Aah - Entreq is a special sauce, for some components.
I have had a RJ45 Primer (switch to server), and RCA Primer Pro (pre to power, non-Naim) for a year now, and the RCA works well (better than TQ Ultra Black) in my system.
I recently aded a Minimus Infinity box (traded for the TQ Ultra Black RCA) with Konstantin RCA earthing cable - I have tried it on different components - by far the best result has been to put the RCA cable on the unused SPDIF digital out on my ZenMiniII.
I suggest you get a loaner USB earthing cable to try with your Nucleus and whatever earthing box your therapist provides with the Challenger XLR.
As well as the Entreq Challenger XLR, he said he’d bring Entreq Silver 3.5mm ground cables for left & right and a small Entreq Silver Minimus Ground Box.
So far, the TQ Ultra Silver is my preferred option. extremely good. Reveals a lot more detail than the Ultra Black2 while carrying some superb bass. Even though it was well burned in, the Silver did take quite a few hours to settle in but iy is very impressive with the TT2 / Etude combo. The Entreq and Black Diamond TQ have to be really good to knock it off that top spot!
He’s dropping them off midday today for a weekend of intense audio therapy
Toon,
With grounding it is worth just trying some experiments BEFORE spending the moolah the Entreq ask for.
M
I will do. The Entreq aren’t new but even so, are a bit of an unknown for me. My default at the moment is the TQ Ultra Silver. The other two really have to demonstrate they are worth the extra couple of hundred to buy them.
I agree Mr.U., for example adding the minimus box to my pre-amp earlier in the week detracted from the system - but moving it back to the ZenMiniII+LPSU really lifted the whole digital performance with all protocols (roonready, squeezelite, UPnP) that I can use in my main system - and gives my brand new Sonore OpticalRendu + my original HugoTT2 in combination a whole new performance level. I was partly causing my own problems because I also changed the speaker links to TQSilverII at the same time, so it took me a while to work out what had caused the issue.
Also, I would not suggest Entreq or other forms of grounding with Naim Classic or 500 series as Naim have their own way of addressing power supplies and earthing.
Bit the bullet and confirmed my order this morning. Four to six weeks for the amp to be built. Rather strange to now have to move on lots of black boxes but I love the sound of the Ultima and it takes up so much less space on the rack
It must have made quite the impression! It looks to be a fantasy amp… and saves space, less interconnects and power leads to buy as well!
Just seen the 4-6 week wait time. Are they letting you borrow the one you have until then?
Glad it’s been a success for you👍🏻
This one belongs to Chord and is a demo amp which they won’t sell so mine will be built to order
If I’d gone new build with the Etude, it was a 6-8 week wait time so seems fairly consistent!
How did the sound compare between ultima and your 282/250dr…
I have the same naim amp… interesting change maybe I’ll audition a chord amp ASAP
More open and clear than the Naim with more detail and better soundstaging. Some music sounds almost real and especially live music. The Naim has a darker sound, especially in the mid range, and sounds like it has more ‘grunt’ with hard rock music although the opposite is actually true. The Naim is properly set up with all the proper cables etc whereas the Chord is stuck on top of my stack with phono rather than XLR so I suspect there is even more to come from the Chord. Neither is better or worse in my view, just depends what presentation you prefer. I prefer the Chords and there is the added benefit of one, admittedly large, box replacing five black ones
Thanks very good review !
And which cables are you using with naim ?
Heavens. That’s a beast
No Xmas lights needed in your house with that Chord stack !
Just a thought … how are you going to use the Rega turntable ?
Ha, true enough, they can all be dimmed though
Looks good and glad you’re pleased. You don’t tend to see Chord amps mentioned much outside of magazine reviews so it’s been interesting to read some ‘real world’ views for a change.
I’m not, I sold it recently as part of my drive to reduce sources but increase the quality of the one I use most. I will sell the NAT05 too which will be painful as it’s a wonderful tuner but analogue. All my cables, apart from usb, are tellurium q black at the moment
A few Chord amp owners on this thread, loving my Etude.
You won’t need a Christmas tree for sure!