Has anyone tried using a Naim power line on Naim Uniti Core to better SQ

Alley Cat posted:

Anyone tried a Powerline on a Nova?

Yes and I wouldn't be without it. Even ex dem it was an outrageous price for a posh kettle lead but I couldn't give it back having tried it at home. I can't imagine how it has such an effect but it does - still sickened by the unnecessarily elaborate packaging though. I passed the Powerline lite on to a friend who is delighted by the improvement to his Uniti 2 so it's not just me.

PS whoever at Naim thinks it's clever to use "Lite" instead of Light please stop being such an arse and grow up. 

Pev posted:

Alley Cat posted:

Anyone tried a Powerline on a Nova?

Yes and I wouldn't be without it. Even ex dem it was an outrageous price for a posh kettle lead but I couldn't give it back having tried it at home. I can't imagine how it has such an effect but it does - still sickened by the unnecessarily elaborate packaging though. I passed the Powerline lite on to a friend who is delighted by the improvement to his Uniti 2 so it's not just me.

PS whoever at Naim thinks it's clever to use "Lite" instead of Light please stop being such an arse and grow up. 

Thanks Pev

As has been pointed out to me before the new Uniti Series are not really intended for upgrades, however as I mention in my ethernet thread it strikes me that apart from the obvious dedicated power amp (I hooked up an old NAP 250), we have potential for improving sound via:

1 - Audiophile ethernet cable - bang for buck a Chord C-Stream brought immediate dramatic improvements

2 - A better power lead (if it made no difference why is a Powerline Lite included?)

With regard to point 2, for completeness it would be interesting to replace the supplied Powerline-Lite with a standard power cable to see what adverse effect this had if any.

Ultimately all this tweaking is one of the joys of hi-fi, from low to high-end systems there are tweaks you can apply if you are so inclined though naturally all we really want to do is listen to music and this can detract from that pleasure.

I use my Nova with a Nap 300 whilst waiting for the new streamers from Naim, it makes a huge difference, even compared to an additional 250. But it should at the price. I have been playing with some Spdif BNC cables from Core to Nova, I have a belden 1494, and have now tried naim dc1 and a couple of cables from True signal audio. The latter and dc1 better than belden, naim is £300, do not know the price of the others yet...But they are markedly better than going through my Netgear switch, which is AudioQuest Forest from the previous switch and qed graphite to Nova. Next step is trying a Cisco 2960 and a better cable instead of the qed. 

Additionally, if I were to demo a Powerline would it be better on the Nova or 250?

May test the Powerline-Lite on the 250 and 250's power cable on the Nova.

In a multi-box system would one be better off with a Powerline at a critical point (pre-amp or pre-amp PSU) or several Powerline Lite leads assuming the former is 6 x the cost of the latter!!!

Glad to see the Powerline is only 20% more expensive than when I first knew about it :-(

Gazza posted:

I use my Nova with a Nap 300 whilst waiting for the new streamers from Naim, it makes a huge difference, even compared to an additional 250. But it should at the price. I have been playing with some Spdif BNC cables from Core to Nova, I have a belden 1494, and have now tried naim dc1 and a couple of cables from True signal audio. The latter and dc1 better than belden, naim is £300, do not know the price of the others yet...But they are markedly better than going through my Netgear switch, which is AudioQuest Forest from the previous switch and qed graphite to Nova. Next step is trying a Cisco 2960 and a better cable instead of the qed. 

Thanks Gazza - glad I'm not alone in seeing that the external power amp brings improvements, and naturally it should though suspect we'd be happy with a pre-amp only Nova for half the cost if we were intending to add a power amp!

Ultimately my Nova is likely to be a secondary system, though I really like it so who knows....

I picked up a power line which did improve the Nova, but as I was also using a 250, that gave the ultimate improvement. I now use the power line on the Nap300.

Gazza posted:

I picked up a power line which did improve the Nova, but as I was also using a 250, that gave the ultimate improvement. I now use the power line on the Nap300.

So the 250 was the major improvement (bettered by the 300), with the Powerline attached to the 300 now not the Nova?

joerand posted:

musicfan51 posted:

Maybe North American Uniti Core units do not come with Naim Powerline lite cords. 

Indeed, to my knowledge the 'Lite' version of the Powerline is strictly a UK iteration. North American (NA) buyers would get a standard tibia in the box. AVOptions offers an upgraded version of the Tibia for NA users that includes the Wattgate plug, heavier 12-gage wires, along with cryo'd treatment for $130. A VMF alternative to the $1K Powerline, or for that matter to the original Tibia? I haven't tried one.

Thanks for that info 

Alley Cat posted:

Pev posted:

Alley Cat posted:

Anyone tried a Powerline on a Nova?

Yes and I wouldn't be without it. Even ex dem it was an outrageous price for a posh kettle lead but I couldn't give it back having tried it at home. I can't imagine how it has such an effect but it does - still sickened by the unnecessarily elaborate packaging though. I passed the Powerline lite on to a friend who is delighted by the improvement to his Uniti 2 so it's not just me.

