Powerlines

I only think it’s an upgrade with an Napsc 2 and you can use an Powerline as you did,
but absolutely it’s not for free.
I agree that the Hicap DR do not suit the Nac 82.

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Ah man, now you got me thinking about that :smile:

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I think it’s logical, but when I did this very thing I found everything sounded a tad bright.

Ultimately, I found it’s a case of trial and error and just see what gives you more ‘bang for your buck’ - it might be on the Wireworld Matrix, it might be on an individual component supplied by that or separate wall socket.

Interesting on the brightness comment. I will try that out when year-end spring cleaning comes. And maybe purchase one more PL on stand-by testing.

You’re not from this planet then?

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I only have 2 x PLs……one on the 300DR and the other on the SCDR (252).
Job done.

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hi Toon, and your streamer / DAC ?

My NDX has a Titan Audio Helios Signature mains cable and my Klimax Radikal2 has Chord Signature Aray. Rega Aura has its included high quality mains cable.

So a mix and match really but thought I’d put the Powerlines where they deliver the most benefit

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Thank you :slight_smile:

Cable threads always make me smile. I see this as a good thing. I truly believe that it is the cost that is the overriding factor. We all view the value of money in a different way. A tenner for me is maybe like £100 (or more) to someone else. I’m pretty sure that if a cable makes a difference then I would hear it. But it probably wouldn’t be enough to make me care.

People upgrade cables, compare them a bit sighted and then enjoy them. Better cables will elevate the system to a higher level of performance. Blind test is usually brought up in discussions by non-believers but rarely carried out as there isn’t much purpose in that.

It all depends on how people wish to spend their money. The system will sound fine with standard cables which come free in the box. Nevertheless, costlier systems do benefit from better cables as they are more revealing especially 282/250DR upwards. Cheaper components are not so revealing so most people who own these systems may not hear much when the cables are swapped.

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I understand that markets are full of third party upgrades, my point is that I understood that Naim try to make as best possible out of the box products so would ensure that any interconnects/cables are perfect for the job, and in any case (as with many top shelf products in any market) why or how would an end user or third party manufacturer feel or manage to make an upgrade that significantly improves a product? As an example and for this reason many Porsche owners obsess in using OE parts rather than generic for servicing etc.

Thanks for your reply but my question was whether one could actually pick out which leads were being heard in a blind test - this remains largely un answered. I have genuine scepticism over whether any real upgrade is offered by non standard cables (standard cables btw are certainly not ‘free’ in the box, they are certainly costed and profit is made on them). Your use of the term ‘non believers’ brings to mind that some of the defensive responses to negativity on upgraded cables on this forum are similar, both in weight, emotion and lack of evidence as one hears from some religious folk when standing up for their non evidence based beliefs. I love my Naim kit but surely I am allowed to test opinions that doing things like soldering fuses or laying cables a certain way makes any significant to SQ?

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Any Naim dealer worth their salt should be able to give you a demo of a full-fat Powerline vs. the standard Powerline Lite. If you feel there’s no worthwhile difference then you just saved yourself some extra cash. But if you do, then in my opinion it’s a very worthwhile upgrade. Remember the Powerline is less about the cable itself and more about the mechanical aspects, in particular mechanical decoupling and the strength of the jaw contacts on the IEC pins, which on its own makes an appreciable difference. However, the proof is in the listening; either you hear it and you like it, or you don’t.

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I did not mention that I could not hear differences between my old NAC202 and new NAC252, I’m not sure what you mean

Thanks for the response. I’m not sure about that. Nevertheless, I would like to bring to your attention that blind test is not only strictly applicable to cables but amps as well. Have you tried a blind test on amps before?

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I amended your comment with capitals to what better reflects my understanding. You get a solid start point out of the box, which can also be a solid end point, or can be improved upon, generally with a solid price increase.

Collectors obsess over OEM parts. There is a massive 3rd party aftermarket for performance enhancing modifications, aimed at Porsche enthusiasts. Manthey racing were so successful at it, Porsche bought 51% of them.

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I think blind and double blind tests go a long way to expose snake oils in all walks of life (expensive wines included!), I have recently upgraded from NAC202/NAP200 to 252/300, if I’m so cynical about spending in the order of hundreds on cables I think it would be a fair guess that I wrestled hard to justify spending in the order of thousands on the amps upgrade - fact is I hoped that a 282/250 would suffice but was disappointed/upset/skint to find that the 252/300 had to be obtained no matter how much weighting I gave to “diminishing returns”! I also hear uplifts in SQ from some of the Naim upgrade PS on offer, I used an XPS-DR to power my NDac with pleasing results and had added a NAPSC and Hicap-DR to my 202/200, I also accept that one day I will have to buy a 500PS for my NDS… just saying this to underline that I have done lots of homework and so far in all demonstrations of power cables, interconnects and speaker cables have I been able to detect any difference in SQ between OEM and other brands

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Then one day you will have your own powerline to play with, unless you buy used and the seller keeps the powerline or the 555ps is early enough not to have come with one in the first place. I think it was around the time of the DR units when the powerline was added but I’m not sure exactly when. My non DR certainly didn’t come with one.

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This thread is about powerlines so I’m not sure why you’re mentioning you can’t detect the difference b/w a 202 and a 52. If that’s the case why even bother. Save yourself some time and money.