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Tellurium Q Black vs NACA5

Pani

pfm Member
May be this subject was discussed here before but as I ran through the archives I really could not gather a consensus on this. I have a decent offer on a used pair of TQ Black speaker cable and I currently use NACA5. Is it worth giving it a try ? What is the latest feeling on this comparison ?

I still use the Naim Lavender IC and that I am sure I should try the TQ Black IC however I am yet to come across a preowned TQ Black IC for sale. The speaker cable thing however I am not confident of. My current system is a Naim CD5X + Flatcap2x powering a Naim Nait 5i. All power cables are stock Naim, ICs are stock Naim. The sound is good but somewhat veiled and blunted leading edge. Interestingly I dont hear the veiled sound when I hear the same combo at the Naim showroom. The only difference is they have everything on a Naim Fraim rack which I dont have. Is it really the deciding factor or should I pursue with upgrading the cables as well ? I aim to add a couple of powerlines for the power cords and TQ ICs to boot.

What are your thoughts ?
 
The Fraim will make a sizeable difference IME. What do you have your gear on btw ?

You could try the black. I found that it definitely helps with the speed and precision of the sound albeit, in my system, at the expense of various other things which were more important to me. Also, i wasn't looking for or lacking in precision and leading edge definition so YMMV. That was also vs. mogami as well, i dont use naca5.

FWIW, a good friend of mine who uses 500 electronics found a similar thing. After 2 weeks he went back to the A5 and kept it. He missed the warmth. He was subsequently told that 552/500 was voiced at the factory using NacA5 so in that sense its logical to stick with a5. As ever, so much depends on you, your room, system and your muic.
 
I use Q Black, way better than A5 and it goes round corners and under the carpet, I find it better in all respects but then it should be at £47/M as to Naims £15/M.

I still like A5 and may pop it in my 2nd system, but then again I may go for Q Blue.
 
I found that it definitely helps with the speed and precision of the sound albeit, in my system, at the expense of various other things which were more important to me.

Can you please elaborate what was it that you lost when you went to Q Black ?

Secondly did you try the Q Green or the Ultra Black ?
 
All Naim cables can be changed in an all Naim system you will be surprised at how much musical information they hold back.
If you can afford it TQ black is an excellent choice and i found it much better than NAC A5, infact better than all other speaker cables I have previously heard in my system. Buy with confidence.
 
May be this subject was discussed here before but as I ran through the archives I really could not gather a consensus on this. I have a decent offer on a used pair of TQ Black speaker cable and I currently use NACA5. Is it worth giving it a try ? What is the latest feeling on this comparison ?

Hi Pani,

After a brief listen a month ago, I boxed up my NACA5 and left the TQ Black in system 1. Your post spurred me to take out the NACA5 just to check again.

With the TQ Black, less mental effort is required when listening, because there is much more resolution on offer. The presentation is more refined than A5, which can be shouty. With the TQ, I find myself captivated by the naturalness of voices, instruments, sounds... you name it. There is just a sense of rightness to the reproduction that I find very appealing.

What do you lose compared with the Naim cable? While the A5's presentation is not as natural, there is more emphasis on the beat, the sense of forward motion of the music. Perhaps more groove, but it's not a huge difference.

If soundstaging matters to you, the TQ opens everything up in width, depth and height, but not unnaturally, with voices, instruments, sounds, very clearly defined. The Naim cable presents things in a much more diffuse way, with less image depth compared to the TQ.

On balance, I prefer to give up a little bit of groove for the substantial gains in the naturalness of the presentation.

Jan

System 1 : Naim UnitiServe / DC1 / Audiolab MDAC / Audiolab 8000S (power amp only) / TQ Black / Amphion Argon 3

System 2 : Naim UnitiServe (from sys 1) / DC1 / Naim DAC / 82/HiCap/250/Nac A5/Auditor Acoustics Arion

(haven't tried the TQ Black in system 2 yet)
 
Can you please elaborate what was it that you lost when you went to Q Black ?

Secondly did you try the Q Green or the Ultra Black ?

I wrote a separate thread which you can read for yourself. Probably fairly meaningless though as I was comparing to mogami not A5 and my system is very different from a Naim system. Didn't try any others btw.
 
Pani - I went from A5 to Q black last year having had A4/A5 throughout 25 odd years of Naim ownership. To me, it added to the A5s strengths but with a lot more transparency. Out went the A5. The other advantage, as mentioned above is how easy it is to handle. Well worth trying.

James
 
As a non sequitur, I recently replaced my 4.3m (x2) runs of nac5 with 7.5m runs from my nap250, resulting in substantial benefit. It's a much more balanced sound.

With new plugs it cost £280; I hate to think what TQ black would cost for the same amount of cable.

mat
 
I moved from NACA5 to Chord Epic.
Very similar sound to my ear and no issues for the amp. Given that Epic actually bends and doesn't cause swearing during installation I sold the NACA5.
I have since tried TQ Black and found it no better than Chord Epic at a similar price so have stuck with the Epic.
 
Made the move from NAC A5 to TQ black, glad I did, great stuff.
However I'm off the TQ wagon now, found something better for the same money.
 
Hi Pani. You can try the following:

1. Hiline
2. Tellurium q black speaker cable
3. Star-earthed main blocks
4. Fraim or fraimlite
5. Cable dressing
6. Lift all cables off floor
7. Increase spacing between each boxes
8. Teddy PS

The main issue is your Nait 5i. Even with ndx/xps/nait5i, the system will still have this blunt leading edge. This is especially true for female vocal.

Btw, you using a Tannoy? ;)
 
Hi Pani. You can try the following:

1. Hiline
2. Tellurium q black speaker cable
3. Star-earthed main blocks
4. Fraim or fraimlite
5. Cable dressing
6. Lift all cables off floor
7. Increase spacing between each boxes
8. Teddy PS

The main issue is your Nait 5i. Even with ndx/xps/nait5i, the system will still have this blunt leading edge. This is especially true for female vocal.

Btw, you using a Tannoy? ;)

Hello Naimsg,
Thanks for your suggestion. I did try Hiline sometime back, while it added focus it did not lift the veil from the sound, the way your Lunar did;). The Hiline rather added a little more veil over the Lavender as well. I suppose you tried the TQ cables from Raindrop audio, what was your conclusion ? Being a Naim follower and knowing a little about my system and taste your advice can be valuable.

I have moved to a new place (please come over) where the speakers are about 7-8 feet apart.

Which mains block are you referring to ?

I tried an Avondale RMS power cord and that showed me how much veil the stock Naim power cord adds but the Avondale power cord sounded lean and slower (less groovy) than the Naim power cords. That is the reason I was thinking of a powerline.

Do you really think Nait 5i is the cause of veilness ? Why is it that whenever I change to some other cable some amount of veil is lifted ?
 
What do you lose compared with the Naim cable? While the A5's presentation is not as natural, there is more emphasis on the beat, the sense of forward motion of the music. Perhaps more groove, but it's not a huge difference.

Thanks Janerik. Groove is very important to me, may be the Ultra Black has it ??:rolleyes:
 


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