since the topic is power cables, I’ll provide a recommendation. In terms of cost perforrmance Furutech do a non audiophile range aimed purely at pro audio and studios. I use these between wall and power strips (PowerLines or Luxman lines from there to hifi). That pro audio range provides serious benefits at a fraction of the cost. Even it’s flagship Empire cable is about a quarter the price of their audiophile range. Designed for low resistance, high curent, and some studio abuse.
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When I had a similar system, I did the SN2 first, then the Hi-Cap and then the XPS DR. BTW regarding dedicated mains, NZ doesn’t have radial circuits for the whole house and if the mains pollution is from external to the house, dedicated mains may not do much. I’ve haven’t done it, and found Powerlines to be very beneficial across my system.
You might find some second hand, I just sold a couple of spare ones with my 250 DR. They are still advertised in Australia, though importing them won’t be cheap. You could also try Supra cables on Trade Me, I’ve found them excellent to deal with, they do hi-fi power leads too, and pricing is pretty good.
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I was sceptical about the improvements power cables could make until I had some on home trial. After investing in 3 Powerlines over a period of about 6 months (each of the from the bay of e’s at around 60% of new price) I continued to be curious.
That curiosity resulted in a recent home demo of the mains block and then the mains cable supplying it with juice from the wall.
That has now resulted in my bank account lightening by an amount less than a new Naim black box but delivering a system wide benefit that I will no longer class as snake oil.
Good luck in your power cable deliberations. I feel sure you’ll come to appreciate the benefits that only really hit home when you swap the new upgrade back out for its predecessor. In my case that was an experiment that didn’t take long to deliver proof.
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At £2k the Chord PowerHaus M6 is surely one premium block. All the critical equipment in my system go direct to the wall outlet while less critical components go to the cheap mains extension block. Perhaps one day when I’m ready I might try one. Not many good options in the market. The Audioquest Niagara is also an interesting option but they work on different principles, I believe.