WC and "crew",
Last night I attended an open house at Quintessence Audio (Morton Grove, IL) that was advertised as a release party for the new dCS Bartok DAC and Wilson Sasha DAW speakers (in main room these were partnered with Audio Research Ref 10 Pre-amp, Audio Research Ref 160M, Nordost Odin: est. system cost $175K). The event was well attended by a wide range of enthusiasts that appeared to span from budget home systems owners ($5-$25K) systems through absolute reference owners ($200-$500K+). The presentation by Wilson and dCS was informative and interesting and the music an outstanding variety to clearly reveal the magic of the systems. (Bach Trios with Mandolin, Bass and Cello; Rene Fleming singing a beautiful Leider, Mickey Hart with Japanese Kodo drummers (yes the 160M needles moved on this!), Aretha Franklin and finally some crooner from the 60's. The sound was absolutely sublime!
The bonus was that Nordost's Sales rep was on hand in a second room doing demonstrations. Following are some take-aways:
Nordost demonstrations I witnessed (system was Wilson Sabrina, SimAudio 850P, SimAudio 400M, dCS Rossini and external clock, Nordost Valhalla 2 interconnects and speaker cable + assortment of cones, Power Cords, etc. (estimated overall system cost: $100K)):
- interconnect between dCS external clock and DAC (this is only clock signal, no data). stock, Heimdahl 2, Valhalla 2
- USB between notebook and DAC (all data, but data completely reclocked within DAC. stock, Heimdahl 2, Valhalla 2
- Power cord of dCS external clock. stock, Red Dawn (Nordost's top of their "entry level Leif series" power cord. around $400 for 2M)
Firstly, this "budget system" sounded great even at 2/3 cost of the main system. Differences between all of the trials were clear to all even though only one cable was changed at a time; novice and high end system customers alike. Whether differences were of value compared to cost was not the point. In every case, the more expensive alternative was clearly and audibly better and these differences were not subtle. Note that I am making no value judgement as to whether the incremental cost is worth the money, nor that other competing brands might not offer a better or different value... only that in every case; clarity, dynamics, background noise floor, inner harmonics of individual instruments, soundstage, etc. was clearly and obviously better than the less expensive alternative.
Important was that of all the cables, interconnects, etc. in the system that one might believe would be most impact sound, these demonstrations were of the exact opposite. One might believe that the fantastic dCS Rossini plus master clock ($35,000 combo) would be among the most immune converters from jitter, power noise and whatever other critters somehow creep into a system and that the power cord to the external clock should be at most subtly impacted by a $400 PC. The gentleman beside me (who had never spent $100 or more on any cable exclaimed "the better the equipment, the more obvious the differences between cables" which many of us have discovered to be true.
I had opportunity to speak privately with Mike Marko of Nordost regarding the journey WC has been on and his recent entry in Nordost's premium reference line. He agreed that it is of paramount importance that when you are working with this level of equipment, it is really important to treat the system as a whole, not as a collection of individual components. Everything affects everything else... system synergy. For this reason, it is of paramount importance that WC work with a Nordost retailer that will set him up with a complete loom at least to reasonably evaluate the Nordost product. It is probable that such a product will reveal weaknesses in other products that were previously masked and it could be easy to attribute those weeknesses to the cable that has merely exposed them. I have written before of the sensitivity of the AR Ref 10 to power cable. You have not even come close to hearing how incredible this preamplifier is unless it partnered with a special power cord. I have now heard this with both Valhalla 2 and Odin. It is just magical. Because of the tubes, I would extend this to experimentation with vibration absorption, supression, etc. whether that be sort cones, still points, high end shelving (i.e. Critical Mass), etc. I expect this is equally true with the Lampi although I have never had the opportunity to audition.
It is Mike's experience that often when clients install the Odin speaker cable that speaker positions must often be changed. What may have been optimized before, frequently has a different optimal position with Odin. WC noted that soundstage was diminished and bass slam was lost with the new speaker cables. With these cables, this absolutely should not be the case. The Kodo drums in the Wilson demonstration were as real sounding as I have ever heard in a reproduction, but of course still fall short of experiencing them live. Last night, they were as close to live as I have ever heard.
This is why highly trained retailers normally travel to their clients to facilitate and accelerate the process of integrating these seriously high end products. Any of us can plug in a new set of cables, but few of us have the benefits of training, optimization, speaker alignment that a dedicated, high end retailer is expected to invest in.
I hope sharing my fun experience last night might be appreciated by all and maybe be at least a bit informative.
