So just picked up a 2nd hand Chord Cables Sarum Array Streaming Cable to use with my NDS/555DR network player.
This is the earlier one, not the ‘Super’ or the Sarum T.
It has replaced a Chord Anthem Streaming.
Why does a cable connecting the local switch to the NDS make such a difference?
Everything sharper, just more (width, depth, height).
The Anthem cable is now serving the connection from switch to UltraRendu/UltraCap LPS 1 running the SonoreUPnP Bridge serving the NDS from the Roon Core.
This was using a Silver CAT7 Cable.
Enjoy I do/did love the Chord Streaming cables, for me the Indigo gave the Sarum a close run, the Sarum T was better, I found all the latter cables old gen are very good.
Have any of you tried a Blue Jeans Cables Cat 5e or 6a? I find these significantly better than audiophile streaming cables especially ones with metal connectors.
I’ve tried just about everything from manky old Sky ones, the £3 Amazon, Supra, AQ Vodka, Chord, Belden, but the Synergistic Research blows them all away, for me it is the cable grounding and graphene.
Blue Jeans Cables measure perfectly, which is why I wondered if you tried one. Of course, it doesn’t follow that the best measuring cables will sound the best.
I am not keen on cables with metal connectors as I prefer the isolation plastic connectors afford. This together with Ethernet’s inherent galvanic isolation would seem to me to be right on the money. BJC Cat5e and 6a meet all these criteria.
I know nothing about Synergistic Research cables though. Looked at web site, but was confused by UEF Graphene shield that follows a strategic matrix or grid pattern for a dramatic reduction in the perceived noise floor. They out of my price range in any case.
i tried perhaps 7 ethernet cables, from 3 euros to 1000. Cheap cat 5se, hanna cat 7, meicord, audioquest forrest, vodka and diamond. Also melco entry level cat 7.
The diamond, the most expensive, is dramatically better than those. Even the vodka, which is less refined and less colorful.
I use the Chord Music streaming (ethernet) cable with my ND555. It put digital streaming into another universe. I was a long time user of the Chord Sarum Tuned Aray ethernet… nothing prepared me for the Music cable. It is truly astonishing how this cable communicates music… hard to believe 1 meter of ethernet cable can make such a difference. I also use the DIN5 and DIN/XLR analog Music cables in my system. Expensive and worth every penny.
Noise shaping.
Essentially the cable is acting as a kind of RF load/stub, and affects the noise floor of the NDS by ‘tuning’ the noise. By shaping the noise you may find on certain devices it changes the sound slightly which you may or may not prefer.
You would likely find similar things if you changed the Burndy lead etc… however that is not a changeable item with Naim, where as the Ethernet and analogue interconnects are.
IIRC a couple of forum members went there. Not a topic that can be discussed here on the forum. You’ll find what you are looking for with a quick google…
Simon, you will need to find another forum to discuss such things. This goes against Naim’s usage policy of this social media site as it is considered an unauthorised modification,