PS whoever at Naim thinks it's clever to use "Lite" instead of Light please stop being such an arse and grow up. 

Thanks Pev

As has been pointed out to me before the new Uniti Series are not really intended for upgrades, however as I mention in my ethernet thread it strikes me that apart from the obvious dedicated power amp (I hooked up an old NAP 250), we have potential for improving sound via:

1 - Audiophile ethernet cable - bang for buck a Chord C-Stream brought immediate dramatic improvements

2 - A better power lead (if it made no difference why is a Powerline Lite included?)

With regard to point 2, for completeness it would be interesting to replace the supplied Powerline-Lite with a standard power cable to see what adverse effect this had if any.

Ultimately all this tweaking is one of the joys of hi-fi, from low to high-end systems there are tweaks you can apply if you are so inclined though naturally all we really want to do is listen to music and this can detract from that pleasure.

 

Some good points there! 

I'm using a Powerline with my Core.  I feel that it is better than the stock cable that came with the unit.  I also use a Powerline with my 272, and a Siltech power cable for my 250DR.  Sounds good to me.  I also connect my Core to the 272 with a Siltech digital cable.  The improvement over using Ethernet was not subtle.   I was blown away.

docmark posted:

I'm using a Powerline with my Core.  I feel that it is better than the stock cable that came with the unit.  I also use a Powerline with my 272, and a Siltech power cable for my 250DR.  Sounds good to me.  I also connect my Core to the 272 with a Siltech digital cable.  The improvement over using Ethernet was not subtle.   I was blown away.

Thanks docmark. Good to get that feedback!

Do mark, which Siltech digital cable, as there are a few?

It’s a Siltech Golden Eagle 75 ohm.

Thanks will take a look

I did just ordered the Tibia12 powercord from AVoptions as someone on this thread suggested. $130 seems like a great deal and they claim it may not be quite as good as Naim Powerline it comes very close, for a lot less money!  Thanks to however it was that suggested that ! 

joerand posted:

musicfan51 posted:

Maybe North American Uniti Core units do not come with Naim Powerline lite cords. 

Indeed, to my knowledge the 'Lite' version of the Powerline is strictly a UK iteration. North American (NA) buyers would get a standard tibia in the box. AVOptions offers an upgraded version of the Tibia for NA users that includes the Wattgate plug, heavier 12-gage wires, along with cryo'd treatment for $130. A VMF alternative to the $1K Powerline, or for that matter to the original Tibia? I haven't tried one.

Thank you for the suggestion joerand. I bought one from AVOptions and it did improve the sound. It is a modest sound improvement but it is there, my wife and both heard it. So yes, putting the better powerline over the original powercord equipment that comes with North American Uniti Core can make difference . 

Glad you made progress musicfan51. The AVOptions cord uses the same Wattgate plug as Naim's Powerline and it's cryo'd, a feature you don't get with a Powerline.

joerand posted:

Glad you made progress musicfan51. The AVOptions cord uses the same Wattgate plug as Naim's Powerline and it's cryo'd, a feature you don't get with a Powerline.

It is an excellent value , no doubt ! AVOptions said they believe it to be around 90% of the SQ of a Naim Powerline.  I would say they are not far off!  Again thanks for the suggestion. It did put a little more realism into the music . 

There's a font of knowledge here but only you and your partner's ears, doing a proper long term compareson with blind swapping could tell if there is a worthwhile difference. Believe your own ears but do take note of all opinions. We all hear music differently. Some are happy and get great pleasure from just a boom box. My wife and I both go to our dealer to audition together because it's very important that we both agree and have a proper debate on the way forward.

I took my daughter as a second pair of ears when buying Nova and PMC 25.26. When you want or are interested in an upgrade it’s easy to believe something else is better. Recently had wife listening to digital cables, invaluable, unbiased, good ears, she does not care what the boxes are, or do, let alone cables.

Rich 1 posted:

There's a font of knowledge here but only you and your partner's ears, doing a proper long term compareson with blind swapping could tell if there is a worthwhile difference. Believe your own ears but do take note of all opinions. We all hear music differently. Some are happy and get great pleasure from just a boom box. My wife and I both go to our dealer to audition together because it's very important that we both agree and have a proper debate on the way forward.

I do that of course ! Of course in this case I am not taking a Tibia12 plus to my dealer to do comparisons cause he does not sell it, and would not be interested In doing that comparisons. It was $129 compared to $1000 Powerline &  is a great value!  The North American importer of Naim even suggested buying it. Naim themselves use a Naim Powerline lite with UnitiCore as they feel it sounds best that way! They just do not make it for the North American Market. The TibiaPlus12 is very similar if not better . I trust my ears and my wife too. So not sure why you are doubting me . But I was happy with the modest improvement and very modest investment. 

Apologies the thread got away from me.......I did look these up a couple of days ago as they do sound to be a bargain, just not available in the UK.

Not doubting you at all, rather encouraging you

"Tibia" cable is made by a far east company called Well Shin Technology Co of Taiwan  - Their US office is Conntek Integrated Solutions, Wisconsin    I guess Tibia is a word play on Shin.