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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