2xRCA to 5pin Din options for Naim Nait 5si

Hi,

I've been looking at my options for 2x RCA to 5pin DIN to feed my Nait 5si. I had been using QED Reference Audio 40 RCA to RCA but I was led to believe the DIN input is the better option on Naim integrated amps.

So, I bought a cheap Mogami RCA to DIN just to see/hear if I could discern any difference. I know it's comparing apples and oranges but I was happy to experiment at the cheap cost of the Mogami cable. I wouldn't say it was a huge difference, the opposite, but despite the difference in price to the QED cables, I was surprised how well the Mogami's performed. They definitely sounded a little more "open" with a tad more openess around instruments and vocals. I emphasise "a little", nothing mind blowing, but there nonetheless.

Encouraged by this I spent some time lurking around auction sites as I didn't want spend big at this point, and found a really old, early Chord Company (no model name on cable, just "The Chord Company") 2xRCA to 5pin Din for a not much more than I paid for the Mogami; again, at the price, I was happy to take a punt.

This was another small improvement; another slight improvement in openess, and tonally, they sound really pleasing. I don't have the technical vocabulary to get this across, but the Chord cable just sounds "sweet, musical? “. The seller claimed the Chord cable is around 30yrs old, and we'll used.

In light of this, taking in to consideration I preferred the £30 Mogami cable, and the the 30yr old Chord cable over my QED interconnects at £90, I'm looking at my options for a step up in performance with a moderately priced, 2xRCA to 5pin Din cable. The trouble is, there are not a lot of options compared to RCA to RCA cables. Here's what I've found so far:

Chord make RCA to DIN from the Clearway and upwards. Budget wise I would only consider up to the Shawline. I've read somewhere the Clearway can sound a little bright, which I may get away with in my system, as it isn't a bright system to be begin with. I'm not sure on the Shawline, haven't seen that many reviews, open to any thoughts or opinions.

After the Chord range, there doesn't seem to be a lot of choice out there apart from cables way out of my budget range. There's a new Atlas Elements Achromatic cable but I have no experience of Atlas cables at all.

There's also a small cable manufacturer here in the UK - Gothic Audio who seem to sell mainly from their eshop on an auction site. Can't find reviews on these, but they sell what I'm looking for for £90 to £120 depending on length. Does anyone have experience with these guys?

There's also the AQ Sydney and Big Sur. I am wary of AQ, can't remember why or when I picked up this bias, but happy to have this mindset changed by those happy with their cables.

I'd be really grateful for any other viable options/suggestions upto the £150 to £200 mark. Definitely no more, I don't think my system justifies it. If there are any suggestions for US based cable manufacturers that would ship to UK, I'd be really interested to take a look at those too.

Or, should I just look at other, quality RCA to RCA cables. I have only compared the 5pin DIN ICs to the QED Ref Audio 40s, so I don't have a large sample base really .
I tend to lean toward a clean, mellow top end, no harshness. I really enjoy what my streamer/DAC/amp/speakers give me; but having seen those small, encouraging changes after experimenting with the cheap cables mentioned, I'm curious how much more I can squeeze out of my system with other ICs

Here is my modest set-up :

Naim Nait 5si
Quad S2 speakers
Bluesound Node (2021)
Denafrips Ares II
QED Reference Audio digital coax (Node to DAC)
QED Reference XT40i speaker cable

Thanks very much for reading

Kind Regards