The quatro fils are excellent. Just a small touch shy of Valhalla in performance, and a step up from Frey. It would a big step up from Heimdall, single ended or balanced.
Nordost Quattro Fil is still good
Close to a year ago I bought a turntable and changed my entire loom to Nordost Heimdall. Before, I was using Red Dawn rev. 2 SC and Quattro Fil XLR from my DAC to amp. Big improvement on overall sound, especially up top, in the treble region.
Fast forward to yesterday. I had the Quattro Fil collecting dust so I purchased some WBT 0152cu RCA plugs and converted them to RCA so I could use them with my new headphone amp. They are significantly stiffer than the Heimdalls so I swapped them. Heimdall on headphone amp and QF on phono stage.
I must say I was pleasantly impressed by what I heard. I don't recall hearing that big a difference between Heimdall XLR and the QF XLR, but on RCA's, the QF were better.
I spun a few albums, but Rush-Hemispheres really stands out. I'd never heard the low end so clear. The QF dug a little deeper, but also separated bass drum/tom tom whacks and the bass line. Compared to the QF, the Heimdall's sounded a bit congested in the bass region. The treble was about the same with just a bit more air with the QF.
Overall, the QF's sounded more refined. I hope they retain this character after a few more hours of break in.
Regarding the plugs, the WBT0152cu are full metal body unlike the WBT0110cu Nordost uses. Maybe cleaning the connectors also contributed to the better sound of the QF.
Fast forward to yesterday. I had the Quattro Fil collecting dust so I purchased some WBT 0152cu RCA plugs and converted them to RCA so I could use them with my new headphone amp. They are significantly stiffer than the Heimdalls so I swapped them. Heimdall on headphone amp and QF on phono stage.
I must say I was pleasantly impressed by what I heard. I don't recall hearing that big a difference between Heimdall XLR and the QF XLR, but on RCA's, the QF were better.
I spun a few albums, but Rush-Hemispheres really stands out. I'd never heard the low end so clear. The QF dug a little deeper, but also separated bass drum/tom tom whacks and the bass line. Compared to the QF, the Heimdall's sounded a bit congested in the bass region. The treble was about the same with just a bit more air with the QF.
Overall, the QF's sounded more refined. I hope they retain this character after a few more hours of break in.
Regarding the plugs, the WBT0152cu are full metal body unlike the WBT0110cu Nordost uses. Maybe cleaning the connectors also contributed to the better sound of the QF.