Power Cord for Naim ND5 XS

Posted by: bb7668 on 14 May 2012

Dear Naimers,

I recently bought the ND5 XS and it comes with a rather unassuming power cord. Just want to ask if it is common to use the stock power cord supplied by Naim? Indeed, are you using the stock power cord supplied by Naim?

The sales maintained that it was OK to use stock cable and Naim's gears are not very sensitive about the power cable. I do not have the opportunity to try out the stock cable as it comes with standard MK 13A plug and my wall socket is US style. If it is indeed that good, I might consider changing the standard MK plug to US style plug and give the stock cable a try.

Many thanks in advance.

Posted on: 14 May 2012 by Jon Myles

The feeling seems to be use the stock power cord or go for the Powerline (not cheap - but they are effective).

Naim do put a fair bit of time into ensuring the supplied power leads are high-quality - so I'd try the supplied one first before moving to something different.

Posted on: 14 May 2012 by McGhie

The stock leads have been carefully selected by Naim and are perfectly adequate (though you can pay to upgrade them - they are around 20% of the price of a ND5 XS)). The OP has been supplied with a UK power lead but requires a US one. I would assume that there is a stock (selected by Naim) US power lead, and that it would be preferable to seek one other these than to swap over the UK plug for a US one. Where did you get your ND5 XS? Is it possible to request a stock US lead or swap your supplied UK one for a stock US one? Cheers Ian

Posted on: 15 May 2012 by bb7668

Dear Jon and McGhie,

Thanks for your replies and they are useful.

I reside and bought the Naim in Hong Kong and so the supplied power cord was 13A UK style. I asked the official dealer in Hong Kong and it claimed that they did not have the stock US style cable for exchange. However, it did have an optional (ungraded version) US style power cord produced by Naim for sale.

Anyway, I bought a fairly decent US plug and am prepared to do a little bit of DIY work this weekend.

Posted on: 16 May 2012 by Madrid

I also bought the ND5 SX recently. I demoed it at home both with the standard Naim power cord and with the Power-Line. IMHO, the Power-Line definitely added some clarity and resolution, especially connected to the XPS. Not as much as the more expensive nDAC, but I think it is good value, and I am buying one.

Posted on: 19 May 2012 by Zinger

bb7668, The stock power cord actually works well with the Naim boxes. As far as I know, the stock cable is just a computer cable that Naim selected. You may opt for the more expensive Powerline, which retails for about 5000 HKD new. However, to me, that is the item that gave the least improvement out of all the upgrades I did. For the same price of a Powerline, my power strip actually did more. Due to local regulations, our local dealer cannot sell cords equipped with US plugs. FYI, US-version Powerlines use Wattgate 5266i (about 80HKD). Discussing modifications of Naim equipment is against forum rules here ... So that's as much as I can tell you over here. For your guide, I use US Powerlines for my Pre and power amp.

Posted on: 20 May 2012 by bb7668

Dear Zinger,

Thanks for your input.

I would like to confirm your statement that the stock cable supplied by Naim that, in terms of sonic performance, it is just a computer cable. It is fully functional and certainly lives up to its reputation as a stock power cable. With the new US plug, the stock cable sounds thin and uninvolved. When switch back to a more "proper" power cord, everything is back to normal. Placebo effect? Not quite as the difference is more than obvious.

To be fair, this incident does prove one thing - there is no miracle in hi-fi. If you want better sound, you have to pay for it. Whether Powerline is a worthy upgrade is another topic for discussion. Again, thanks for confirming my suspicion.

Posted on: 20 May 2012 by Zinger

Hi bb7668, The stock cable certainly works well as is. That's why to me, I either stick with stock cable, or get a Powerline. I guess that's one of the things that I like about Naim ... They have all the power cords and interconnects sorted out. I'm sure there are better ones out there, but I'm too lazy/cheap to try non-Naim products. I'm going with non-Naim setup for my CAS, and it's really driving me nuts ... ! Just can't decide on what to get, and the buying/testing process seems like it could involve a lot of "frictional" costs in between Cheers

Posted on: 20 May 2012 by Zinger

As for stock cable being a computer cable ... I remember reading that from somewhere (think its on this forum?). I suppose you could try to see if there are part numbers printed on the cable, and run a search on the Internet to verify.

Posted on: 20 May 2012 by bb7668

Dear Zinger,

For the Powerline, the feedback has been mixed. It ranges from "Must Have" to "Marginally Better". If I am not mistaken, you admitted that the Powerline was the least effective "upgrade" you have conducted. I fully understand why you want to make things simple and going for the Naim approved Powerline is the most foolproof solution. Trust me, I also went through the trouble of searching for the right power cord for my other gears.

However, spending nearly 30% of the price of the ND5XS on the matching power cable may be a bit over the top for me. I would save up a bit for the XP5 XS instead. Comparatively speaking, it seems more value for money.

Posted on: 20 May 2012 by Zinger

Originally Posted by bb7668:

Dear Zinger,

Hey BB7668,

Try out the Powerline yourself at the local dealer and see you you feel about it. But ya, if I were to do it again, I would get the black boxes I want first before going to PL. I went for PL first because I got a very good deal out of them ... in fact, I'm thinking of letting go some of mine and upgrade my HiCaps to SuperCap at this point.

Posted on: 21 May 2012 by rich46

the best upgrade of any standard cable is to shorten it. a good 13A plug is vital MK IS A GOOD CHOICE