Sarum T

I'm expecting my lp12 back next week with a Urika to pre Sarum T. 

What are the sonic differences [improvements?] between the Super Sarum and the new Sarum T?

naim_nymph posted:

What are the sonic differences [improvements?] between the Super Sarum and the new Sarum T?

Bit more relaxed, easier to get into the groove, emotion in singing and playing more evident. On a comparative dem the Sarum T sounded closer to the Music cable than to the Super Sarum.

I haven't done a comparative dem but i've just upgraded my LP12 from Sarum (not super) to Sarum T and it has never sounded quite so fab so it must be doing something right. I've also just had my XV1T rebuilt and the combination of the two is quite magical.

Hello Andrew

which cable was that ? 

The tonearm to phono stage

or phono stage to pre amp 

lyndon 

Jonn posted:

naim_nymph posted:

What are the sonic differences [improvements?] between the Super Sarum and the new Sarum T?

Bit more relaxed, easier to get into the groove, emotion in singing and playing more evident. On a comparative dem the Sarum T sounded closer to the Music cable than to the Super Sarum.

Possibly sound closer to each other because the Sarum T and Music share that Taylon di-electric stuff.

I am keen to hear feedback on the Sarum T interconnects and speaker cables. I heard the speaker cables at the Bristol show and very impressive they were too, simply leaving Sarum cables in their wake.

Nice to know that Sarum T is closer to Music than Super Sarum.  It must be one hell of a cable.

I upgraded from Super Sarum to Music and that was a quantum leap.  I tackled the LP12 first however I burned the cable in using the Klimax DS.  It was easy to see the difference.

How much is Chord charging for the upgrade?  One really has to hand it to them - they are taking one right out of the Linn playbook for making it easy to upgrade instead of having to bin things in order to move up the ladder.  We the customers benefit from it - bravo Chord.

PS  will there be Sarum T speaker cable?  Music is just too expensive

Sorry - just saw from NigelB post from above that there is Sarum T speaker cable

I'm glad this topic came up as I have heard Sarum Super Array cables.

I'm still confused about the Sarum "effect", and whether it is a neutral cable or not.

On the one hand, with my Vinyl it is able to extract more detail, and has punchy bass I never really heard before, but the effect is somewhat like pressing a "loudness" switch, or some kind of graphic equalizer that bring out more treble and bass

So the jury is out for me on that one. I think whether one likes Sarum or not would greatly depend on the source, speaker and other other cables used.

As for making cymbals more realistic, well with a Chord Dac it doesn't seem like that to my ears, and makes them a bit too bright. 

It is the effect of adding maybe silver plating to the copper cables. I read somewhere that the Sarum White paper said that Sarum concept is adding a small piece of RF cable to the signal negative, in adding adding the very thing a cable should avoid? Whatever works, and if it works then fine...

But the cable does seem to have a bigger dynamic ranger and quiter background, and has no issues to my ears in the PRAT department.

So Sarum/SarumT/Music, hype/myth, or it is really worth the money being asked for? I'm not sure at all, and on that basis, I choose not to pay for it. Confused about that Sarum sound. 

SuperLumina, on the other hand, one can just buy as it was developed by Naim and hence will be compatible with the Naim sound 

analogmusic posted:

On the one hand, with my Vinyl it is able to extract more detail, and has punchy bass I never really heard before, but the effect is somewhat like pressing a "loudness" switch, or some kind of graphic equalizer that bring out more treble and bass

Perhaps it is simply allowing "more" music to get through.

I believe Chord use Naim components during the development process of their cables and hence they are compatible with the Naim sound as you alluded to above.

Super Lumina - developed by Naim? - I will leave that one alone.

Sarum is a directional cable (it has to be by design) and I didn't pay much attention to this (maybe it wasn't connected properly), so I will try again and see if I like it more.

Maybe I will....

So Superlumina was not developed by Naim ? I know they look quite similar to another company (Vertere), but Superlumina speaker cables do NOT sound like the speaker cable by that company, not to my ears... 

For one, SL has completely different connectors to the Pulse speaker cables. Not sure why they sound different but they do.

lyndon posted:

Hello Andrew

which cable was that ? 

The tonearm to phono stage

or phono stage to pre amp 

lyndon 

Phono stage (Urika) to pre amp

Once I've gotten my 500s back from the DR people, & the system's settled down, I'll borrow a 2x phono to DIN "T' interconnect from my dealer & give it a spin. 

Ok - now that I made sure the cables are properly connected with regards to direction....

This Super Array cable really does PRAT very well.... 

Vinyl sounds fine and fantastic actually.

Digital still sounds a touch bright to me with this cable. 

 My Chord Dave doesn't sound bright with the RCA DIN cable which is made of copper only (no silver plating).

Oh well.....ho hum... if I could only forget how well the Sarum does PRAT.... 

It is very difficult to unhear it once heard. especially with Vinyl 

Please remember that Sarum cable takes quite a while to break in - 150-200 hours.  The sound may also go up and down.  It is EXTREMELY worth the wait as it will improve from where it is now.

This cable is well broken in.

I still hear a slight treble edge, on 2 systems that I tested it on.

Other than that, it does PRAT wonderfully well. If only it were more neutral.

It is still a lot of money.

As I understand the whole tuned Aray technology was created/invented to solve problems with digital cables - RCA digital cables have problems with the reflections, which Chord seems to have solved.

And once they solved it on the digital side, they brought it over to the analog side.

However with DIN-DIN cables, these reflections are not an issue, and also the Sarum RCA to DIN works better than RCA to RCA (there is a post somewhere on the forum about this).

I think it is highly system dependent.... Not for me. 

I fondly remember the days where Naim said " use the lavender cable in the box" and there was no hi-line and Superlumina to tempt me.

Chord Chrysalis also cost aound 35 GBP....