it sure is - I find some of the best cables are non shielded copper cables with a relatively low capacitance and inductance… they don’t tend to look blingy and don’t tend to cost a lot - the most expensive aspects being the actual plugs - but for higher performance that tends to be what I go for… I guess in some ways the might emulate PCB tracks.
The big but is that I find cables really do vary in suitability depending on what they are connecting between. Some source need a bit of sparkle, some others need a bit of higher end filtering… and some are pretty neutral - but then need a neutral cable to match. I also find lower capacitance and lower inductance cables help with preserving subtle transients - though might need more careful handling and placement.
It is a case of trial and error I find for those sources that you will use for immersive listening where any anomalies will start to grate after a while.
Its a testament to the Nait50 on how revealing and transparent it is such that it can reveal the differences in interconnects so markedly.
I agree it’s somewhat difficult, system dependent etc. but as a rule of thumb I would not go with less than 1k retail or so interconnect together with Nait 50
I know what you mean. Years ago, when Mana was in vogue, aficionados said the LP12 sounded best on Mana with the baseboard removed. Even when the Trampolin 2 came along, there seemed to be a consensus that Mana was the one support that it didn’t sound better on.
I gave the no-baseboard option a shot, and found the improvement worthwhile - there was just something right and natural about the sound, and I’ve been reluctant to interfere with it. A couple of years later Linn introduced the solid base, which was really just a rigid metal plate, secured by a dozen or so screws. This should be an improvement on any surface, yet I can’t bring myself to ask my dealer to drill a bunch of holes in my plinth to make a change that I might only find “different, but not better.”
I keep an open mind on speaker stands. If someone comes out with a beefy hollow metal stand with upward facing spikes and the ProAc community decides that they’re the bees knees, I might be tempted to change (my ATC SCM7s were happiest on spindly open frame metal stands, but my Tablette Signature 10s seem to like a bit of weight under them).
Or you can make your own… you can get your own exotic cables from Hifi Collective as well as exotic connectors, other home brew suppliers exist… and you can make some damn fine connectors that cost a tenth or less of what you would pay for a ready packaged connector… assuming they are even available.
If you can solder, have reasonable eye sight, can use a continuity meter… I strongly recommend. I have made up some fantastic connectors (in my opinion… ) in the past.
Interconnects are one of those areas where I feel price doesn’t always necessarily align with performance. Its the specific cable characteristics to match the source and sink which in my opinion is key.
Come on…really …this is where daftys ruin the forum for reasonable discussion.
Out of the total number of owners of the Nait 50 who honestly is going to spend over 1k on an interconnect .
What I had in the systems (only ic) were Linn Black and Silver, Silnote Morpheus, Kondo vc, Sablon Panatela, Black Cat Lupo 2, Audio Replas 9000, Lavander, DNM, Tellurium Black Diamond, Super Lumina and couple of others.
In general I know quite well what are the good cables doing. 1k level like Black Diamond or Kondo is a minimum for me with Nait 50, it’s literally difficult to listen to Lavander or DNM after that. 2k level like Super Lumina or Audio Replas are significantly better. And 3k+ interconnects like Kondo ls or Stealth Indra will be better again.
Idk but as usual system sounds like its weakest components, those can easily be cables. Let’s take another example - if you’re running a separate dac, you need at least 4 Power lines (streamer, dac, power supply and closest router/switch). Those will be more than ndac and so what - it’s a must to know what the system is capable of.
I’ve tried several RCA-DIN ICs on my Nait 50. The top 2 in cost and performance were the Chord Sig TA and the SL. Both were better than the others and the SL clearly better than the Chord. I think the point that is being made here - the Nait 50 is good enough to show this. I had the SL on demo and I did not keep it purely due to disproportionate cost as this is my smaller office system. If for my main setup, I would have possibly kept the SL.
Good for you, I will ignore the possible preach nonsens in future.
FWIW I ran a Chord Signature cable which was bright, tilted and not something that matched my setup.
Went to a Rega Couple 3, six or seven times cheaper - or thereabouts - walked over the Chord (which usually do some fine cables.
Mind there’s only a handfull of real cable factories WW, Brands order their own specs, but raw cable doesn’t always vary much.
Goodnight.
I’ll bite… better in what way better? Reactance?
Some cables will have a low reactance across the pass band, and others will be higher? Some will have a higher reactance outside the pass band. Or are you referring to shielding / twin feed differential noise rejection. All of these characteristics will have different impacts depending on what they are connecting between. Clearly there is not size that optimally fits all use cases.
I’m referring to sound quality only, it’s as obvious as any component change. However limitations of the system don’t necessarily lie in the interconnect. You mentioned you’re running Dave which I haven’t owed but heard and like. But what power cable are you using with it?
