Digital Coax

Any well made 75 ohm BNC to BNC patch lead will be fine. As RF patch leads these are made cheaply and accurately and in volume. .. there can be a tenancy when labelled as SPDIF or digital interconnects for the consumer market, for the price to be pushed up to reflect the new title.

I use Gotham  75 ohm RF coax with BNC to phono connectors ... I chose this because it was low cost, I could have it made to the (short) length I wanted, it was light weight and flexible which suited my arrangement, and seemed to have reliable study connectors. It displaced my previous Naim DC1 which was too long, heavy and inflexible.

i would focus more on your signal interconnects... I really like Naim’s HIline when  connecting to Naim amps.

Sounds like an excellent idea Timo not that there's anything wrong with an ND5XS/XS I have had both those components albeit in the case of the Nait XS very briefly and they are both excellent.

I did also replace my ND5XS with a Raspberry Pi/2Qute and if we could have fully got our heads around setting up and using the Pi properly it would still be here now because sound wise it was excellent paired with the a Chord Dac.

I think you'll be very pleased with the upgrade if it happens.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Any well made 75 ohm BNC to BNC patch lead will be fine. As RF patch leads these are made cheaply and accurately and in volume. .. there can be a tenancy when labelled as SPDIF or digital interconnects for the consumer market, for the price to be pushed up to reflect the new title.

I use Gotham  75 ohm RF coax with BNC to phono connectors ... I chose this because it was low cost, I could have it made to the (short) length I wanted, it was light weight and flexible which suited my arrangement, and seemed to have reliable study connectors. It displaced my previous Naim DC1 which was too long, heavy and inflexible.

i would focus more on your signal interconnects... I really like Naim’s HIline when  connecting to Naim amps.

 

Thanks for your input Simon. I'll look into Gotham in greater detail. On their website, I didn't see the option of BNC connectors. I shall send them an email! It is interesting that you dropped your DC1 (£300) for the Gotham cable. Did you detect any SQ differences between the two?

Bob the Builder posted:

Sounds like an excellent idea Timo not that there's anything wrong with an ND5XS/XS I have had both those components albeit in the case of the Nait XS very briefly and they are both excellent.

I did also replace my ND5XS with a Raspberry Pi/2Qute and if we could have fully got our heads around setting up and using the Pi properly it would still be here now because sound wise it was excellent paired with the a Chord Dac.

I think you'll be very pleased with the upgrade if it happens.

Yes, I am also quite excited about the upcoming change. I really like Chord DAC. It did have a "regular" Allo DigiOne for a while to establish whether I could deal with other software interfaces. I was somewhat reluctant to give up the Naim app...

There is a slight question mark over the SN2 though -- certainly great amp. And it offers the HiCap DR upgrade. But will this put to sleep the upgrade bug for a long, long time? In any case, I would need to buy an ex-demo or used SN2; and a used 282/200 is quite a price jump I would struggle with. Certainly I would struggle to justify this one to my wife -- and she has a point...

I have just re-read the description of the coax cable offered by Flashback -- doesn't say whether it is 75 Ohm... 

Timo,

I think that you are absolutely approaching this from the right perspective and in the right way and I'm sure you will make the right choice for you and your family.  Although I have never heard a SN2 I can't imagine it is anything other than a fine sounding amp and one that if that upgrade bug should ever hit can be upgraded with a Hicap but also don't forget there are those who prefer a SN1 with a Hicap DR over a SN2.

Whatever you decide as you say exciting times ahead for you.

Bob the Builder posted:

I did also replace my ND5XS with a Raspberry Pi/2Qute and if we could have fully got our heads around setting up and using the Pi properly it would still be here now because sound wise it was excellent paired with the a Chord Dac.

Allo have done this for you.

Timo posted: 

... Did you detect any SQ differences between the two?

A very marginal difference... but nothing really worth commenting on. 

Timo posted:

I have just re-read the description of the coax cable offered by Flashback -- doesn't say whether it is 75 Ohm... 

It will almost certainly be  75 ohm or 50 ohm coax ... but worth checking.

Timo posted:

I am in the process of "moving on" my XS2 and ND5XS -- with a view to get an SN2 and Chord Qutest as replacement. Unless I change my mind of course... As transport I have Allo's DigiOne Signature on the radar.

Obviously, this change involves cables -- a digital coax (BNC-BNC) and an analogue interconnect (RCA-DIN). So far I thought about getting Chord Shawline -- the two cables would cost about £400 (about £200 for each cable). But I have started wondering -- is a 50/50 split a good idea? Or should I prioritise the analogue cable and "just" get a decent coax cable? I remember discussions here with a number of forum members  expressing great satisfaction with "modestly priced" coax cables.

So I wonder whether I should rather get an analogue Chord Epic and a digital coax from Flashback Sales (about £45), for instance. That would be only very little more expensive than the "balanced" Chord Shawline combo.

