NAP500 original interconnects
Posted by: Richieroo on 10 April 2018
My Nap500 is quite elderly - I had it serviced and dr upgraded last year, great - however, the amp still uses the original din to xlr interconnects to the preamp - these are around 16 years old. The amp sounds great - so I have been reluctant to change the leads. I wondered how others have got on - my experience with a NAP250dr SL din to xlr was underwhelming/disappointing....
When my 500 was DRed and serviced I sent the leads with it, just so Naim could check them over, I'm sure Burndys came back limper, it's hard to tell if they checked the interconnects but I suspect they did. I got new packaging but not a powerline to replace the stock cable.
Richieroo, I think we have pretty similar'ish systems, so a recent comparison I did with SL din to xlr's may be relevant. What I will say is that even the standard leads can vary in SQ quite a bit. I have three pairs of the standard leads. I have the originals supplied with my 135's, which are duel wired, so it doesn't mater which channel they are used on. These were replaced when the left/right 'handed' sets came out. Then I acquired another pair of left/right handed leads a couple of years ago with my 500. All of them sound different but not necessarily worse than one another. They each seem to highlight different elements of the frequency band.
My dealer then lent me a pair of SL din/xlr's and I have to say I thought they made a bigger difference than my SL din/din interconnect. I know feelings are mixed on how much of a difference they make but I took them round to a friend who tried them on his 500 and he was so impressed he bought them there and then. I would have bought a pair but have decided to go DR first.
If you've not tried them and you like with the SL interconnect does then it's more of the same i.e. better vocal intonation, cleaner bass, better HF, tonal accuracy etc. Definitely worth a home demo if you want your pockets lightened!
I had extended home demos of SL XLRs vs stock vs Chord Sarum SA between my 552 and 500 (at that point non-DR’d).
The SLs were waaaay in advance of the stock cables, and the Chords did everything the SLs did (including traditional Naim PRaT values) and were more musical (flow, emotion). And cheaper.
I have no intention of listening to Chord Music as I probably couldn’t afford them.
Nick Lees posted:I had extended home demos of SL XLRs vs stock vs Chord Sarum SA between my 552 and 500 (at that point non-DR’d).
The SLs were waaaay in advance of the stock cables, and the Chords did everything the SLs did (including traditional Naim PRaT values) and were more musical (flow, emotion). And cheaper.
I have no intention of listening to Chord Music as I probably couldn’t afford them.
I was there and you’re right. I recall you were pretty impressed with the SLs and were about to splash the cash and then you heard the Chords...
DO NOT listen to ChordMusic.
SL DIN to XLR was a fast and obvious upgrade for mine. Whereas the interconnect and particularly the speaker cable took time and sounded like lousy VFM out of the box, the DIN to XLR started giving immediately. I had them on home demo for a couple of weeks. I'm sure a dealer can be persuaded to lend a pair out.
For me, the upgrade from the standard DIN4->XLP leads (in my case for a 300DR) was to go to Mogami W2497 - a very considerable improvement over the stock leads and just £12.5 per metre (some assembly required).
Huge thanks for that ......... yeah that is definitely worth a punt ........