For me it’s an evidence. Was during many years with the idea that speakers cables are not worth upgrading. Until recently , one year ago, when I finally bought the Audience 24 U SRX: so much more nuances, colourful sound, ricer on tones and textures, clarity….
The Naca 5 and Apertura cables I had before were in fact bottlenecks.
No DSP can uncover hidden details and the richness of the original sound .
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Unless you think all cables have the same frequency response or sound the same to those of us using our ears?
No cable is perfect … well, apart from NACA5, obviously!
I ended up with over £3k of Synergistic Research foundation speaker cables, it was more a full loom thing for me, very happy.
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Eric Morecombe…all the right notes…
…but not necessarily in the right order.
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Naca5 is good. It’s a great all rounder. But it does lack the transparency of better cables. Right now I’m back with Oephi Ascendance and wow what a cable. Something completely different than TQ Ultra Black II, Phantom and Naca5. Speaker cables can change the presentation in a dramatic way. Challenge is knowing what is preferred long term. So many flavours.
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Choice of speaker cable has a very significant impact on the sound of a system. Most of us don’t have Naim speakers so it’s definitely worth experimentation due to the variables at play.
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I don’t see any problem even spending £30000 on a pair of speaker cable if someone could afford.
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Hi Slamdam do you really mean Tellurium Ultra Black 2? It is more expansive than the Oephi Ascendance. Or do you mean tellurium Black II?
I mean Ultra. Price and performance is not always a match. Of course there is synergy and taste and such in this mixture too but Oephi have created something special indeed. Have a read over at the Ear on both their Lounge and Transcendance/Imm range. They replaced the writers Ultra Black II as the reference cables as I understand it.
I currently use Naim SL cables between Naim amp and Kudos loudspeakers. It sounds fine, but I do plan to try KS-1 to see what all the fuss is about.
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I also use TQ Ultra Black II with 252DR/300DR/606 but I’m very tempted to try alternatives like Kudos KS-1.
Hi Slamdam thanks for your answer and your thoughts. I had a homedemo with different speaker cables like Vovox sonorus, Naca5, Tellurium Black II, and at least Tellurium Ultra Black II, which was a preloved one from my dealer. Each cable has is own sound signature. But the Ultrablack II had a much better soundstage, resolution and better bass compared to all others. This was immediately audible and it was a big difference. And it is another price range. So I bought it second hand and I am satisfied with it. I don’t know the Oephi and have never heard about this manufacturer before. It seems to be similar in construction to the Tellurium Ultra Black II, at least externally. And of course I respect your experience. Happy new year from Switzerland
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The Ultra Black II is a great cable with similar parallell design as Oephi but there the similarities stop. Ultra to my ears, room and system is still a rather coloured cable leaning to the warm side. I guess one go to Ultra Silver if you want something else, something bit more neutral. Compared to my Oephi the coloration on Ultra Black blurred the mids and got bit to “heavy” for my ears long term. Oephi is full stop transparent. Nothing sticks out and timing, speed, details, bandwidth is showing you what your system and recordings can perform. The bass has the most beautiful depth, airiness and definition I’ve heard. It doesn’t bloom and disrupt which cables like naca5, phantom and Ultra Black II can do to a greater extent. Many would probably call them more “fun” and forgiving/allrounder.
But that’s just my own evaluation and system. What is important to know is that all systems can be “tuned” a lot by using different speaker cables even though it can be questioned that a cable should colorise to such extent.
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Having heard both the Kudos and Phantom cable through my system I’d have to say they are both a big improvement over the NACA5.
I much prefer the Phantom over the Kudos despite owning 707s. I know others who are just as keen on the Kudos over the Phantom.
I think once you get into similar ranges the preferences are very subtle and personal.
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Yep - I’ve had both Phantom and KS-1 on my 606s and prefer the KS-1…….BUT…….I’m looking forward to seeing what Spectres will do when they arrive next month.
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I recently tried the Vertere Pulse X Mini on my 202/200, yes in many ways it is better than the NAC A5, deeper bass, more expansive stage, even more dynamic in some ways and considerably more resolution. All in all I though wow for a few days. The amp sounded like it had much better grip on the speaker too.
When I put A5 back though, it sounded really good, and musically very enjoyable. Now I can clearly hear again why A5 has so many fans.
The A5 does not have the resolution or dynamics of the Vertere, but it just is so enjoyable and at a reasonable price.
This was apparent in the song “sledgehammer” which was covered by Harry Styles on you tube. I can hear extra details/dyanmics on the Vertere cable, but the A5 just sounded enjoyable without the extra resolution.
I can’t explain this … strange. The A5 is really very good !
Could be a few reasons
- the A5 has much lower capacitance?
- The Vertere isn’t specifically designed for a Naim amp?
- all that extra resolution could be a distraction?
- The A5 has the inductance needed in a cable?
- Both cables were 3.5M
@110dB any suggestions?
Speaker is a Dynadio excite X16
I may well go back to the vertere cable again to see how it sounds for a few weeks, but the A5 is still really good.
I got the NAC A5 bundled together with the 202/200 which I bought used many years ago. It’s surely good value 
After reading your success story with the NAC A5, I might just give it a go sometime although it won’t be used on a long term basis in the main system for two reasons ; (1) the length (3.5m pair) is too short and (2) the cable is too stiff to work with. My amps are now located on the side wall so longer lengths are necessary. Having said that, I briefly tried the NAC A5 last year for the 5th time maybe just to see if it could give the Chord Signature XL a run for the money. It was a short stint as the sound got muffled with loss of air and fine detail especially in the treble the moment the NAC A5 went in.
Perhaps the NAC A5 may sound great with brighter sounding speakers. Not so much with warmer or transparent sounding speakers.
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