Informed forum wisdom would be appreciated -- informed meaning empirically based views... 

Cheers!
Timo

I have found Supra cables (Trico, BNC or RCA) and Mark Grant cables (G1000HD Digital Coax) to be very good and reasonably priced 75Ohm cables. I am currently using two Naim DC1 but, as pointed out by S-I-S, they are very heavy and stiff. I am very happy with the SN2 bare. I use SL between the nDAC and the SN2 but I am not convinced that it is worth the price and I would probably be perfectly happy with a standard interconnect. Best, nbpf

I had very good results using Belden 4794R 12G SDI between Core and DAC, both a 2qute and a Rega-r. Much prefered it to Shawline as it made the 2qute a less clinical and woke the Rega up in comparison. It is a bit stiff but for around £40 delivered from the States (unless Trump's Tariff war has screwed with the pricing) I counted it good value.

Some time ago I replaced my Naim DC1 with Belden 1694A. I happily used DC1 for many years but then read few rave reviews for 1694A and decided to give it a shot. It's very affordable through many retailers online so no big deal if you don't like it. But to my great surprise, I preferred it over DC1. I switched between these two for a long time before making my final decision and sold the DC1. It's funny how Naim can take their sound signature even to digital coaxial cables, but with DC1 the sound was more forward and slightly more aggressive. 1694A has more balanced and deeper sound with more extension in high and low end. Overall better performance IMO. If one's only after the Naim signature sound then DC1 is the best choice.

Simon-in-Suffolk posted:

Timo posted:

I have just re-read the description of the coax cable offered by Flashback -- doesn't say whether it is 75 Ohm... 

It will almost certainly be  75 ohm or 50 ohm coax ... but worth checking.

I checked with Flashback — it‘s 75 ohm.

Thanks for all the suggestions — I will be doing more reading up on different coax cables. It‘s interesting that some modestly priced cables have “beaten” much higher-priced cables like Naim DC1 or Chord Shawline. I take the lesson that a 50/50 split between analogue and digital cable is not the way forward, considering my budget constraints.

Picked up a Gotham 75ohm cable off evilbay for £20. Running between 272 & Mojo for cans. Have done some A-B's with a Flashback cable & it seems marginally preferable but wondering if it may further improve with burn-in?

Thanks for the input Singlespeed! How would you describe the difference between the two? Cheers!!

Singlespeed posted:

Picked up a Gotham 75ohm cable off evilbay for £20. Running between 272 & Mojo for cans. Have done some A-B's with a Flashback cable & it seems marginally preferable but wondering if it may further improve with burn-in?

 

I bought a 'Gotham' cable off the bay and wasn't impressed with  the BNC plug quality.  I tried Flashback and a Belden cable (with Canare BNCs) and preferred the Belden - more open and natural. The Belden also seemed to be better quality.

Also have a Belden and the build qualilty seems to be quite good. 

Timo posted:

Thanks for the input Singlespeed! How would you describe the difference between the two? Cheers!!

Vocals seemed a tad more real & the sound was a little less 'splashy' & more solid - hope that makes some form of sense!?

cheers!

Guinnless posted:

Singlespeed posted:

Picked up a Gotham 75ohm cable off evilbay for £20. Running between 272 & Mojo for cans. Have done some A-B's with a Flashback cable & it seems marginally preferable but wondering if it may further improve with burn-in?

 

I bought a 'Gotham' cable off the bay and wasn't impressed with  the BNC plug quality.  I tried Flashback and a Belden cable (with Canare BNCs) and preferred the Belden - more open and natural. The Belden also seemed to be better quality.

The wire I bought was phono to 3.5mm & seems pretty reasonable quality for the price. I used the included BNC adaptor supplied with the 272. There isn't much choice when it comes to digital coax & 3.5mm digital inputs on the mojo....

Flashback make a 3.5mm to BNC cable specifically for the Mojo. 

ChrisSU posted:

Flashback make a 3.5mm to BNC cable specifically for the Mojo. 

I know, I own one 

Singlespeed posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Flashback make a 3.5mm to BNC cable specifically for the Mojo. 

I know, I own one 

But you said you needed an adapter??

ChrisSU posted:

Singlespeed posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Flashback make a 3.5mm to BNC cable specifically for the Mojo. 

I know, I own one 

But you said you needed an adapter??

Yes 272 came with BNC>phono adaptor - figured that if they think it's acceptable to use, then why not try it.....? 

Singlespeed posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Singlespeed posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Flashback make a 3.5mm to BNC cable specifically for the Mojo. 

I know, I own one 

But you said you needed an adapter??

Yes 272 came with BNC>phono adaptor - figured that if they think it's acceptable to use, then why not try it.....? 

I think the recommendation from Naim is to use a properly terminated BNC for optimum performance, but they just chuck in the adapter for convenience. Still, if it sounds good, maybe best not to overthink things!