It’s the cable shaker that does it !!
BTW I do recommend their HFTN additions… mitigates that pesky RFI intermodulation distortion that can otherwise rob hifi performance… one of the best ways of getting the best performance out of digital sources to sound natural and analogue when feeding transistor/solid state pre amps across the audio pass band.
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So… I compared the HiLine again with the Lavender. Again, I prefer the Lavender. And not to sound like a douche, but I can’t hear a „several hundred Euros“ difference…the HiLine here is at 1099€.
So, all fine with the Lavender.
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I agree with your findings Thorsten. Only Chord Music improves substantially over Lavender IMO. The price difference is huge also.
Thats great advice, Simon, thanks. I will give them a call Mon / Tue and go from there.
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Anyone try the Av Options din cable? It is even more expensive than the TQ Silver Diamond I had…
I used a HiLine for several years. I found it preferable to the standard cable - my recollection is that the sound seemed more fleshed out and weighty without being in any way slow - but I always felt the improvement was barely worth the cost.
I’ve bought various AV Options power cables down the years, and was interested when they announced their interconnect range, especially as I’d gotten fed up with the HiLine’s fragility. I went for their HiLine replacement between my SuperCap / SuperLine and my 552, and found the improvement immediate and pronounced. It’s probably the best cable upgrade of any kind that I’ve made. A bonus of sorts is that AV Options claim that it takes 150 hours to fully burn in. Because my LP listening time is constrained, I’m still barely 2/3 of the way through that, and am appreciating the small but worthwhile improvements I hear every week or so - less grain (not that it was at all grainy to begin with) and more fluidity.
Speaking as a cable sceptic, I’m now more than a little curious about what benefits other cables in their range might bring e.g. a pair of XLRs for my 300.
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I am curious of what a cable sceptic thinks. Clearly cable connections between an un matched source and sink will be dependent on the electrical characteristics of that cable in terms of modification of the signal, most likely through reactance. However this also means the effect of the cable will depend on the products it’s connecting of course. Also pressure contacts in plugs and sockets are far from ideal, so you choose your compromise.
However given the above, it doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot for specially marketed products for the well healed audiophile… suitable and better cables can be had very affordably, especially if handy with a soldering iron.
Is a cable sceptic sceptical about the marketing of certain cables, or a sceptic of the physics and electronics?
I also have a HiLine and I don’t find it miles away in terms of presentation from Lavender. Just a tad more transparent. In 10 years, it’s never broken either. I use both and Lavender works brilliantly on some sources. But back to the core of the OP’s question, a few points:
- The Lavendar isn’t a cheap cable. It’s lower cost than some others. That doesn’t make it “cheap”.
- For reasons I’ve never been sure off, some components/brands response to pricier cables more than others. Although you can throw SuperLumina at a Naim system, it will still perform superbly with the supplied Lavendar. Whereas if you take Arcam as an example, even the entry level stuff really responds to much better cable.
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To clarify, I’m sceptical about the claims made for high priced cables. Until recently, the only high priced cables I owned were PowerLines and a HiLine. My impression of all of them is that they bring something worthwhile to the table, but it’s not at all transformational and I sometimes struggle to justify the expense.
I’ve also bought several relatively inexpensive power cables from AV Options, and my recollection is that all of them were good value for money. This gave me some confidence in taking a punt on their new range of cryo-treated interconnects. The latter are quite expensive but, based on my experience of the one I bought, very good vfm, especially in the context of what we pay for box upgrades.
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I totally agree… and in my opinion, some of the fiction that goes with such products is completely fanciful…
But I guess without such fiction certain consumers wouldn’t buy them…
As far as cable constructs themselves, I do find silver plated copper can modify the signal to rob realism. Sure it can add a bit of fizz and add artificial detail, but to the detriment of the audio.
Also in my opinion coax is not ideal for small signals on un matched interfaces… the capacitance reactance can filter… to which you might want to counter with using silver plated copper… and you can see before too long you have a Frankenstein that sounds initially impressive but tires your brain,
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Quite honestly, I had the Chord Signature DIN to DIN on my ND5XS2 because I had it from before. It was pretty good, although extremely expensive. Then I just recently traded in the ND5XS2 for a used NDX2 and decided to run it with the Chord too. But something felt „weird/amiss“. So I just for fun plugged in the Lavender and I couldn’t believe my ears. For about 1000€ cheaper, it blew the Chord away. Then I borrowed a HiLine and after 2 sessions I decided to stay with the Lavender, give back the HiLine and sell the Chord.
The Lavender is outstanding value for money…even on a 7000€ streamer…
I am not a cable sceptic, but in my system, power cables had the most profound effect. I have 2 Vertere RedLine, one on the Supernait 2 and the other on the NDX2. Phenomenal improvement. I got them at a reasonable price off a demo-room from my dealer.
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Very surprised that you don’t prefer the Hiline ,with a digital source.
Everyone is different, no? 
I’m not! 
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Were they all broken in ?
The Lavender DIN that came with my Solstice is an exceptional sounding cable. Far better than previous Lavender DINs I own. I can only surmise Naim found a better supplier for this cable?
I use mine with an older NDX and it’s very good sounding.
Is there a way to spot the difference if buying them?
I don’t understand how you can rate the Lavender so highly. It’s a cable that’s possibly worth it’s cost and when you get it for free it’s excellent but it’s really nothing special to my ears. The Hiline is good and competes with other quite good cables, however it’s expensive and you can do better with less money. I haven’t heard DNM but they look interesting. If you have a highly resolving system with say a 282 or 252 you should benefit from better cables than both the Lavender and the Hiline.
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It’s good to hear that Denis is still going strong!
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