Nordost Odin or Valhalla 2


Folks, 

Do you feel Nordost cables are worth it's asking price?  What's the proportionate amount one should spent on cables? 

After hearing them at RMAF 2015 and few other brands of cables, I decided to look into the upgrade cost.  I own a decent HT setup and invested over $125K in my pursuit of audio nirvana.  

So I contacted a Nordost dealer to get an estimate on my setup.  The dealer came back with an estimate of $110K on Valhalla 2.  Needless to say, I didn't even bothered to ask the cost of Odin in my setup.  

No offense to the dealers, but I started to wonder the profit markups on high end cables.  I do hear stories about some unscrupulous dealers who sell high end products to get spiffs from big manufacturers in shape of exotic vacations, free products and so forth if they sell more widgets.  Isn't this corporate hi-fi that only seeks to show returns for shareholders.  To me its pure business, where is the passion for audio?If they are only focusing on providing expensive audio jewelry and targeting individuals with deep pockets then I say, mission accomplished.  

I have much better experience with smaller companies who are dedicated and committed to providing 'magical' listening experience without taking a second mortgage on your home.  I thought the whole idea of audio art is to create aural magic.  

IMO most cables regardless of price point, will get you 80% of the performance of super expensive cables.   So is it really worth spending thousands of dollars more to achieve that 20% or 10% of performance? 

I would like to hear from folks who owns Odin or Valhalla 2 or other comparable brand of cables, what was decided factor in their choice, what other cables did you compare before settling with Odin or Valhalla 2.  

I don't have any hidden agenda or personal vendetta against high priced cables or dealers engaged in selling high end products.  The idea here is to gauge performance vs. cost of super expensive cables. 

Happy Listening!!!

128x128lalitk
Do you feel Nordost cables are worth it's asking price?
Absolutely not. I don't even find them worth their used prices. Of course many Nordost owners would disagree. Too thin and sterile sounding for my ears. I've heard enough to know that system synergy, personal tastes and such. Couple Nordost cables with warm gear and perhaps they will work better.

What's the proportionate amount one should spent on cables?

Only you can determine the answer to that question. Everyone has their own personal limits. Some folks spend less than 1% on cables while others spend  80% or more of their audio budget on cables/cords.
All will tell you that their approach works best.

Personally, I find cables to be effective part of the audio chain, and spend more than I used to years ago. That said, I have reached the point of saturation too, where cable costs rose to over 50% of the system cost.
I found this to be overkill, and have since backed off a bit. Today, I would say that I am at around 35% of system cost on cables/cords/conditioners.
I'm sure that many will tell you that this is still way too much, others may say it's not enough.

Who cares what others say? You pay yer money, you makes yer choices.

Cheers,
John
In the context of your system,(110k) I would consider V2.
But I sure wouldn’t accept retail pricing. I’m assuming this is more than just a PAIR of cables, but several since it’s a HT rig?
Im a Nordost fan with my modest tubed gear plumbed with H2/F2.

I wouldn’t consider the Odin line unless I had a way over the top 500k+ rig where just my speakers are 100K+ alone. Essentially, only if I were one of the powerball winners.
I believe the Tyr II gives you most of what the Vahlhalla/Odin offer for a bit less $$$.

I don't know what dealers work on,  but I'm guessing based on the retail list of Nordost products,  they are getting at least 60 points. Nothing wrong with that, anyone who complains simply votes with their wallet and lack of bargaining skills.

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