That’s it
Correct, I did end up getting rid of a few cables I had ‘upgraded’ to. Although I mainly meant for @Hifi_Naim_CNNL to reset their reference point - I added so many things, I could not tell the wood from the trees. If you go back to the ‘vanilla’ out of the box version and then add things back in, you can appreciate the difference each one makes (for better or worse)
I think the HiFi marketing departments prey on people tweaking and sometimes it is good to remember what the original SQ you had is! They must have the easiest marketing job in the world with us lot
Yes - that can happen and I’ve experienced it myself in the past. One can lose one’s bearings and become totally lost and not know which way to go. It can actually be a very disconcerting experience where one begins to doubt the validity of anything.
I agree that in that case the sensible thing to do is go back to the basic out-of-the-box set up and regain one’s perspective. Then learn from it. I’m now extremely careful what I add to my system and I stick to a manufacturer whose products I like the sound of and trust. That way I find that it’s easy to stay on the path to real and consistent improvements that all pull in the same direction.
I think the worst thing to do is to ‘mix and match’ from various manufacturer’s product ranges. It can work, but it requires a lot of intense listening and keeping your eyes on the ball to make sure one improvement doesn’t nullify a previous one. I don’t have the stamina or the guts for that any more.
Hi, I’m sure lots of folks will disagree, but I wholeheartedly agree you I’ve kept mine to three brands now - MCRU (basically Furutech with an MCRU heatshrink covering their name…), Chord Company and, of course, Naim (which I have just realised spells Main backwards…oh my…)
I have compared Hydra vs Powerline vs Powerline plugged into a Star Earth mains block. In my set up a have a dedicated 32a 10mm2 audio only spur with a separate earth rod, in our set up the whole system plugged into a Star Earth mains block is much better than the Hydra. Hydra is initially very dynamic, more bass but the music does not seem to flow as well as the alternative.
Not at my school it didn’t
More worryingly, i just checked the fuse in my 4 headed Hydra. Not only was the fuse not Bussman, it was fitted the wrong way around. Not rectified.
Why bother checking it if you are not going to rectify it???
Fat fingers ! Should be Now rather than Not ! Ill not edit the original post, as it would make no sence reading on…
Nice deliberate typo there. I see what you did and I like it
That’s an interesting observation, not so much in the context of the Hydra or mains block, but rather the 10mmsq spur. At a previous property I had this and when compared to the standard ring main the difference was exactly as you describe. The music flowed much better with the standard supply so I reverted to that.
We may be getting off-topic, and this may not be relevant but….
I was advised not to use 10mm cable unless I could use it all the way through - many people seem to use 10mm from the meter but use 6mm between multiple daisy-chain sockets. The bad effect of doing that was described just as you say.
I know just what you maen…
As mentioned, all my Naim boxes have been on a Hydra into a dedicated supply from meter to sockets.
I have just bought a s/h 552, and it came with a Powerline. That means that I got to do a proper listening test on Powerline versus Hydra - should I use it for the XPSDR feeding the NDX2, the 552, the 300 or not use it at all?
So far, the 552 is impressing. However, my initial hearing is that replacing any Hydra head with Powerline into the next dedicated socket along makes no obvious difference to my SQ at all.
If pushed, I’d say it is fractionally different and perhaps better on the 300DR, but any effect is small and possibly illusory. Any effect on 552 is smaller still and I definitely can’t hear any benefit when using the Powerline on the streamer.
Of course, this may all simply show that I am a bit deafer than many. Or that the Hydra star-earthing really helps keep things quiet and hanging together and that matters as much as removing one source of noise on one box?
As a few others have suggested, perhaps what would make the difference to my ears is a Hydra-rival made of Powerlines or equivalent. Not cheap…
After spending a small fortune on expensive mains leads only to end up using well made DIY versions, I concur with your findings. I found little, if any, SQ difference between the two.
The Powerlines on eBay used to go for something above £400 each, but now they appear a lot cheaper, even though the list price has gone up. Being a hardy item, a second hand option makes a lot of sense should you go down that patch
That certainly isn’t my experience. I’ve found that power leads from both The Chord Company and Powerlines have made very substantial improvements indeed to my system.
It’s curious and one wonders what’s going on. Perhaps diffrences in mains supply? We don’t have a dedicated supply and we live in the suburbs of a city so I expect our mains quality is rather poor. For those having a dedicated supply and better quality mains feed from outside it may be that these cables have rather less effect. As I say, it’s curious.
I would expect introducing a Powerline would make a very substantial improvement, regardless of any Hydra or not. Our system isn’t Naim, but using three Powerlines in place of the previous Chord C Power cables, which were already very good indeed, was a huge improvement. Much better dynamics, blacker background, more detail and bigger, bouncier and more solid bass. A lovely improvement and easily worth the cost.
Of course that doesn’t help you. At the end of the day if you don’t hear a worthwhile improvement then just stick with the Hydra and maybe sell the Powerline. You’re not the first to not experience much if any difference. Differences in mains quality perhaps - who can say?
Plus one for that.
DG…
Hi Paul, perhaps that could be the case. I live very close to a large sub-station so it could be I am getting a cleaner/better/less adulterated (whatever the correct adjective is) supply???