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Naim stock cables, any mileage in changing them?

There's certainly plenty of mileage in discussing cables;) I have never bothered with expensive cables, tried a highline once & it seemed only marginally different. There are far too many variables to worry about cables
 
Another shout out for the Hatpin 5. I have heard it in 3 different installations.
a) Between an RSL-carded 32 and a Hicap. Big, big, BIG difference compared to the Snaic 5.
b) Between the Supercap and the NAC52, carrying only 15V DC to the logic/display. A surprising upgrade over the Naim Snaic, in spite of a fairly unchallenging role. It may have something to do with better shielding or lower DCR with less of a voltage drop to a ground reference.
c) Between the NAT01 and the NAT01PS, where again it carries only power and no signal. Again immediately better than the Naim equivalent.

A friend of mine who bought my NAC552 replaced the Snaic5 between the 552PS and the 552 (again only carrying DC to the front panel) with Chord Signature TA and was very taken aback by the very non-subtle degree of improvement and considered it one of the most cost effective upgrades he has yet done.
 
You can buy a HatPin and send it back for a full refund if you don't like it.
 
The DIN to RCA cable that comes with the Opus 21 CDP has a rather tasty non-metallic bodied DIN plug.

Do the aftermarket cable guys use these? Anyone know where to source them?
 
I had a quick look at my nest of cables this morning & I am amazed that I know so little about what they do. So the snaic is the thin cable that takes the signal from the CD to the XPS with another one taking it to the pre-amp?
 
The signal from the CD player goes straight to the pre-amp. Some products like the early tuners, phono stages, or the pre-amp itself route the signal via the power supply.
Naim's thinner cables are SNAICs, which I believe mean Super Naim Audio InterConnect. Everything had a name, I blame Shirley Clark. The large multi-pin connectors used on the XPS and Supercap are named Burndy after the former name of the manufacturer of the plug bodies.

We call our cables HatPins (HP) because it's a pun on the hats of Witch Hat. The number refers to the number of active connections. The HP18 is a Burndy, by the way.
 
MJS said:
The signal from the CD player goes straight to the pre-amp. Some products like the early tuners, phono stages, or the pre-amp itself route the signal via the power supply.
Naim's thinner cables are SNAICs, which I believe mean Super Naim Audio InterConnect. Everything had a name, I blame Shirley Clark. The large multi-pin connectors used on the XPS and Supercap are named Burndy after the former name of the manufacturer of the plug bodies.

We call our cables HatPins (HP) because it's a pun on the hats of Witch Hat. The number refers to the number of active connections. The HP18 is a Burndy, by the way.
Click to expand...
I need to take another look as I have a CDX hooked to xps & then a 252/SC. Can only assume it is wired correctly as it does play music
 
Do you mean Flashback? If so, then yes, I still use a couple of their Premiere cables to connect up my power amps.
 
Just in case anyone is interested...

I have the Witch Hat 252 Burndy and din/xlr cables available for sale in the classifieds. Sensible offers considered...
 
Naim cables are very basic and in my opinion overpriced. You can buy cables that are just as effective but cost a lot less. Recent price hikes are obscene IMO.
 
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