The brief was to investigate all parameters of a signal carrier; to improve the whole rather than just improving the cable as is the more normal development practice.
Given the opportunity to start with a ''clean sheet'' the R&D team decided to develop a much improved plug as well as a new cable.
The Hi-Line is available in the following variants: 5 pin DIN to 5 pin DIN, 4 pin DIN to 5 pin DIN, 5 pin DIN to 2 RCA, 2 RCA to 5 pin DIN and 2 RCA to 2 RCA.
The Hi-Line Air-PLUG (patented) is designed as a decoupling device to prevent vibrations from one product being transmitted, through the cable, to another product and to stop airborne vibrations picked up by the cable being transmitted to the products to which it is connected.
The many different rear sections of the Air-PLUG are clipped together to form a lossy flexible section. The cable is clamped compliantly to the end of this flexible section.
Other detail elements of the Air-PLUG include: a significantly reduced metal content to lower electromagnetic effects; a design to reduce eddy current effects and a cable clamping mechanism that does not squash the cable and affect its impedance.
The cable section of the Hi-Line also benefited from a complete re-think. It had to be low capacitance, low resistance and flexible. It had to work superbly in DIN to DIN connections but it also had to perform when used in other configurations.
The cable, exclusive to Naim, is manufactured from twisted pairs of 80 Litz conductors surrounded by PTFE, Kapton and PTFE tape all then enclosed within a semi conductive shield to reduce static charges.
This is then wrapped by two spiral wound copper shields and lapped PTFE tape. Two of these assemblies side by side are then wrapped in layers of PTFE tape and finally a rubber outer covering.
This gives a two-channel cable where the signal and RF grounds are held in a static position relative to each other negating any difference in field between them.
