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
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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I have never thought Nordost cables were perfectly neutral. To my ears, in certain applications, they can lack body and natural warmth and sound hifi-ish. In other applications, they can sound very nice. But they are not my favorite flavor. Of course many people whose ears and taste I greatly respect disagree with me. As one who owns and have used in my system Nordost, Stealth Indra, Tara, Cardas, Kimber, Shunyata, High Fidelity, Discovery, Tributaries, Audioquest and on and on---I would emphasize that it is ALL system and ear dependent as EVERY system has a character and EVERY cable has a character.
Through a 100k system, you should be able to discern the differences in cable sound form one brand to another and from the most basic to the most unobtainable. Please test before you buy. I use thecableco library frequently.
Also and most importantly, I find that the difference in character between cables of different manufacturers far exceeds the difference in sound between a midlevel and top level of the same brand.
Others will no doubt comment. Although there are no rules in audio, I have been willing to spend about 25 percent of the cost of my components on power cords and cabling, although I'm happier when it's more like 20 percent. Above that, the law of diminishing returns applies and I upgrade other aspects of my system all of which are more cost effective at that cost-benefit ratio---especially speakers. 
Just MHO
The idea here is to gauge performance vs. cost of super expensive cables.
It doesn't exist!  There is no correlation between cost and sound.

Just buy what you can afford or willing to spend and sound best in your system.    

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. 


Sound!   I have a friend with a $150,000 full loom of Stage III cables and it sounds FANTASTIC! 


If you have a thin-air level system,  ... Then " yes"... They can (and do ) work and can take the whole system to another level and leave you gob-smacked.

at the Nov 2015 audio expo in Toronto, Nordost had a killer system cabled up with all-ODINS (power, ICs, and speaker) that  blew away the  show. I lost count what the rest of the system actually cost, but somewhere north of about $400K for a 2-channel system.

ODINs or VALHALLAS are not for everybody, but if you have that oxygen breather level system commanding cables to do them proper justice justice , then I have not heard anything yet that rivals them .

If you take note, a very large population of audio mag reviewers have the VALHALLAS as their reference cables.

I will rehash a prior post to serve as a litmus test that cables DO matter. ...in brief: NORDOST ran a repeated 3-day audio expo demonstration symposium in Toronto at an audio expo on that very issue, it was attended by thousands - It was also attended and written up as such by a writer from a prominent Canadian AUDIO magazine.

He wrote his article that highlights a  litmus test on the effects of swapping in better cables as reported by him , and he reported  on the shared observations of the thousands of attendees at the TAVES audio expo in Toronto in Nov 2014. With reference to the above , ... his conclusion summarizes it well.

Nordost

"... I had a chance to sit in on a couple demonstrations in the Nordost room, giving my feet a well deserved break. I’m very familiar with the benefits of high quality cables and use a full Nordost Heimdall 2 loom with my reference two-channel setup. That being said, I always find the Nordost demonstrations to be an “ear-opening” experience.

Michael Taylor from Nordost demonstrated the significant sonic benefits of replacing an OEM cable with a Nordost model – in particular

1) a swap of a single USB cable, from OEM to Nordost Blue Heaven ($250/2m), to Heimdall 2 ($500/2m) and;

2) a swap of a single RCA interconnect, from OEM, to Blue Heaven, to Heimdall 2, to Tyr 2 and finally Valhalla 2.

Along with convincing the audience in the room that cables DO matter, I’ve now got the bug to upgrade...."