Circling the square (Vertere cables in a Naim system)

Posted by: Massimo Bertola on 09 October 2015

My system is presently a wonderful CDS3, XPS-DR, SuperNait, HC-DR, SBLs. It's the result of a series of lucky purchases, of stumbling into the right seller, the right item, at the right moment. It cost me like a second hand car, but not like a second hand boat, it being the case had I bought everything new. I don't think I need more than this, although some may think that my SN is the system's bottleneck. I don't think it is, either.

 

Soon before the summer I decided to sell my HiLine and my NAC A5 to experiment a little; I was also a little curious about a speaker cable that has quickly become a 'darling' on this forum; but my sceptic soul was somehow preventing me from joining the TQ happy family. So until a week ago I was using the 'lavender' IC and two runs of In-Akustik Atmos Air speaker cable, an experiment I did for little money and moderate success.

 

Since I first read of Vertere cables, months ago, I took interest in them; rumours about their somehow 'illegitimate' relationship with SuperLumina cables only made the penchant more pronounced. A quick exchange of emails with their Operations Manager - a most friendly and helpful guy, thanks Ash - and I had concrete indications based on my system: I was suggested to consider the D-Fi Interconnect and the Pulse X mini speaker cable. They are, in fact, the entry levels or so - although the speaker cables are not cheap, and I needed 2 x 5mt - but I decided that either I'd trust the company's advice, or look elsewhere.

I hesitated, then decided that it was worth trying. I definitely am a cable guy, and the fact that I wasn't able to demo any of the Verteres at home didn't stop me: I have often trusted my intuition, and it - to quote that lovely, touching work by Gavin Bryars - never failed me yet. I placed my order, and waited.

 

The IC comes inside a nice, unassuming package of the type for €5 ear plugs that they hang in a row in department stores, but the speaker cables' one looks like a box of good chocolates; the two runs are packed singularly, each in its own box, the connectors protected by black nylon wrap. At a first glance, it looked a little like unpacking a Squeezebox: cheap product in party dress; but then, the cables - albeit somehow plain looking - turned out being serious stuff. They smelled exactly like my old, PVC inflatable beach mattress; but they did look like serious stuff.

 

I've been using them for five days. They have changed very little since the first moment, but I believe they are now showing more inherent qualities than five days ago, namely that some vague 'liveliness' has turned into plain clarity. I am perfectly aware that I have not compared them directly with the NAC A5, but it wasn't my intention: I hate competition. These are my impressions only, but I have had NAC A5 in the past, and I think I know it well. But I don't care: this is not a report on a comparison between cables, but just the notice of good equipment pairing.

 

To my ears, these cables (I have NOT tried the IC first, then the speaker cables, I simply put the set into the system and let it work: my hope was to finally reach a whole) are performing extremely well in a number of areas:

 

- Dynamics. This needs not being explained I suppose; fast rise, fast decay, no smearing, no 'tails'. Loud is loud, soft is soft. There's a special quality to this, like if dynamics finally belong to the music, not to power.

 

- Extension. It has gained in both directions, but upper register's clarity does not mean a stress on a given frequency; again, the sensation is that of extreme organicity in the manifested range of octaves. My SBLs have gained at least 3dB in their lowest area, with no trace of boom; just sound, just energy.

 

- Integrity. The 'light' is extremely uniform, vivid, the midrange is beautiful and fast and full of detail. It owes largely to speed, but also to coherence. The soundstage is slightly protruding from the speakers, but it doesn't lack depth. I can easily hear one of the things I love most in recordings, the ambience of each recording venue.

 

- Body. The piano in Gonzalo Rubalcaba's Inner voyage is now complete with the infrasound of his feet actioning and releasing the pedals; but it's just an example. Listening to Natalie Cole singing Lush life, the double triplets of the acoustic bass, introducing the sung refrain, are not just definite low pitches and some thump anymore, there's the wood of the instrument too.

 

- Tempo. This is the most interesting thing, because it connects the listening experience to music much more. The amount of detail, and its coherence, have changed the perceived tempo of some recordings a little; when I was listening to Bruckner's Eight's Finale in my beloved recordings by Sergiu Celibidache and the Muncher Philharmoniker, not only I noticed for the first time tiny differences in fine tuning inside the french horns' section, but the richness of the orchestral mass was slowly inducing me to hear more slowly, if this makes sense to anyone. I have no idea what PR&T is, but I think I know what tempo is, that it has not necessarily to do with speed and the clock, and that you can have PR&T in a Moderato. Well, it seems to me that these cables excel at PR&T in a Moderato.

 

- Natural timbres. Naturalness is a very strange concept to discuss when facing reproduced sound, but certain voices have now a natural quality that I haven't experienced before. It is a sum of dynamics, fast rises and fast decays and correctness, but the sensation is extremely pleasing. The CDS3 has still the civilized quality it is famous for, but it is now more vigil. The SBLs sound larger and more 'modern', but their unique voice is there.

