Interconnect choice

No, get used to the system with the 552 in it. 

The Tellurium lovers will shortly be along to say get a platinum diamond or whatever this week's favourite is, while the Chord fans will say that your world is incomplete unless you spend the price of a family car on Music wires. The 552 is wonderful and I'm sure the hiline will more than adequate. 

Thank you both - I thought as much!  - Nigel  love your assessment!!! 

With a 552 you won't be bothered about cables for a while. I'm most likely getting mine tomorrow, standard Naim cables and naca5 is what I have.

Have to disagree,  why buy a 552 and not utilise it to the full.

A high end cable is an absolute must. 

You don't necessarily need to buy new.

Hi Wenger Whilst I understand your point who and why would be selling a high end cable second hand?

Granted posted:

Hi Wenger Whilst I understand your point who and why would be selling a high end cable second hand?

I've just seen a set of SL cables on my Hi Fi dealers online site....ex demo and considerably reduced.... 

552 with HiLine is excellent as it is, but if you can get a SL cable (especially at discount) to try then you will like what it does.

But in your position I'd just enjoy the 552 with HiLine as that is plenty upgrade over the 252.

DB.

Darke Bear posted:

552 with HiLine is excellent as it is, but if you can get a SL cable (especially at discount) to try then you will like what it does.

But in your position I'd just enjoy the 552 with HiLine as that is plenty upgrade over the 252.

DB.

That's exactly my point Wenger, when you trade in a 252 for a 552 the difference is so great I feel if you're immediately thinking of upgrading interconnects you must be mad (you've just taken a 20k hit remember). 

wenger2015 posted:

Granted posted:

Hi Wenger Whilst I understand your point who and why would be selling a high end cable second hand?

I've just seen a set of SL cables on my Hi Fi dealers online site....ex demo and considerably reduced.... 

Wonder why....

Dave J posted:

wenger2015 posted:

Granted posted:

Hi Wenger Whilst I understand your point who and why would be selling a high end cable second hand?

I've just seen a set of SL cables on my Hi Fi dealers online site....ex demo and considerably reduced.... 

Wonder why....

Maybe upgrading to TQ...

The HL sounds superb. The SL sounds better - well actually, it doesn't sound like anything at all. It gets out of the way. The HL doesn't sound bad in comparison. You can just hear where your extra money went. At their respective price points they can be differented but probably not bettered. You need a friendly dealer.

Drewy posted:

Darke Bear posted:

552 with HiLine is excellent as it is, but if you can get a SL cable (especially at discount) to try then you will like what it does.

But in your position I'd just enjoy the 552 with HiLine as that is plenty upgrade over the 252.

DB.

That's exactly my point Wenger, when you trade in a 252 for a 552 the difference is so great I feel if you're immediately thinking of upgrading interconnects you must be mad (you've just taken a 20k hit remember). 

 

I would hope the difference would be significant but why use an interconnect that's only going to hold it back?

Hungryhalibut made a good point and I'd agree with it. There isn't any doubt that good cables do sound better, though one may not necessarily need to spend a fortune on these costly cables to reap the full benefits of the system, in this case the NAC 552. Other costlier boutique cables may sound slightly better(or different) than the Hiline though I would not expect the differences to be exceedingly huge to the point that one cable will sound bad or broken in comparison.

I went from Hiline to SL IC on my NDS/252 and the difference was well worth the price. BUT if I were in your shoes, I would revel in the improvement you will hear with the 552 above the 252 and just become accustomed to the uplift in SQ.

After this you can experiment with cables (SL and others), assuming funds permit, and evaluate if the extra you get is worth the outlay. 252 to 552 will always trump fettling with cables, particularly as you already have a very decent IC.

Enjoy.

wenger2015 posted:

Drewy posted:

Darke Bear posted:

552 with HiLine is excellent as it is, but if you can get a SL cable (especially at discount) to try then you will like what it does.

But in your position I'd just enjoy the 552 with HiLine as that is plenty upgrade over the 252.

DB.

That's exactly my point Wenger, when you trade in a 252 for a 552 the difference is so great I feel if you're immediately thinking of upgrading interconnects you must be mad (you've just taken a 20k hit remember). 

 

I would hope the difference would be significant but why use an interconnect that's only going to hold it back?

I'm happy with the standard ones at least for the foreseeable future. The spending has to stop for a while sometimes. 

I am beginning to think Wenger holds some stocks in the TQ cable company...,just a bit of st Patty's day humour.

Clearer Audio DIN-DIN is rather good

No quarter posted:

I am beginning to think Wenger holds some stocks in the TQ cable company...,just a bit of st Patty's day humour.

No quarter posted:

I am beginning to think Wenger holds some stocks in the TQ cable company...,just a bit of st Patty's day humour.

To be sure...to be sure 

Hungryhalibut posted:

The Tellurium lovers will shortly be along to say get a platinum diamond or whatever this week's favourite is, while the Chord fans will say that your world is incomplete unless you spend the price of a family car on Music wires. The 552 is wonderful and I'm sure the hiline will more than adequate. 

Tut tut, if they were raving about Super Lumina would you be quite so cynical?  Anyway I blame you for starting it all off with the TQ Black speaker cable before you returned to the fold 

A Hiline is good but when I changed to a SL cable it was so much better well worth the extra.

Pcd posted:

A Hiline is good but when I changed to a SL cable it was so much better well worth the extra.

And so it should be at the best part of two grand although it is possible to get free delivery to be fair. 

dayjay posted:

Pcd posted:

A Hiline is good but when I changed to a SL cable it was so much better well worth the extra.

And so it should be at the best part of two grand although it is possible to get free delivery to be fair. 

Postage ? delivery and installation part of a good dealer's service. 

When I tried a SL in place of the Hiline it was impressive but less satisfying after that wore off,. This was pre 552 and the system may react differently now but any change has to earn its place and during  early 552 ownership isn't the time to audition cables, especially if the 552 is new.

First, I agree with a recent post by Richard Dane who alerted all on not overlooking the Lavender. The Lavender, at £0, is rather good compared to a HiLine at £700. Let's say that it is a little teenager-ish and enthusiastic and puts things in a heap a little (I learned this expression from HH, some time ago) but has a generous, coherent midrange and I have heard costly Naim systems wired with Lavender between source and preamp (CDX2/XPS to 282/SC) being compared favorably to other systems using very costly ICs.

Second, I begin to have doubts about the HiLine. I have had at least four or five, so I know what I'm talking about. It is a very good cable, but paradoxically less chromatic than the Lavender, only more extended and better separating sounds from one another. The one I recently tried with my system (CDX2-SN-S-400) left me cold, like if missing 'humanity'; the extra detail sounded like charity, not like a spontaneous present. If you know what I mean.

Third, I do not understand this sheepish, single-minded obedience to SL. No one has ever, so far, disproved the rumor that SL is made by Vertere, and I have had Vertere IC, Snaics and speaker cables for long. The D-Fi interconnect, at £150, was not only audibly better than the Lavender, but very much comparable to a HiLine, but without its flaws. The Vertere was rich, coherent, integer and full of micro-somethings. I have no doubts that I'm going to replace my Lavender with a Vertere, only I want to choose the proper model without spending a fortune.

By the way, I am a cable believer. A glorious system must have an adequate connection. The idea that the a great pre will make things better even without proper connection is surely founded on something, but who moves his old tires on the new Bentley?

Max

(Before someone asks me why I sold my Vertere cables, I did when I sold everything, between May and June last year).