Audioquest NRG 1.5 fig 8 cable for Muso Qb

Posted by: Nic Chan on 14 July 2016

Bought a Muso Qb for my office had a brief listen to it with the stock cable and it sounded great. The only upgradable thing would be the power cord so I did some research and the Nordost Purple flare caught my eyes but unfortunately it was sold out in Hong Kong and waiting to restock. So I went for the Audioquest NRG 1.5 and WOW what a surprise I never expected to get marginal improvement with SQ! Everything opened up vocals sounds smoother bass deeper and tighter and the Naim signature PRAT was there! Timing was spot on. Enjoying it very much and would love to share my findings with you all.

cheers

Posted on: 14 July 2016 by Finkfan

Sounds like Naim need to develop another Powerline!

Posted on: 14 July 2016 by hungryhalibut

I use an Audioquest NRG on my Qb, and it seemed to give something of a lift to the sound.

Posted on: 14 July 2016 by Jay Coleman

Try the AV Options AVO TibiaC7 Deep-Cryo AC cable. It's only $30. I've used them to replace C7 cords and they sound great.

Posted on: 17 July 2016 by Nic Chan

Btw HH any idea how long it takes for the Qb to fully run in and settle?

Posted on: 18 July 2016 by hungryhalibut

It seemed to improve for a while, though I don't really listen to it critically.

Posted on: 18 July 2016 by james n

Surely there is a market for a Fraim Qb...

Posted on: 18 July 2016 by Nic Chan

Thanks HH.Just one last question tho. I don't have wired Lan connectted to the Qb (It's out of reach). I am thinking of adding a pair of those power plug lan to connect the Qb to stream true Hi-res (read from somewhere that on wifi it will only stream at 48khz). So my question is: if I only have one power socket from the wall and if I connect a power strip to the wall both the Qb and the power lan thing together to the power strip will that be a waste of money and effort? I believe those power lan thing should create a lot of noise and would affect the sound quality. Maybe just leave it as it is or is it worth to give it a try?

Posted on: 19 July 2016 by Mr Happy

The power strip itself will affect the performance to a degree and the plug in extender will pollute the mains and degrade things a bit further still. Try and listen for yourself, as you've already heard the difference the mains can make with your new nrg lead.

My Qb took about three weeks playing iradio at low volume 24/7 to settle, after this I stopped noticing any further changes to the sound.

Posted on: 19 July 2016 by hungryhalibut

It's something you will need to try. We use our Qb wired: we initially tried wireless but found that if there was too much other stuff going on the connection would fail. We don't have a great router though, and maybe it would be OK with something better. If listening to high res albums is important to you, and if a Powerline adaptor means you can listen to them whereas otherwise you couldn't, it's likely to be worth going for it. I've seen Powerline adaptors that include a mains socket - that would at least remove the need for an extension lead.

I've remembered that my lead is an X2, which is less than half the price of the 1.5 version. In fact, I only paid £20 for it. I wouldn't want to pay more to power a Qb.