 

These cables are entry levels, but my system is sounding like I had not heard it yet. I am very satisfied. Electronics, speakers, room and ears finally seem to join hands. Naim and Vertere definitely works.

 

Best to all

M. 

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

You've carefully avoided attributing these qualities to the cables. Thank you. All cables can do is get more and more out of the way to let the equipment perform as it should.

 

If by hear more slowly, you mean the impression of time slowing down, yes I've experienced it and it's a reliable indicator of a better component, or in this case, the cables getting out of the way of your components.

 

MSSTITT ?

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Massimo Bertola

Just the color I love..

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by hungryhalibut

That sounds like a wonderful system - I hadn't realised you'd got a CDS3, and what a lovely player it is. I reckon the Supernait is fine, though of course the 2 would give a good lift. Maybe you'll strike lucky one day. 

 

Isn't it good when everything falls into place?

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Polarbear

 

 

Naim and Vertere definitely works.

 

Yes I know, I have been using the reference cables since they were first introduced 

 

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Massimo Bertola

Hi Nigel,

 

yes I have a CDS3 now; I bought it in July, a very good bargain. DR-ing the XPS has probably taken it to its best. Indeed it is good when everything falls into place. As for the Supernait, I can't help it, I love it. I have heard the SN2 often, but somehow I still love the 1. The HiCap-DR has probably taken it to its best... 

 

Polarbear,

 

Vertere reference cables are probably a little beyond my budget, but I have no doubt they are giving you huge pleasure.

 

M.

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Foot tapper

Pah! You Vertere fan boys. What do you know?

 

Slinks off back into burrow to listen to his turntable with V------ cables...

 

best regards, FT

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Massimo Bertola

Isn't there a singular pattern with avatars here?

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Mike-B

Too many furry animals plus that fish thing !!

......  oh whoops just look at me !!!

 

......  this furry leopard is grooving to kool jazz - Fourplay "Elixir"

Talking of which,  the Merlot is not half bad     

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Harry

Good cables. Highly recommended. Don't use 'em but they would be at the top of the list in different circumstances.

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by hungryhalibut
Fish thing! Fish thing! That's Totoro.
Posted on: 09 October 2015 by nigelb

Great review Max. As others have said it looks (sounds) like your new cables are getting out of the way as any good cables should.

 

The only experience I have of the cables you mention are their entry level jump leads to replace my NACA5 jump leads (my speakers annoyingly have bi amp terminals) when I installed the Super Lumina speaker cables mainly because there are no SL jump leads available. As you probably know there are good reasons why these cables are a good match for SL cables.

 

Enjoy your new found transparency.

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by Mike-B

Aaaaahhhhhh  -  Totoro the God of Death !!!  strikes back   !!!! 

Merlot is mellow & Hugh Laurie's "Didn't It Rain"   ...  super New Orleans jazz. 

Volume police is on a pamper trip,  so making the most of it - & the Merlot   

Posted on: 09 October 2015 by nigelb

Must get me an Avatar - hate the hair on the default one - looks like Tin Tin in a side wind.

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by Massimo Bertola

I meant to point out how the electronics-cables-room(+ears) interaction is working extraordinarily well. In a way, though, it was also evidently an appreciation of the cables per se. I understand that for some listeners cables have simply to move out of the way of music, but this is not really possible, no more than it is for a CD player, a preamp, a power amp.

 

Strangely, cables are being thought of as accessories and not as components - here, at Naim's, where cables are designed to integrate the amp's behaviour and are frequently mentioned as a part of the amplifier. I consider cables as passive components, and since it is very difficult for me to believe that any component can become 'transparent' to something (the bits in the CD?), I prefer to think of the Vertere as seriously and cleverly designed passive components that do a very good job inside their range of competence.

Were they human beings, how beautiful to have them as colleagues.

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by Polarbear
Originally Posted by Foot tapper:

Pah! You Vertere fan boys. What do you know?

 

Slinks off back into burrow to listen to his turntable with V------ cables...

 

best regards, FT

Hi FT,

 

how much of the V stuff do you have in the TT?

 

I have it all the way through the arm, T-cable and IC to the 552, the T cable made the biggest difference to me,

 

Regards

 

PB (another furry animal lol)

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by The Strat (Fender)
Is this thread about cables or wildlife?!
Posted on: 10 October 2015 by nigelb
Originally Posted by maxbertola:

I meant to point out how the electronics-cables-room(+ears) interaction is working extraordinarily well. In a way, though, it was also evidently an appreciation of the cables per se. I understand that for some listeners cables have simply to move out of the way of music, but this is not really possible, no more than it is for a CD player, a preamp, a power amp.

