I have just upgraded my New Classic system from 222/300/250 to 333/332/1x300/250.
As a seasoned Naimee I know the stock cables, which come in the boxes, can be improved to give more of the good stuff.
I have up-upgraded the stock XLRs which go between pre amp and power amp to Van den Hul The Integration Hubrid to good effect. As I have now moved to separate streamer and pre amp, I am keen to look at improving the stock DIN/DIN interconnect.
I will of course let the system settle in with stock cable and the Van den Huls to get a fix on a baseline sound before I do any cable testing.
So I am interested in which non-standard cables the good and great in this place are using with your New Classic systems.
My favorite cables for the New Classic (or any Naim gear) are the AV Options Signal cables. Nothing comes close for the price and they add all the goodness without sacrificing the PRaT.
I assume Super Lumina DIN DIN is off your list then? I had Sarum T in the past but found it wanted to be too much and sold it rather quick. There was a glossy shine over it lacking coherence.
I have stuck with the standard Naim cables so far. When I experimented with other brands for previous kit, I invariably went back to Naim cables. I will be interested to hear what others have tried.
No experience of NC but with a variety of OC configurations upstream of the power amp I’ve tried alternatives but have always come back to Naim’s own. SL between NDX2 and 552 and powerlines throughout. Speakers Chord Odyssey, tried a couple of others including Naca 5 but I suspect this is speaker dépendant and have come back to the Chord.
I had to downsize smartly to one rack of Fraim when I moved home, and the NC 222/300/250 seemed the smart way to do it.
So impressed with the NC gear, I was left wanting (a bit) more. As you know, Naim is infectious. So moving from 3 to 4 boxes, so still within my limit of one rack of Fraim and no brain/brawn split - not going there again, I can’t.
I will assume Naim have had it as their reference cable for that system. However, I do as @GraemeH find the included Lavender very good between my NSS333/555PSDR and Nait 50 for the same reasons as him (musicality). But I’ll get myself a SL DIN DIN when a good deal turns up since I enjoyed it alot in my former system.
Or maybe just stick with the lavender and save yourself the time, money and constant fretting over whether you’ve got the right/best cable? I’ve gone full circle on this multiple times now and wasted a lot of money in the process. I’m currently using the stock xlr cables on my NAP350s and have sold my Ansuz cables. I can’t say I’m noticing much difference for how much they cost….and I no longer second guess myself all the time.
The thing is also you very fast forget about former presentation and adapt to the new one. And the worst sum of parts will still be amazing on high end level
Exactly! I don’t think I am able to pick out the nuances in sound like many of you are able to on this forum. However, my view is the boxes account for 95% of the sound and the cables 5%. It’s a case of chasing marginal gains for what is often the same price as the boxes themselves! I think speaker cables are the one area I can really notice the difference. I do also remember the SL DIN making a notable improvement between my NDX2 and 252 when I had them.
I have KS-1, SL, Ansuz C2 and NACA5 here. Have enjoyed SL a lot now but will put KS-1 back coming weeks. I know I was very amazed by how great KS-1 sounded.
Indeed, and my concern is that those marginal gains achieved by, say upgrading from stock cables to SL, will be less in a NC 300 system than gains achieved in a OC 500 system.