 

Strangely, cables are being thought of as accessories and not as components - here, at Naim's, where cables are designed to integrate the amp's behaviour and are frequently mentioned as a part of the amplifier. I consider cables as passive components, and since it is very difficult for me to believe that any component can become 'transparent' to something (the bits in the CD?), I prefer to think of the Vertere as seriously and cleverly designed passive components that do a very good job inside their range of competence.

Were they human beings, how beautiful to have them as colleagues.

My rather simplistic view of cables is their job is to transmit/convey signals (be they analogue or digital) from one point in a system to another and have as little effect on that signal as the designers can achieve. IMHO many SQ improvements attributed to cables are due to a cable's ability to change the signal as little as possible - that is what I mean by transparency. I accept no cable is capable of achieving total transparency but I would also argue that designing a cable to 'add' something would limit the suitability of said cable in some systems where the thing that is being added is excessive or undesirable. This is complicated by the fact that certain cables will suit some systems (components) and not others. For example there are synergies between SL cables and Naim components (as you would expect) but would make them unsuitable in other systems.

 

Like with your analogy, certain traits in cables (and human beings) can be attractive, other traits can be undesirable or downright irritating. The latter is clearly not the case with these cables you refer to and it is certainly not the case with SL speaker cables where I believe it is the transparency of the cable as part of a Naim system that is allowing through what was evidently there all along but NACA5 cables I used to use (and have served me very well) were simply not transparent enough to reveal. I have never had the feeling that SL cables have added much (as a component might), it is also not correct to refer to such cables as 'accessories'. Cables have for some time now been recognised as important components of any system, but a component that should allow the electronics to reveal their full potential IMHO.

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by Jan-Erik Nordoen

That has to be one of the most rational and sensible posts on cables that I've ever read.

 

« Allowing through what was evidently there all along »

 

May I quote that ?

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by Massimo Bertola
Originally Posted by maxbertola:

I prefer to think of the Vertere as seriously and cleverly designed passive components that do a very good job inside their range of competence.

 

 

Sorry to quote myself, but I never wrote that Vertere cables add anything. My quote says it all. Anything that has been written after my last post bar this one is not in contradiction with what I have written myself.

Even the most simple minded person knows that a passive component can not add anything; so I repeat that my intention was not to praise the Vertere cables for what they do, but for the way they behave, if the distinction is clear enough.

Thanks.

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by hungryhalibut

I agree Max, it's not what they do, rather what they don't do.

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by nigelb

Max - I didn't mean to imply that I was contradicting what you stated in your post, indeed you have pointed out that much of my last post aligns with your own point of view. I was merely giving a clearer (hopefully) definition of what I mean by transparency when referring to cables.

 

I also didn't want to imply that you indicated cables might add something though reading my post back I can see how you might interpret it that way.

 

I think we agree far more than we differ on this subject.

 

Aplologies for any misunderstanding.

 

Jan-Erik, Please feel free to quote me - I probably stole it for someone else anyway!

 

Night night.

Posted on: 10 October 2015 by Massimo Bertola

No problemo! Written communication is always tricky.. I too think we agree on most. For sure, having gained such benefits with the insertion of these cables, I somehow tend to attribute to them the benefits, but in a sort of 'specular' way. I should have pointed out more, or best, how electronics and speakers have gained from this completion. To my ears, it's understood, but the change is so obvious (my wife heard it, my brother in law heard it) then I tend to consider it an objective upgrade. Hence my insistence on the Verteres. Communication between the SN and the SBLs is now so good that I feel no desire to look for different speakers.

 

Good morning! (The upstairs neighbors' baby niece has waken me early..)

Posted on: 11 October 2015 by Foot tapper
Originally Posted by Polarbear:

Hi FT,

 

how much of the V stuff do you have in the TT?

 

Regards

 

PB (another furry animal lol)

Oh, okay then; time to confess.

 

The SG-1 motor controller, the SG-1 arm and the cable from the tone arm to the phono stage are all Vertere Pulse.

 

When the P75 eventually gives way to a posh phono stage, then I'll connect it to the NAC52 with Vertere Pulse or Naim Super Lumina too.

 

However, Yoda did recommend replacing the NACA5 with SL speaker cable before using too many SL interconnects.

 

For the rest of this year though, that is all academic, as I am absolutely loving what this new turntable manages to squeeze through a humble P75!

 

best regards, a furry FT

Posted on: 11 October 2015 by Polarbear

My whole TMS 3 is wired with Vertere Reference including the DC cable to the power supply. I also have Vertere XLR's between the 552 and 500 although I am looking to change this for Touraj's balanced cable so more to come yet.

 

What I like is how transparent it is, it adds nothing o the mix but takes away a whole load of low level distortion which allows more of the detail and dynamics to shine through the hardware.

 

 

I have seen on youtube there is a Vertere phono on the way and I might just add that to the mix, I have a Touraj tweaked Roksan phono which is excellent but a little long in the tooth now and may be due for an upgrade.

 

Keep on enjoying the music FT :-)

 

Regards

 

PB